Evening star., 1947-09-14
Nv the Associofed Press

TOKYO, Sept. 13-Japan in de-
feat has a better chance than
victorious Britain Of surviving q
parallel economic crisis, Premier
Tetsu. Katayama declared today, be-
cause "the japanese long age
learned how to tighten their belts. y
The Socialist leader said his peo-
pie had been living subnormalfy
since before the Pacific war, and
now the government was struggling
to rebuild the national economy
without Immediately raising the
standard of living.
THE British were victorious he
said In an Associated Press inter-
view. but it was costly victory
and the country is unable to main
tain its former standard OF living.
"1 believe the British austerity
campaign was begun too late and
1t will be hard for the British to
regain ground.
Japan, in defeat, has long been
accustomed to tightened belts and
is trying to devote her efforts solely
to economic reconstruction"
Britain and Japan Compared.
Katayama did not mention the
part played by the United States
in underwriting Japan's relative sta
bility, although he has repeatedly
stressed the importance of this help
in previous statements. He did say
that release of food imports had
eaSed somewhat the country's pros
poets for the next few months.
He compared Britain and Japan
economically and geographically.
Both. he said, are industrial ma
tions which now are short on raw
materials and on dollars with which
to buy them. Both have seen their
former markets either diverted or
disrupted; have lost provincial
regions from which they once got
materials; are struggling against
numerous complications to increase
production of exportable goods, and
in both the worst bottleneck is in
sufficient coal.
japanese imports of food and raw
materials have cost the American
taxpayer an estimated $500 900, ,0OO
annually since the war. None OF
these expenditures is for luXuries
and there has been surprisingly little
waste under the surveillance of oc-
cupa ton authorities. The japanese
are seeking a S60,000,000 American
loan to underwrite cotton imports
and also hope to get $500,000,0 ,00C
in loans on $137 100000 worth of
precious stones and metals now held
in escrow. to meet reparations.
Life Of Austerity Genuine.
The japanese life of austerity ap-
parently is genuine. The rich can
afford black market luxuries, but
mostly these come from domestic
sources and consist of a good meal
or a bottle of preWar whisky.
Japanese generally, however, are
living on a standard which is low
even for them and is much lower
than occidentals might tolerate.
The movie question, which has
caused so much talk in Britain
was answered in Japan with local
"quickie" productions plus some
American films for which distribu-
tors pay in yen. not dollars. Base
ball games, stage shows and a few
night clubs also cater to the enter
tainment urge.
Prior to the interview, Katayama
held formal press conference with
foreign correspondents, called at the
initiative of his government.
He declared Japan was making
every preparation" to attend a peace
confereSce and was hoping that al
the Allies would participate, includ-
ing Russian and China. He said he
lacked confirmation of reports that
China would stay away if Russia did
Neither the time nor the extent
of Japanese participation have been
i j