Evening star., 1953-10-18


dare to pull the bulk of its troops
out of this country in five years, as
was threatened in Washington nine
days ago, is extremely doubtful.
Talk of rearmament, however,
has increased to the point where it
is the principal news topic in the
country. The Japanese obviously
are getting ready to do something
about strengthening their defenses.
The question is: Will it be enough
so American troops can be pulled
out?
Japan, a country of 86 million
people, had a proud military tradi-
ton before 1945. Today she has
more to lose to communism than
any other country in Asia except
possibly India. From the Amer1-
can standpoint, Japan must be kept
out of Communist hands if the Far
/. East is to be saved.
War Renounced
Two things-the grim suffering of
defeat and the early MacArthur-o oc-
cupation selling job on converting
Japan into the Switzerland of the
Far East-took all the fight out Of
the japanese in the early postwar
period. Remuneration of war, which
the occupiers wrote into the new,
democratic constitution, was &C
cepted enthusiastically
When the Korean war broke out
in 1850, the mistake Of imposing
pacifism on the Japanese became
apparent to every one except the
Japanese themselves. The great
bulk of the people, while acquiescing
in the United Nations decision to
use Japan as a base for defending
South Korea, still clung to the hope
that Japan could go ahead with its
new neutralism.
Gen. Macarthur knew better. At
the same time that his United Ma
tions army was being pushed back
into the Pusan perimeter, he made
preparations to convert the Japa-
nese national rural police force into
cadre for the army he was sure
would be necessary. That cadre
numbers about 10000 today. But
it has only been in the last year
that the japanese have admitted to
themselves that their rural police
was the foundation for a new army.
Until this summer public opinion
polls showed most people either OPP
posed or refused to support rearma-
ment.
Trend Discemed
In recent months, however. those
who follow the opinion polls claim
to see a trend toward popular sup
port. At best, however, the country
remains precariously divided. Some
35 to 45 per cent of the people
appear to support rearmament,
while 80 to 40 per cent are opposed.
There is large undecided group.
And the whole country is so de-
lighted with f1exing it's newly
acquired muscles of independence
that it often let's the sport of nose
thumbing at Uncle Sam get in the
way Of better judgment.
What change in thinking has
transpired recently has been under
the prodding of America. japanese
government leaders have gone along,
probably even willingly, but never
have taken the lead. For political
reasons they prefer to put the onus
of Japanese rearmament on the
United States. If anything goes
wrong, they apparently hope to stick
Uncle Sam with the responsibility,
just as they stuck TOTO with the re-
sponsibility of losing the war.
Dulles Started 1t
Secretary Dulles started the prod
ding process in earnest last August
when he dropped in on Prime Min
ister Shigeru Yoshida after talks
with Syngman Rhee in Korea. Mr..
Dulles bluntly advised the japanese
to rearm or lose American financial
aid. Senator Knowland played the
same tune, and made some unfavor-
able comparisons with countries like
Italy, which spends Z per cent of it's
national income on defense, COM
pared to Japan's per cent The
security forces in Japan got out
other statistics showing that NATO
countries spend $13 to $50 per capita
on defense each year. while the jap
anese spend only So.
DR.. Hitoshi Ashida, political
rival Of MIR. Yoshida and MIR. Shige-
mitsu for conservative leadership
in Japan. has tried since 1948 to
make political capital out Of some
ambiguous wording he had inserted
in the war-renunciation clause Of
the new constitution. He claims re-
-