The Apache sentinel., 1945-03-23


face with the enemy).
h The methods the feudal lords
employed were simple and brutal.
They drove all foreign traders out
of the country, except a few who
submitted to conditions of virtual
slavery. They looted the vessels
and imprisoned, tortured and killed
the crews of foreign ships wrecked
on japanese shores or driven to
shelter in her harbors. Some of
these ships flew the Stars and
Stripes. United States sailors Ian
guished in japanese prisons. The
growth of the young United States
depended on the growth of her for
eign trade-and death or imprison-
ment threatened any Yankee ship
master who dared trade in waters
around Japan.
That situation continued until, in
1853, Commodore Mathew .Calbraith
Perry of the United States Navy
sailed into Yeso Bay with four ships
of war, and obtained from the
startled rulers of Japan an agree
ment that vessels which flew the
flag of the United States would
thereafter receive the respect ac-
corded it by all civilized nations. At
the same time, Perry's modern,
Steam-propelled battleships lef t
upon the arrogant and greedy rulers
of Japan an impression of industrial
and military power which they de-
cided to adopt for their own pur-
poses.
The arrival of Perry's fleet, the
lesson in international relations
which it taught them, snapped
Japan awake almost overnight. The
drawbridge came down. Men and
ideas and goods began to flow back
and forth between Japan and the
western world. In years that fol-
lowed, Japan appeared to have
passed a modern miracle-to have
jumped from thirteenth century
feudalisrn right into a full fledged
industrial age.
How Modern Is Japan?
Few men realized the truth: That
Japan was learning, learning as
much as she could, learning how to
build fighting army and an ocean
going navy, learning how. to play
power politics with a vengeance,
learning how to throw cloak of
phony democracy over her govern
ment-and all the time hiding on
to the same cold, brutal, feudal
ideas that ruled her brain before
Perry came.
About eighty years ago, the first
American envoy to Japan, Town
send Harris, worked out a treaty of
friendship and com m cree with
Japan. The Prime Minister, Lord
Hotta, told the Emperor why he
thought the treaty should be signed: !:
S Among the rulers of the world at
present" he said, "there is none so
noble and illustrious as to COM
mand universal vassalage, or who
can make his virtuouS influence
felt throughout the length and
breadth of the whole world. To
have such a ruler over the whole
world is doubtless in conformity
with the will of heaven and in
establishing relations with foreign
countries, the object should always
be kept in view of laying founda-
ton for securing the hegemony over
all nations. :. The nations of the
world will come to look up to our
Emperor as the Great Ruler of all
nations, and they will come to fol-
low our policy and submit them
selves to our Judgment.
That was eighty years ago. Out
siders- those who paid any atten-
ton at although this was simply
Japanese double talk. Actually, it
was Japanese fasciSm.
Is Japan Fascist Nation?
In those days, the word faseism
had not yet been invented Neither
Hitler nor NIussolini had yet been
born. But Japan was fascist then,
as she had been for centuries, as
she is today. She has never had a
Fuehrer. Instead, she has had the
Emperor, and the all-powerful
clique ruling in his name. Mostly,
this clique has consisted of the war
riorS, the military leaders. For a