// Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from Columbia University Libraries https://archive.org/details/ontrailoftruthOOaxli ON THE TRAIL OF THE TRUTH ABOUT JAPAN BOSTON ‘By WILLIAM AXLING For Twenty Years an American Resident in Japan And an Observer of Things Japanese PHILADELPHIA THE JUDSON PRESS CHICAGO ST. LOUIS LOS ANGELES SEATTLE KANSAS OTY TORONTO Copyright, 1921, by GILBERT N. BRINK, Secretary Published October, 1921 Printed in U. S. A. CONTENTS PAGE Foreword 5 A New World Consciousness 6 Militarism, What About It? 7 The Rising Tide of Liberalism 11 The Feeling Toward America 15 Reactions Toward California 17 An Awakening Toward China 21 The Korean Question 23 A Religious Renaissance 26 Christianity’s Golden Hour 29 The Need of an Enlarged Christian Pro- gram 32 The Christian Community 38 The Challenge 40 “ We have progressed enough to banish the harm- ful elements and preserve that which is good in national and race organizations. Nations have reached their present place through strife, but reason and every consideration demands a better way. Personally I never think merely as a Japanese. My uppermost thought is always the world’s good. Among my nationals there are many men of this type. There are enough people in every nation who have this mind. We are thus ready now to actually build a World Brotherhood. This is no time to think in terms of self and of one’s own nation alone. We must think in world terms and plan for the world’s good. For seventy years America and Japan have stood together. This unique relationship must not be broken up but made to contribute to the consumma- tion of a greater, a World Brotherhood.” Baron Y. Sakatani. FOREWORD There was a time when Japan’s phenomenal prog- ress won the world’s admiration. Then came the in- evitable reaction. Today she is the target at whom critics everywhere try a throw. Newspapers, poli- ticians, and lecturers, through whom there runs a streak of yellow, have all united in throwing around her a smoke-screen of half-facts and falsehoods with the result that whole areas of significant facts are hidden from the world’s view. Moreover, Japan, in blazing a pathway out into her new destiny, has, like every other nation, made mistakes. Out of it all there has been created in the minds of many a great question-mark concerning this Empire of the East. The great need today is that the truth regarding this nation be known. Certain facts concerning her stand out big on the surface. Others, even more important, lie buried deep down in the nation’s inner life. Across her there sweep cross-currents and un- dercurrents. All these must be known if she is to be intelligently understood. An intelligent under- standing will create sympathy, sympathy will restore confidence, and confidence will cement anew with her the bond of brotherhood. This little brochure is given to the public in the hope that it may be of some service in interpreting [ 5 ] ON THE TRAIL OF THE TRUTH ABOUT JAPAN this Oriental nation to the Occidental mind. Twenty years of residence in Japan, intimate contacts with the Japanese people, first-hand investigations, and heart-to-heart conversations with many of her na- tional leaders constitute the writer’s excuse for ven- turing to act as an informant. A NEW WORLD CONSCIOUSNESS In 1852, when an American fleet commanded by Commodore Perry forced Japan out into the world- arena, she was a hermit nation hidden away among the waters of the Pacific. Her eyes were on the past. She clung to an age-long isolation. But America’s strong hand pushed her out into a destiny of which she had not dreamed. Today she has won her place in the sun. She stands as one of the five great world powers. Having attained this high place, she earnestly aspires to do her share of the world’s work and to carry her share of the world’s burdens. She is anxious that not color nor geo- graphical position, but brains, ability, and real worth shall be the determining factors in assigning to the nations the reconstruction work of our time. The Occident, unaccustomed to an Oriental nation thinking in terms of this kind and entertaining such ambitions, looks upon this stripling among the powers with bewilderment and suspicion. “ A second Germany! ” “ The Hun of the East! ” “ A world menace ! ” These are some of the epithets which [ 6 ] MILITARISM, WHAT ABOUT IT? surface observers are hurling at her. The careful student, however, finds here not a nation with am- bitions for world conquest but a nation with a new world consciousness ; a nation sincerely desiring to make a world contribution; a nation keen to play a worthy part in the new world into which destiny has thrown her. MILITARISM, WHAT ABOUT IT? No one can deny the fact that Japan has a strong military party and that it has great power. There are reactionaries who yearn to turn back the clock of progress. She has ultranationalists who forget that there is a great outlying world with which Japan must live and labor. These are the surface facts. More significant facts, however, lie beneath the surface. Seated in the room where Japan’s national and world policies are determined Premier K. Hara said to me ; History is full of war. Back of every nation lies a long series of bloody conflicts. Japan is no exception. Her wars with China and Russia make her look militaristic. But history shows clearly why and how she fought It shows that she was neither aggressive in her motive nor cruel in her method. Japanese nature, disposition, and moral ideals furnish no material out of which to create a second Ger- many. And the day is past in Japan when the military party or any group of men can get together, concoct a scheme, and put it across without consulting the people. The people [ 7 ] ON THE TRAIL OF THE TRUTH ABOUT JAPAN are coming to their own. Their power is growing. Public opinion is becoming a potent force in the life of the nation. This means peace, for the people are demanding peace. The present cabinet stands positively for peace. The Home Minister, Mr. T. Tokunami, in speak- ing of this matter, said : Japan has had to fight to keep her place as a nation, and so to outsiders she may look ambitious. She fought China and Russia because her national existence was at stake. She entered Korea in order to safeguard her future as a nation. She joined the Allies in sending an expedition into Siberia because Bolshevism threatened to sweep across the Siberian borders. To him who fails to consider the causes of these wars Japan may look militaristic. Japan must pro- tect herself. Attack others she never will. Germany’s ideals are not Japan’s. Every move the present cabinet has made is ample proof of its passion for peace. Baron Y. Sakatani, Member of the House of Peers, president of the Japan Peace Society, and foremost leader of the peace movement in the em- pire, said to me: We do not deny that Japan has a military party. She has fire-eaters who indulge in wild talk. But the govern- ment today is not listening to these men. It is listening to the men of peace. German militarism in Japan has re- ceived its death-blow and is vanishing from the land. The old military men who were trained in Germany are passing away, and younger men with a new world outlook are tak- ing their places. Many of the old officials are now down among the people, and the people’s yearning for peace is recasting their ideas and ideals. [ 8 ] MILITARISM, WHAT ABOUT IT? Let Americans ponder the words of this champion of peace, this lover of America when he says : There can be no doubting the fact that many of Japan’s military and political leaders sincerely believe that America is planning to put something across on Japan. They believe that American money is stirring up anti-Japanese feeling in China, that American influence is behind the independence movement in Korea, and that America has thrown herself across Japan’s path of progress in Siberia. They point to the big navy which America is building, to the transfer of the fleet from the Atlantic to the Pacific, to the feverish military preparations in Panama, to the monstrous military dock which America is building at Honolulu, to the urgent campaign for enlisting men for her army and her navy, and they ask who the potential enemy can be. It certainly is not England or France. Germany is out of the race. By a process of elimination it must be Japan. This being the case, they say, can Japan sit with folded hands and fail to prepare for an emergency? Mr. S. Shimada, Member of Parliament, ex- Speaker of that body and for twoscore years the leader of the peace wing in Parliament, told me that the peace party in that legislative body in its fight against the increased army and naval budgets went down to defeat again and again because its oppo- nents played up America’s military preparation. An ardent friend of America — so much so that he sends his sons to America for their education — he said with tears in his eyes, “ American military prepara- tion is the fuel that feeds the fires of militarism in Japan.” [ 9 ] ON THE TRAIL OF THE TRUTH ABOUT JAPAN More and more the heart of the young manhood of Japan is coming into tune with the world’s yearn- ing for peace. Up until the World War there were one hundred per cent, more young men applying for entrance into the Army and Navy Colleges than could be entered. In 1920 there was a shortage of thirty per cent, in the number of men that they needed to enter these two institutions in order to officer properly their army and navy. Not only has there been a drop of one hundred and thirty per cent, in the number of applicants but the type of men who apply for entrance has greatly deteriorated. Formerly the applicants constituted the cream of Japan’s young manhood. Today they come from those who have to take second and even third place in the line-up of the nation’s youth. The ideals of peace are also filtering down into the great common life of the nation. The people as a people are turning against the program of the militarists and are asking for a positive peace pro- gram for Japan. They are groaning under the taxa- tion which the present armament program imposes upon them. At the time that six hundred of Japan’s sons were massacred in Siberia one of her military men launched a campaign to raise $80,000 with which to build a monument to their memory. Appeal was made from the platform and through the press. After a six-months’ campaign only $5,000 had been secured. Why? The people said that they had [ 10 ] THE RISING TIDE OF LIBERALISM nothing but deepest sympathy for these men and for their families. But they died as martyrs to the ideals of militarism, and to build a monument to their memory would simply perpetuate these ideals. It would also perpetuate hatred toward a neigh- boring nation with whom Japan ought to live in peace. In speaking of Japan’s experience in Korea, Baron Sakatani made the significant statement that Japan has learned a great lesson in Korea. She has learned that this is no age in which a strong nation can with impunity set out to subdue a weaker nation by force. And if she can find a solution for that situation in Korea, one that will leave her name and her honor unsullied, she will never want to try another experiment of that kind. These are some of the signs of the times. They indicate which way the tides are running. THE RISING TIDE OF LIBERALISM There is a great liberal movement sweeping across Japan. Its leaders are such outstanding national figures as Marquis S. Okuma, twice Premier, Japan’s Grand Old Man, and for half a century one of the most influential characters in the nation’s life ; Baron Y. Sakatani, ex-Minister of Finance and an influential member of the House of Peers; Mr. Y. Ozaki, ex-Minister of Justice and a conspicuous Member of Parliament ; Viscount K. Kaneko, a Member of the Privy Council of the Empire; Vis- [ 11 ] ON THE TRAIL OF THE TRUTH ABOUT JAPAN count E. Shibuzawa, Japan’s most influential captain of industry ; Mr. S. Ebara, Member of the House of Peers ; Mr. S. Shimada, Member of Parliament and an ex-Speaker of that body; Doctor Ukita, Editor of Taiyo, Japan’s leading monthly; Professors M. Anezaki and S. Yoshino, of the Imperial Univer- sity, and a host of other men of this type and standing. This movement stands for peace as against war and for internationalism as against ultranationalism. These ideals it is spreading both among the govern- ment officials and among the people. It is shaking the nation loose from the old nationalistic outlook and substituting the world-point of view in consid- ering the great questions of the day. It is creating a world-mind among the Japanese people. This movement is daily gathering momentum and is car- rying great sections of the nation before it. Al- though still unorganized and not crystallized into a party, it is a mighty factor in the thought life and the political life of the nation. Professor Yoshino, of the Imperial University, Japan’s most outstanding champion of democracy, in tracing the rise and growth of this liberal move- ment, said: Way back in 1876, when Emperor Meiji instructed Prince Arisugawa to make investigations preparatory to making a constitution, he handed him a copy of Todd’s “ Parliamen- tary Government in England,” saying, “ Make this your model.” During the Russian- Japanese War Japan’s mili- [ 12 ] THE RISING TIDE OF LIBERALISM tarists and her business men gained great influence, but the rise of the democratic movement also dates from that time. Since then the reactionaries have fought it, but to no avail. The schools of the Empire have backed up this awaken- ing. The Japanese scholars who were in England during the Hague Peace Congress and during the reign of King Edward VII, were greatly influenced by the ideals of peace and liberalism which then prevailed in Europe. They re- turned to their native land, and through Japan’s educational institutions laid the foundations for our nation’s new de- mocracy. Since that time our institutions of higher learn- ing have been the forums from which the principles of peace have been promulgated. Today eighty per cent of Japan’s institutions of higher learning are lined up on the side of democracy’s ideals of peace and liberalism. Practically all of the younger pro- fessors in these institutions are lined up in the same way. From of old the Elder Statesmen have constituted the one and only center of power in the Empire. Today another center of power is being created. It is the people. Because of the existence of these two centers of power it is im- possible for Japan today to have either an absolute bureau- cratic Cabinet or an absolute people’s Cabinet. She must have a premier who can serve both elements. But this is a passing stage. The bureaucratic center is gradually losing power. The people’s power is on the gain. These two centers are drifting further and further apart, with the power of the people daily gaining in momentum. The bureaucrats, seeing their power ebb and the people’s power grow, are feverishly trying to stem the tide. The press is muzzled. Free speech is denied. Scholars are imprisoned for promulgating “ dangerous thoughts.” But the rising tide of popular power moves on and simply sweeps them aside. The people’s day has dawned. [ 13 ] ON THE TRAIL OF THE TRUTH ABOUT JAPAN Among the young men of Japan there is an ever- increasing passion for the principles of this move- ment. Japan has a student body of 600,000 men. They are her future leaders. They are the men who in the coming days are going to step out into places of power. And ninety in a hundred of them are passionately lined up behind the progress for peace and a larger internationalism. Gradually the ideals of this movement are grip- ping the common people. Not long ago the leader of the ultranationalists was announced to speak in the great industrial city of Osaka. He is a scholar of great repute. He spoke, however, to only two hundred men in a hall that will seat five thousand. Two weeks later Professor Yoshino and his col- league in the work of making democracy’s ideas and ideals known to the people, spoke in the same hall to an audience that packed it from top to bottom. These were not students. They were the men from the shops and factories of this Chicago of the Orient. Something over a year ago the monthly magazine called The Central Review came under the editor- ship of one of Japan’s most prominent liberals and espoused the liberal program. Within an incredibly short time its subscribers jumped in number from five to fifty thousand. Thus within the nation’s inner life there are mighty influences at work that are corrective and constructive in their character. [ 14 ] THE FEELING TOWARD AMERICA THE FEELING TOWARD AMERICA How does Japan feel toward the nation that more than any other is responsible for her present position among the nations? Let her statesmen and her leaders speak. The last piece of anti- Japanese legis- lation had been passed in California. And whatever may be said pro and con in regard to that legisla- tion it certainly is the acid test of Japanese friend- ship toward America. In that psychological hour I sounded the Japanese heart in order to ascertain its hidden reaction. In reply to a leading question on this subject Premier Kara said : America was Japan’s first friend. America has been Japan’s longest friend. America has been Japan’s strongest friend. And it is imthinkable to me that this friendship, which is xmique and without parallel in the fellowship of nations, is going to be broken. Strains may come and misunderstandings may arise between these two nations, but that the time should ever come when they shall be unable to find solution for their problems and shall rush at each other’s throats in war, this, to my mind, is imthinkable, ab- solutely unthinkable. As for the people, you have lived among us for twenty years and you know that they stand for peace. You also know that for seventy years the Japanese people have thought of America with a peculiar feeling of friendship in their hearts, and you know that in the main that feeling continues. In reply to a similar question Mr. Tokunami, the Home Minister, said: [ 15 ] ON THE TRAIL OF THE TRUTH ABOUT JAPAN I have studied American history. I have visited America. I number Americans among my friends, and I am con- vinced that America’s high ideals, her fine sense of justice, her desire to do the gracious thing, the unselfish thing, these ideals will reassert themselves whenever any crisis appears upon the horizon. Because I have these convictions I still believe in America. Heart-to-heart conversations with such national leaders as those already mentioned— Baron Saka- tani, Viscount Shibuzawa, Mr. Shimada, Mr. Ebara, Professor Yoshino, and others — brought out the same story. They all sounded a note of sorrow over the present disturbed relations and a note of un- changed friendship. As regards the people, they that constitute the great throbbing heart of Japan, let me bear my own personal testimony. For half a century and more America was their one ideal as a nation. To her they looked for leadership and inspiration in their climb toward national greatness. Things have happened during the last ten years that have dis- turbed their childlike faith in America. But the fires of true friendship still bum in their hearts. When it comes to the great bulk of the people and their feeling toward America the Japanese heart rings true, absolutely true. Their deepest yearning is that America and Japan shall stand, one on either side of the Pacific, and look into each other’s faces not with suspicion in their eyes and hatred in their hearts, but with a brotherly confidence in their eyes [ 16 ] REACTIONS TOWARD CALIFORNIA and genuine love in their hearts. They yearn that these two nations shall see eye to eye, and shall clasp hands across the Pacific in undying friendship. Japan also has newspapers and politicians and commercial men who are streaked with yellow. For their own purposes they strive to stir up anti-Amer- ican feeling. Moreover, it is their shouting that is heard across the Pacific. But the masses of the people still cling to their first love and eagerly wel- come every sign of the return of these two nations to their old historic heart-friendship. REACTIONS TOWARD CALIFORNIA Japan is human. Anti-Japanese agitations in Cali- fornia cut deep into her feelings. But she is calmly waiting for the coming of a saner day. Meanwhile both the government and the people are trying to meet the situation created by the presence of their nationals in that State. Agitators to the contrary notwithstanding, the Japanese Government is rigidly living up to the terms of the “ Gentlemen’s Agreement.” It is issu- ing no travel passports to America to laborers nor to those who after reaching America might turn labor- ers. The passport bureau is as tight as a barrel. Again and again I have besieged it in behalf of Japanese friends who had succumbed to the Amer- ican fever. In vain have I argued and pled. The officials were immovable. [ 17 ] ON THE TRAIL OF THE TRUTH ABOUT JAPAN Agitators in California have juggled with statis- tics and attempted to make them prove that the Japanese Government is violating the “ Gentlemen’s Agreement.” The plain un juggled statistics of the United States Commissioner General of Immigra- tion however give ample proof that Japan is keep- ing her pledge. The Commissioner’s reports show that during the twelve years from 1909 to 1920 92,606 Japanese were admitted into Continental United States. Of these, however, 40,654 were former residents, Japanese, who having made a visit to their native land, re- turned to America by right of former residence here. Moreover, 28,115 of those admitted during this period were wives, and 11,905 were children of Japanese males already living in America. During these twelve years Japanese departures from Conti- nental United States numbered 80,432. This leaves a net increase in twelve years of 12,174. But when it is remembered that there is a constant stream of students and travelers coming from Japan to Amer- ica for study and for travel, this number is easily ac- counted for. In this statistical display, where does the Japanese laborer come in? He simply does not come in, because the Japanese Government is not issuing passports to him to come on. These are the cold statistical facts which those must face who accuse Japan of playing loose when it comes to the question of restricting immigration to America. [ 18 ] REACTIONS TOWARD CALIFORNIA Premier Kara in speaking of the California ques- tion said : We know that the anti-Japanese movement in California is not an American movement. Even in that State it has strong opponents. Yet when we found that Japanese im- migration was not welcomed there, we stopped it. Mr. Tokunami, the Home Minister, in discussing this question with me, said: ' We have no doubt regarding America as a whole. We are convinced that California does not represent America in this matter. Not for a moment do we believe that this question will ever lead to a rupture of relations or to war between these two nations. But somehow this question must be solved if we wish to avoid periodical disturbance of relations between the nations concerned. Baron Sakatani speaking of this matter said : The California question must be settled along the lines of reason. We cannot get anywhere until this question is solved. With its solution all other questions will auto- matically solve themselves. Viscount Shibuzawa, who has been working on this problem for the past twelve years, said: America ought to know that the California question is with us no longer, a question of immigration. We are not asking for the unlimited entrance of our laborers into any part of America. We recognize that it would not be wise. It will only create friction and stir up problems. All we ask is that those of our people who have been allowed to enter any part of America be given the rights and privileges [ 19 ] ON THE TRAIL OF THE TRUTH ABOUT JAPAN guaranteed them under the American- Japanese treaty at the time of their entrance. On our part we will do all within our power to Americanize them and make them desirable residents on American soil. Could any one take a more sober attitude or make a more reasonable request? Here is the section of the American-Japanese treaty that defines the rights and privileges guar- anteed to immigrants from Japan to America : Akticle I. The subjects or citizens of each of the high contracting parties shall have liberty to enter, travel, and reside in the territories of the other, to carry on trade, wholesale and retail, to own or lease and occupy houses, manufactories, warehouses, and shops, to employ agents of their choice, to lease land for residential and commercial purposes, and generally to do anjrthing incident to or neces- sary for trade, upon the same terms as native subjects or citizens, submitting themselves to the laws and regulations there established. They shall not be compelled, under any pretext whatever, to pay any charges or taxes other or higher tlian those that are or may be paid by native subjects or citizens. The subjects or citizens of each of the high contracting parties shall receive, in the territories of the other, the most constant protection and security for their persons and property and shall enjoy in this respect the same rights and privileges as are or may be granted to native subjects or citizens, on their submitting themselves to the conditions imposed upon the native subjects and citizens. Could any language be plainer? Here in black and white under the seal of the American govern- ment they are guaranteed the same rights and privi- [ 20 ] ^iV AWAKENim TOWARD CHINA leges granted the aliens from any other land. In the face of these guaranteed treaty-rights the Japa- nese living in California are deprived of the privilege of owning and of renting land for agricultural pur- poses. The Japanese father is even deprived of the right to act as a guardian for his own children in these matters. Is ours the “ scrap-of-paper ” policy, or do we make treaties to keep them? In this connection, when we remember that the Japanese constitute only two per cent, of the popu- lation in California, that they own only six-tenths of one per cent, of her farm land, and that more white children were born there during the one year 1920 than were born to the Japanese living there during the ten years from 1910 to 1920, it would seem that we could at least afford to be just and live up to our treaty agreements. AN AWAKENING TOWARD CHINA Japan’s past policy in China has, in common with all European nations, been the grab-all-you-can policy. But today saner statesmen are at the helm. These acknowledge that in the past Japan has made grievous mistakes in her policies toward that nation. No thoughtful Japanese today defends the notorious “ twenty-one demands ” on China. Premier Kara here again showed an up-to-date grasp on the situation. He said : Japan must live on good terms with China. So closely interwoven are the relations between these two nations that [ 21 ] ON THE TRAIL OF THE TRUTH ABOUT JAPAN when anything happens in China Japan is the first to feel it. From of old China has played one nation off against an- other. This is still her game. We are determined, how- ever, to do the right thing by her. We have no intention of settling down in Shantimg. No one is more anxious than we are to clear up that situation. So great are the complications, however, that it can only be done by direct negotiations between the nations immediately concerned. The Home Minister, Mr. Tokunami, was even more emphatic as to Japan’s responsibility to deal fairly with her neighbor. Here are his words: Geographically, historically, through their commerce and through their literature Japan and China are so inter- related that they are tied up in one btmdle. The interests of the one are absolutely the interests of the other. From a purely selfish point of view Japan must seek China’s wel- fare. Japan is dependent on China for her iron, her coal, and for a large per cent of her food supply. Thus China’s prosperity spells prosperity for Japan. At the same time we have no desire to prevent other nations from getting their share in China’s prosperity. Certainly there is no reason why American and Japanese interests should collide there. There is abundant room for all. As regards the Shantimg question, it has been my con- tention all along that it will be all loss and no gain for Japan to get a foothold in China down in Shantung and thus increase her territory and her wealth but at the same time turn her nearest neighbor into an eternal enemy. Emphatically the policy of the present Cabinet is to do all that it can to further the welfare of China. In fact the integrity, independence, and progress of China is today Japan’s most pressing problem. [ 22 ] THE KOREAN QUESTION That the Premier and his Home Minister are not indulging in mere words but are backing them up with constructive action, is shown by the Hara Cabinet’s putting an embargo on the sale of muni- tions to either wing in China on the part of the Japanese government. It is also shown by the Cabinet’s putting an embargo on the making of political loans to the contending factions in China. Under the Cabinet’s lead Japan has gone into the recently established Consortium, through which all political loans are made to China by America, En- gland, France, and Japan acting as a unit. When it is remembered that the bureaucratic Cabinet that preceded the present one not only sold munitions and made political loans to China but en- gineered matters so that they got into the hands of the reactionary wing and strengthened them in their fight against the progressives, the real significance and corrective character of the action of the Hara Cabinet becomes apparent. It is reversing from the bottom up some of Japan’s past policies toward her neighbor across the Yellow Sea. Baron Sakatani brought in the altruistic motive in presenting his point of view : “ Until China can stand alone America and Japan must work together for her highest good.” THE KOREAN QUESTION No liberty-loving American can fail to sym- pathize with a nation that has lost its independence. [ 23 ] ON THE TRAIL OF THE TRUTH ABOUT JAPAN Yet the open-minded student must admit that what has happened in Korea is only the logical trend of events. Centuries of intrigue, an inefficient and cor- rupt government, an oppressed people, a land with- out progress, these are some of the things that loom large in Korean history. Twice has Japan’s national existence been seri- ously threatened by way of Korea. In the first instance by China intriguing with Korea, which brought on the China-Japan War. Again by Rus- sian intrigue with Korea which was the cause of the Russian-Japanese War. Any nation gaining a foothold on the Korean peninsula is in a position to drive a death-thrust into Japan’s heart. Japan’s national safety de- manded that something be done in Korea. Minister Tokunami went to the root of the matter when he summed up the situation by saying, “ There could be no peace in the Orient as long as Korea was the willing tool of scheming nations.” Few who know the facts can quarrel with what was done, though they may regret exceedingly that it had to be done. No man, however, who has a spark of humanity in him can for a moment justify the manner in which it has been done. The atrocities committed by Japan’s military men in Korea in 1919 and those committed across the Manchurian border in November of 1920 constitute a black blot on Japan’s fair escutcheon that she will never be able to remove. Her strongest friends cannot condone THE KOREAN QUESTION them. They are the darkest chapter of her long and otherwise glorious history. It should be known, however, that there are multi- tudes of Japanese who bow their heads in shame and sorrow over what their military men did in Korea. I saw Japanese listen to the reports that came from Korea with the tears running down their faces. Others came to my home and made abject apologies for the treatment the Koreans had received at the hands of their nationals. Better still, I saw Japanese Christian pastors, like the heroes of old, take their lives in their hands and appeal to the people in pro- test. Such was the volume of protest that arose that the Governor General, under whose regime those awful atrocities were committed, had to retire. As his successor, Baron Saito, a large-hearted, tender-hearted, fatherly man, was sent to Korea. He went there with the passion and the purpose of doing all in his power to give the Korean people a square deal. In the face of tremendous difficulties he has been inaugurating far-reaching reforms. He has removed the restrictions on the press. He has abolished the gendarmes and substituted the civilian police. The Korean children have been given the same privilege in the schools that the Japanese children enjoy. The use of the Korean language has been restored. An Advisory Council made up of Koreans has been set up. Much remains yet to be done. Yet no one can deny that Baron Saito is making an earnest effort to right past [ 25 ] ON THE TRAIL OF THE TRUTH ABOUT JAPAN wrongs and to remove the oppressive mailed fist from Korea. Above all, let us not indict a whole nation be- cause of the sins and mistakes of a section of its people. Militarism is damnable whether it raises its head under Japan and commits atrocities in Korea, or under England and massacres villages in India, or under America and commits outrages in Haiti. A RELIGIOUS RENAISSANCE Japan is in the midst of a far-reaching religious awakening. Seventy years ago when she was forced out into the world life, she found herself centuries behind the nations of the West, in education, in politics, in commerce, in industry, in armaments, in everything that bulked large in the Western world at that time. She determined that she would retrieve the past and catch up with the West along these lines. Into this task the nation as a nation for half a century poured its best brain, its keenest thinking, its last ounce of energy, its very life. The material- istic civilization of the Occident that was so fair a flower in Japan’s eyes has been transplanted to her own soil and caused to blossom there. She has reached the goal which she set. But she almost lost her soul. Japan forgot that man is a spiritual being. She forgot that unless a nation builds on the great spiritual verities she cannot stand in the day of storm and stress. [ 26 ] A RELIGIOUS RENAISSANCE Moreover, during these fifty years many of Japan’s leaders boasted that they were agnostics. They boasted that they were building in the Orient a great secular state into which there should go nothing but the genius and the intellect of man. They said that Japan would show to the world that a nation can become a mighty world power and can accomplish great things without God and without religion. The masses of the people still clung to the old pagan faiths but in most cases it was an empty form and perfunctory. It was a non-religious age. Religion was relegated into the background both in the people’s thinking and in their living. They were preoccupied with the great task to which they had set their hands. The result of it all has been most disastrous. To- day there is such breaking down of character, such bankruptcy of manhood, such sweeping away of moral ideals, such undermining of ethical standards, and such rampant materialism that the thoughtful men and women have been shocked into a great awakening. The leaders are alarmed at what they see, and are appealing to religious men and women to help stem the tide. Furthermore, the heart-life of the nation is re- asserting itself. The divine spark that was snuffed out has again burst into a flame. The Japanese peo- ple have again taken up a heart-search after God. They are joining in the age-long cry of humanity : [ 27 ] ON THE TRAIL OF THE TRUTH ABOUT JAPAN “ My heart thirsteth after God, for the living God ; when shall I come and appear before God ? ” The Meiji era was characterized by a turning away from religion and the development of a non- religpous materialistic civilization. This present Taisho era promises a return of the people to re- ligion and an effort to put the religious motive and dynamic at the heart of the nation’s development. The pagan faiths are feeling this return of the peo- ple to religious thinking and religious yearning. The Buddhists, in order to meet this situation, are aping Christian methods and imitating Christian institutions. They have organized a Buddhist Sal- vation Army, a Buddhist Sunday School Movement, a Buddhist Young Men’s Association, and a Bud- dhist Women’s Society. Through these organiza- tions they are endeavoring to put new life and new meaning into a system that is worn out and hope- lessly beyond repair. There is also a very marked revival of Shintoism. The Shintoists are taking advantage of this rising tide and are making a strenuous effort to revive the practise of emperor worship. In the fall of 1920 there was dedicated in Tokyo a new Shinto shrine which cost ten million dollars to build. Here the spirit of the late Emperor Meiji is to be worshiped. The dedication was an affair of national significance and was carried through with great ceremony. Dur- ing the four days of dedication between two and three million people made pilgrimages to this shrine [ 28 ] CHRISTIANITY'S GOLDEN HOUR and bowed in worship to the spirit of their departed and much-beloved Emperor, For half a century Japan’s intellectuals have con- sidered religion entirely outside of their realm. The attitude of the majority toward religion was that of cynical scorn or utter indifference. Today religion bulks large in the thinking of many of them. The Imperial Universities of Tokyo and Kyoto have gone so far as to establish a religious monthly. This is an open forum where men of every faith are free to make known their religious thinking and experiences to the nation. Some institutions of higher learning have established a “ Department of Religion ” where extensive courses are given in the study of religions. These are some of the signs of Japan’s religious awakening. They indicate that the soul of Japan is to have a new day and that the spiritual verities are to have a new valuation in the life of that nation. CHRISTIANITY’S GOLDEN HOUR Madam Guyon, the eminent French mystic, says in one of her writings that “ God has creative hours.” Japan stands in one of God’s great creative hours. Again he is giving the Christian church a golden opportunity to put Christ’s program across in that forward -looking nation. The government has about-faced in its attitude to- ward Christianity. For many years its attitude was [ 29 ] ON THE TRAIL OF THE TRUTH ABOUT JAPAN that of suspicion and active opposition. Today its attitude is that of friendly cooperation. The Em- peror accompanied his gracious words of welcome to the World’s Sunday School Convention, held in Tokyo in 1920, with a gift of $25,000 to help defray convention expenses. The Emperor and Empress also sent their personal representative to extend to the delegates of the convention their cordial greet- ings. Premier Kara, in discussing Christianity’s place in the nation, said to me with great frankness : There is absolute religious freedom in Japan. Japan is wide open to Christianity. There is not a closed door any- where. Christian workers are absolutely free to press their program. Frequently the Imperial Household Department, the Central Government, the State governments, and City governments give unsolicited, unconditioned free-will contributions to Christian institutions in order to encourage and help them in their work. These are some of the evidences that lay bare the Government’s state of heart toward the Christian movement today. The fact that there are here and there underofficials who indulge in petty persecu- tions, should not blind us to the great central policy of those in authority at the heart of things. The religious condition of the young men and the young women in Japan also spells opportunity in capital letters for Christianity. They are standing in an hour of spiritual crisis. In the religious [ 30 ] CHRISTIANITTS GOLDEN HOUR renaissance which Japan is experiencing, some of her leaders and those who cling to the old faiths are harking back to the past. They are trying to re- establish the reviving religious life of the people on the old pagan faiths. The youth of the land have, however, by the multi- tude, broken with the old creeds and the old cults. They are not looking over their shoulders. Their faces are toward the dawn of a new day in their religious experience. They tell us, by the thousands they tell us, that when they turn to Buddhism and Shintoism they find them fountains without water, cisterns that are dry, systems without a life and without a dynamic. And there they stand open- minded, open-hearted, and conscious of a great famine in their souls. By the thousands they are groping in the dark for the light which they know must be shining somewhere. They also feel keenly the need of new ideals and a new dynamic in order to meet the needs of the nation’s new day. The attitude of some of Japan’s outstanding lead- ers also writes opportunity in letters of light. Every nation is led by its leaders. This is especially true of Japan. And the hearts of some of its leaders are turning Christward. A short time ago the president of the large Com- mercial College in Tokyo asked the manager of the great Mitsui corporation for suggestions as to how he could better fit the students under his care for their future work. This corporation is the largest [ 31 ] ON THE TRAIL OF THE TROTH ABOUT JAPAN commercial concern not only in Japan but in all the Orient. It has a chain of banks clear across the Empire and branches in every port city in the world. It has large mining and other interests. It em- ploys between twenty and thirty thousand men in its different activities. The manager of this con- cern — one of Japan’s leading industrial magnates — replied to the college president, saying: I have but one suggestion to make. The men that come to us from your institution are not lacking in intellectual ability. They are not lacking in a knowledge of commer- cial affairs. They are lacking in the dynamic that makes manhood. They are wanting in the power that builds char- acter. And my one and only suggestion to you is that you send your students to the Christian churches, for that is the only place that I know of where they can find that dynamic. Here comes this keen forward-looking captain of industry and out of his large experience and contact with men of affairs gives it as his conviction that the wonder-working Qirist and his dynamic gospel is Japan’s only hope. Japan’s doors are open to the Christ. She is ready to have the Christian program pushed out across her Empire. In the life of nations such opportunities come but once in a century. THE NEED OF AN ENLARGED CHRISTIAN PROGRAM For sixty years the Christian church faced in Japan a great field for evangelism. Here was a [ 32 ] THE NEED OF AN ENLARGED CHRISTIAN PROGRAM nation untouched by the complexity of modem life. Her people lived the simple and easy-going life characteristic of the Orient. The church’s task was correspondingly simple. The broadcast recital of the gospel story met the needs of the situation. There is still great need for this work. Vast sec- tions of Japan’s population are still unevangelized. The rural districts are as yet practically untouched. Eighty per cent, of her people are yet to be reached with the Christian message. All along the far-flung line of Japan’s unevangelized masses men must go who have a passion for the gospel and proclaim it to men and women who are hungry in their hearts and famished in their souls. Nothing can take the place of the dynamic gospel of Jesus Christ in the lives of this nation’s millions. But life in Japan is no longer simple. The dreamy days with their tranquil life are gone. A new spirit has possessed the land. Industrialism, with its in- troduction of modern machinery; commercialism, with its rush and hurry; the growth of the cities, with their teeming throbbing life, have created a new Japan. Japan’s total area is less than that of California. And because of its mountainous character only eighteen per cent, can be cultivated. Her population is pressing the 60,000,000 mark. Moreover there is an annual increase of about 700,000. Here is Japan’s problem. How shall she secure land and a sufficient food-supply for her large and ever-increas- [ 33 ] ON THE TRAIL OF THE TRUTH ABOUT JAPAN ing population? Unless she can find a solution for this problem she faces suicidal overcrowding and starvation. The closing of the doors to Japanese immigration in Canada, America, and Australia raises the acute- ness of this problem to the n**' degree. It was not from choice that Japan turned her face toward the Orient and determined to carve out her future in Asia. The Occidental nations forced her to seek a place in the Asiatic sun. Having confined her to Asia, these land-rich nations of the West are still not satisfied. With jealous eyes they watch her. And again and again they have checkmated her endeavors to solve a problem that to her is one of life and death. The upshot of it all is that Japan has determined to become an industrial nation. Only by turning from the fields to the factories and industrializing her national life can she furnish employment for her increasing population and feed it. She has decided that her only salvation as a nation is to fol- low England’s lead, import the raw material, trans- form it in her mills and factories, and go into the world’s markets with the finished product. The result is that a great industrial wave has swept across the Empire. Her two hundred factories of three decades ago have jumped to twenty-five thousand. The fifteen thousand factory employees of that time have increased to over two million. In such cities as Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, and [ 34 ] THE NEED OF AN ENLARGED CHRISTIAN PROGRAM Kobe the number of factories has doubled in the last seven years. On the twenty-mile stretch along Tokyo Bay between Tokyo and Yokohama two thou- sand new factories were built in 1919. The same thing took place on the shore-line of Osaka Bay between Osaka and Kobe. Here are developing two of the greatest industrial centers in the Orient, manufacturing centers that in the coming days will rank with New York City and Birmingham, Eng^ land. The tragic thing about this situation is that Japan has made this remarkable industrial growth through the toil and tears of her women and children. Of her two million factory workers one million two hundred and fifty thousand belong to the weaker sex. Of these, three hundred thousand are girls under twenty years of age. Their working hours are long. Their living conditions are hard. The resulting loss from sickness and other causes is so great that for the spinning-mills alone two hundred thousand fresh girls are recruited every year from the country districts. Industry and commerce go hand in hand. Seventy years ago Japan had no commercial contacts with the outside world. In 1920 her imports shot across the billion dollar mark, and her exports just missed touching that high point. The World War gave Japan such a commercial opportunity as does not come to a nation in a hundred years. The markets of the world were open to her. Competition was [ 35 ] ON THE TRAIL OF THE TRUTH ABOUT JAPAN absent. She received her own price for every thing that she offered. Not only so, but from all corners of the globe men came by the hundreds and begged her to accept orders and at her own figures. For some of her captains of industry the temptation was too great. They flooded the marts of the nations with inferior goods. They thus dragged Japan’s commercial reputation into the dust and caused her to lose an opportunity to capture a large share of the world’s trade. The result is that she has not been able to hold what she gained. However, she got the taste and the experience, and these are going to prove an incalculable asset for the future. One of the outstanding features of this develop- ment is that it has forced one million two hundred thousand of Japan’s daughters out of their age-long sheltered home life into the turbulent exposed life of modem commercialism. In stores, shops, and offices of all kinds, they are facing problems and temptations for which they are physically, mentally, and spiritually unprepared. Another feature of this new Japan is the phe- nomenal growth of her cities. The population of Tokyo has jumped from 858,000 to over 2,500,000 in thirty years. Osaka’s population has increased a round million during this same period. Other cities have had a growth that parallels this. Both of these cities have suburbs that have grown from 5,000 to 30,000 people in the last twelve years. This growth is almost entirely industrial in its char- [361 THE NEED OF AN ENLARGED CHRISTIAN PROGRAM acter. They are the centers where the working folk congregate. With the growth of the cities and the springing up of industrial centers have come the inevitable problems of housing, congestion, sanitation, infan- tile mortality, loose morals, the increase of crime, the conflict between capital and labor, and all the problems that haunt the modern city. The slum, that cancerous growth of twentieth century city life, has also made its appearance in this fair land. Here is the new situation which the Christian Movement is facing in Japan today. These mush- room cities must be evangelized, for as go the cities, so goes the nation. The industrial classes must be reached. Those exposed to the dangers of cruel competitive commercialism must be safeguarded. The church must minister to those who are crowded into congested districts and who live in the slough of the slums. To all men, women, and children everywhere she must give fuller and freer and finer life. Only a Christianity with an evangelistic fervor and a social passion can meet the present needs. The simple program of the earlier days must be broadened and enlarged so that the church may function efficiently and with saving healing power amidst the complexity of Japan’s modern life. Preaching there must be, and by men whose hearts are aflame and whose souls are aglow. But the gospel must be given hands and feet and incarnated [ 37 ] ON THE TRAIL OF THE TRUTH ABOUT JAPAN in lives of lowly ministry that the common people and those who toil may understand. The individual is the unit, and the church will get nowhere until it seeks and saves him, but it must also take homes and institutions and communities into its heart and strive for their salvation if it is going to do effective kingdom building in the Japan of today. THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY The Christian community in Japan is not large. It comprises only 200,000 communicants out of a population of almost 60,000,000. It has, however, a strength and influence far beyond its numbers. It and the Christ and the gospel are the dynamic at the heart of the nation that is lifting it upward and Godward. They are raising the home and giving Japan’s women a new status. They are giving the nation new ideals and new standards and recon- structing her whole social order. The sweep and strength of any movement can best be judged by the kind of men and women that make up its leadership and line up behind it. It is only sixty years since the Christian movement was launched in this Empire. Yet both in the pulpit and in the pew there are those who in culture, in character, and in faith are the peers of their fellow Christians in the West. There are such Christian statesmen as Mr. Ebara, Member of the House of Peers, and Mr, Shimada, [ 38 ] THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY Member of Parliament and an ex-Speaker of that body. There are such Christian officials as Baron Nakamura, until recently Minister of the Imperial Household Department, and Mr. Nagao, one of the heads of the Imperial Railroad System. Judge Watanabe, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Korea, is an out-and-out Christian. Admiral Uriyu is a Christian warrior. In the educational world there are such Christian educators as Doctor Nitobe, for many years presi- dent of the Government’s Junior College in Tokyo, President Sato of the Northern Imperial University, Professor Yoshino of the Imperial University and the leader of the democratic movement, and a host of others standing high in their profession. There are Christian reformers like Mr. Nemoto, Member of Parliament; Mr. Ando, who heads up the Temperance Movement; and Mr. Aoki, one of Osaka’s leading business men. There are Christian editors, Christian business men, and Christian men in law and medicine, not a few, who are leaders in their respective spheres. There are such princes of preachers as Doctor Ebina, often called the silver-tongued ; Pastor Miya- gawa, the Beecher of Japan; Pastor Uemura, the Russell Conwell of Japan ; Pastor Kozaki, and other men of power in the pulpit. There are such Chris- tian evangels as Mr. Kimura, the Moody of Japan; Mr. Kanamori, her Billy Sunday; Colonel Yama- muro, the General Booth of Japan, and others, who [391 ON THE TRAIL OF THE TRUTH ABOUT JAPAN as evangelists are blazing the paths of glory for Jesus Christ up and down the land. There is Mr. Uchi- mura, the Christian mystic and interpreter of the Word, whose magazine, “ Bible Study,” goes into every comer of the Empire. All of these and many others who might be men- tioned are not only great leaders in the onward march of the Christian church but also conspicuous national figures. It is this aggressive forward-mov- ing Christian community with its fine indigenous leaders that writes hope in bold letters across Japan’s future. THE CHALLENGE Japan presents to the Christian church a clarion- like challenge. There she stands at the crossroads of the nations. For weal or for woe her molding hand is stretched across the Orient. Christianize her impact, and a deep wide wedge for Christ will be driven into the life of the entire East. A Christ- less Japan, however, will go far toward creating a Christless Asia. On the church’s answer to this ringing challenge hangs not only Japan’s future but the Orient’s future and the whole big world’s future. God help the followers of Christ in this great hour to pitch their lives to the heroic note and with a great purpose and a mighty passion to throw themselves into the task of swinging Japan on to the side of the con- quering Christ. [ 40 ] DATE DUE fCT 8 ’68 GAYLORD PRINTED IN U.S.A.