Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-08-14
japan, After Decade,
Almost Normal Again

She has S8.5 million persons liv-
ing in half the area 70 million used
in 1941. Only Is per cent of her
land is tillable. Twenty per cent
of the food supply and most raw
MISUNDERSTANDING iron ore,
coking coal, oil. raw cotton and
wool-must be imported.
Exports this year will be an esti-
mated 1.8 billion dollars, imports
90 billion, the difference doubtless
more than made up by $3.50 million
in United States troop expenditures.
1t is this deficit, covered by
steadily decreasing United States
purchases, that Japan must over
come. At stake is her future role
in Asia and the world.
Her accession to the General
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade,
called GAIT, and the trade plans
negotiated with II member nations
will take up perhaps 40 or so million
dollars of the slack.
A little more may be picked up
by present ventures into the Middle
East, Europe. Latin America and
the United States.
Southeast Asio Hope
Where then is the difference to
be obtained?
Experts give an almost universal
answer-from the nations Of South
east Asia, the same ones Japan
failed by war to weld together in
a "co-prosperity sphere"
The Philippines, Malaga. Indo-
nesia. Thailand. Burma and Indo-
China all need Japan'S manufac-
tured products and Japan needs
their foodstuffs and raw materials.
Economists say before this two
way swap can materialize these
nations must develop a surplus to
sell. And Japan must launch a
painful plant modernization pro-
gram and install techniqueS Of cost
accounting and quality control to
make her products economic in
world of stiff competition.
Bonk Influence
Who is directing this slowly un-
folding scheme?
Most certainly the banks are in
volved. They hold the purse
strings in a nation hungry for in
vestment capital. They quickly
loan virtually every yen received.
They have a fantastic SO per cent
ratio of loans to deposits.
All this, however, means little to
the average Japanese. He is too
concerned with making a living.
He is earning an average of S46.36
monthly. Life is still harsh.
Some statisticians say hidden"
unemployment may total as much
as 10 million. The government
lists only $4,000 1t Classics as
employed" any person who works
more than 30 minutes week.
The average worker lives in
house still distinctly japanese with
only the barest modern conven-
fences
He wears Western clothing in
public, as do about 80 per cent Of
the women. who also prefer the
short Audrey Hepburn" hair do.
If he can afford it. he may try
Western food occasionally, but the
diet still centers around fish and
rice.
Conservatives Dominate
In politics the balance OF power
lies heavily with the conservatives
and probably will for number OF
years in spite of slow Socialist gains.
Communists, widely discredited and
disliked, have meager $4,000 card
holders.
Meanwhile. the same Japan that
10 years ago was broken nation
heads into the future asserting her
new independence.
Her policies blend cooperation
with the West and hoped-for
normal relations with the Commu-
mist world.
She still has naggine problems Of
sanitation, public health, overpop-
ulation and of rebuilding friend
ships with nations she attacked
during the war.
But there is an overall, If guarded.
optimism.
Those who know Japan best feel
she will go on borrowing from the
Western world as she sees At. but in
the end this nation of fiercely proud.
independent people will solve her
problems with her own people in
her own way.
ASSOCIATED Press