Evening star., 1948-12-11

nom de plume. Please be bTief.
Is accidentally killed by these inept and ap-
parently hysterical adolescents before We can
take effective steps for our own safety7< Why
not at least keep them unarmed until they
have demonstrated their ability to hit what
they are shooting at-before we have some
more victims like Miss Kilmer?
SHOOTING INSTRUCTOR.
Another View of Opening Japan
To the Editor Of The Star:
MIR. Crawfords letter of December on the
opening Of Japan in 1853 cries for detailed
refutation. He appears to be drawing con-
clusions that historical facts do not warrant.
and indeed confute.
Minamoto Yoritomo was responsible for the
creation of the Office through which the war
rior class was to dominate Japan in a tight
military oligarchy for seven centuries That
was the ofnce Of sei-i-tai-shogm Csubduing-
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. to which Yoritomo
himself was appointed in 1892. The title
usually Is shortened to "shogun," which means
simply general" but in terms of the functions
Of the ONCE military Dictator is perhaps q
far better nomenclature. From its incipience
under the Yoritomo reign until the military
oligarchy was brought to an end in the nine
teenth century, the office remained the mo-
nopoly of the most powerful military families
The period of the shogunate was the period
Of political oligarchy and the incubation stage
for the ideals" Of militarism that wrought so
much havoc on Japan and on the nations she
attacked.
Trade was carried on from the sixteenth
century till 1865. The hrst trade with Japan
was carried on by the Dutch and the first
ship direct from Holland appeared in Japan
in 1872. From that period on considerable
trade was conducted with the japanese by
Dutch, Portuguese, English as well as American
merchant traders. For detailed data recon-
mend the three volumes by James Murdoch
The question of the opening Of Japan was
not haughtily decreed by President Pierce-it
was not just another opportunity for us to mex
our newly discovered biceps. We had tried un-
successfully in 1886, when Commondore Biddle
with the Commodore and the Vincennes ar
rived on Uraga, to secure an opening Of the
ports. At this time, Murdoch tells u.s. Com
modore Biddle was Inundated and man
handled by common" japanese soldier, and
the resultant lack Of action on the part of
America led to q legend of American spine-
lessness, carefully circulated throughout the
japanese islands. The real reason that we
needed and requested the opening of Japan was
mainly economic-the United States, having
no land possessions on the Asiatic mainland,
needed station and/or entrepot where
whaling and merchant crews could refuel and
refurbish. We also had considerable interest
In the plight Of wretched shipwrecked mari
ners, who were confined in kennels and not
accorded even the simplicities of humane
treatment. Perry when he arrived, being
aware Of Biddles experience and with the
notifications suffered by Rezanov in the
Russian mission Of 1904, resolved to out
Herod Herod," and 50 succeeded in breaking
down to not uncomfortable degree the sup
posed japanese ancestral law"
The Tanaka Memorial and the Hiroda
diaries, books by John M. Maxi. and the testi-
mony OF the witnesses and the Recommendation
thereof at the war crimes trial in Tokyo ct
cetera should provide engrossing reading for
Mr.. Cravford He has failed to realize that
the Japan he 50 warmly applauds did not in
tend to hberate the Asiatics but rather to
subject them to their own peculiar barbarities.
His reminder that there are Japanese in the
Hawaiian Islands is well set forth-they, to-
gether with the Chinese, Flipinos ct al, fought
to destroy the machinery that the Empire Of
Japan was trying to impress on them and
theirs.
The japanese have q proverb. "Jibun no
atama no hae o." meaning Chase the flies
from your own head before you chase them
from another's." WLBERT B. Dublin.
No Distinction of Burial
To the Hditor Of Ths star:
In recent issue Of The Star, I noted q sug-
sestion advanced by . clergyman to the effect
that q national shrine be proyided for the re-.