Their Universities

The universities had, as far as Professor Gordon could see, been left alone on the whole. The only major change effected was the forcing of the Imperial College of Tokio to admit women students. They, however, still form only a very small proportion of the 10,000 students. The professorial staffs were, in the two universities he visited, substantially the same as before the war. The equipment is good and their library resources, especially in foreign languages, are much better than in New Zealand. Books are easy to buy, even those now out of print being obtainable in a street of bookshops outside Tokio university—remnants of the pre-war days when Japan was the best customer of the Oxford University Press. Their one shortage is fuel, and it is a common sight to see a room full of students clad in overcoats freezing quietly to death.

As far as adults are concerned, the Professor's impression was that reeducation is taking the shape of promoting interest in politics by stimulating the growth of Trade Unions, encouraging criticism of the Government in the papers and holding a genuinely free election. This appears to be an attempt to work through common sense and not force by giving them a wider interest in their own Government and conditions. Helping in this is the employment of native Japanese in as many positions as possible, as house girls, and also as interpreters, clerks and typists. To gauge exactly the amount of success this policy is meeting with is, in the Professor's opinion, impossible, for at the moment the average Japanese citizen is mainly interested in the whereabouts of the next meal. However, all indications point to a favorable result.

In conclusion, Professor Gordon had a tribute to pay to the precision bombing of the Americans. "The centre of Tokio," he said, "provides a perfect example of their accuracy: From a mass of buildings they had pin-pointed the German Embassy and destroyed it, leaving the surrounding buildings unharmed. The Italian Embassy suffered a like fate, whilst the British, almost next door, is totally unharmed, being in fact now occupied by the British Ambassador. After some stories I have heard of the damage, the sight was a revelation."

Don't do this. Buy your own copy of "Salient."