Intense Nationalism

Any observations one makes on the Japanese people must be read subject to the qualification that a bare month is too short a time in which to form accurate impressions of a country. These comments are not intended to be taken as dogmatic statements.

Probably the characteristic that struckus most forcibly was the intense nationalism of Japan: everyone is one hundred per cent. Japan-minded. This is a well-known characteristic, but we would see it in many things, from the methods of education to the conduct of football crowds and the spirit of the players. It is worth noting that even Janpanese immigrants, particularly to the Phillippine Islands (where there are about 80,000 of them) remain intensely Japanese inoutlook, wearing food, and buying only Japanese goods. They never regard themselves as citizen of the Philippines.

The Emperor Cult.

The men at the top appear to foster this nationalistic spirit for all they are worth, and in two chief ways-by the inculcation of the Emperor cult, and by a careful guidance, or even control, of thought in places of learning. The Emperor cult is bound up with the national religion of Shintoism under which the Emperor is revered and indeed worshipped, almost as a god. he apparently stands for the old Samurai spirit and for the new nationalistic spirit: he symbolises the highest ideals of Japan.

We had a good indication of what His Majesty means to his people in a story of the agricultural workers of the North. These people(who are having a very thin time) decided to come to Tokyo to lay their position before the authorities. On their arrival a disturbance was averted when officials told them that His Majesty was exceedingly displeased with their behavious. They simply packed up their traps and went back to the old conditions.

A Hurried Visit.

We had very little opportunity of observing University life, our tourbeing conducted by the Japan Rugby Union and not by the University bodies. We did visit three of the major Universities, but our visits consisted in little more than arriving, removing our shoes, partaking of refreshment, listening to a couple of speeches, putting on our shoes and departing. There are about 50 universities in Japan, with over 70,000 students, and judging by the three we saw, the buildings and equipment are magnificent.