GRAPHIC SERIES-JAPAN Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from Columbia University Libraries https://archive.org/details/landthatlacksonlOOmeth '/.y ,• ‘ -v "f-. X-5,S','' HOKKAIDO ^ ■ Mr KODATE felOKA TOYAf^iA FUKUlj AMA WAKA,JYA % ^ ^^,!5Hity HIROSHW NAGA! KAGOSHtM EASTERN SEA n ress Swee ^ I ^HE great black blot in religious Japan represents the proportion of non-Christians. Compare with this the relative few who have heard the word of God and are inquirers, denoted by the gray area. Japan’s Christians are few, but their number is a hopeful ray ol white light, just as they are represented here. The area of Japan is 148,756 square miles, and we have only about 100 religious workers there. \c AyTORE than half of Japanese commerce is modern. That is represented by the clear white area. A small portion of her business is still conducted accord- ing to the methods of the Dark Ages. But an encour- aging amount, which was antiquated, is changing with the light of modern influence. The value of the mineral and metal products of Japan for 1916 was 281,305,276 yen (1140,652,638). ^VER ninety-five per cent, of Japan’s children are in schools. Most of them are very fine schools. Only a small part of the entire educational system is behind the times, and a very few districts /^NLY half the industries of Japan are conducted according to the standards we call modern. A fourth of her industrial plants use old wasteful methods, wasteful of material and of human beings. The remaining fourth of the nation’s industries, shown by the gray space, are just beginning to adopt modern ways. Japan’s exports in 1913 were worth 729,431,644 yen (1364,715,822). Why we are T he Methodist Church is in Japan because the Empire is in need of the religious and spiritual help which the Christian Church can give. The Church is pledged to do its utmost in spreading to the four corners of the globe the Word of God. Japan is the keystone of the arch that is slowly but surely raising itself in the far East. Her influence in Korea (now a part of the Empire), China and the rest of Asia is tremendous. She holds the reins among the Asiatic peoples, all of whom are non-Christian. As Japan goes, so will go China during the next century. It is imperative then that Methodism relax not a whit, but rather increase her efforts to spread the gospel in Japan. Japan is a member of the Entente Allies. She has functioned smoothly and loyally during the trying times since she declared war on the Mad Dog of Europe. Japan will have a seat at the Peace Table in the Conference of Powers. More than that, Japan will play an active part in the League of Nations which still later will control the political and industrial conduct of the world. Japan can cooperate more efficiently with in Japan her Allies when their ideals shall have become hers, when their religion shall have become hers. When Japan accepts Christ, and not until then, will she view World Problems in the right way. Not until then will she wield her greatest power at the council table of the nations. This challenge to Methodism is direct and compelling. Japan and America are friends at opposite ends of the earth. America dominates the Western World, Japan the Eastern. America enjoys the true religion under which the highest known development of civili- zation has been reached. The soul of Japan has not yet been touched by the truths of Christianity. It is necessary to the consistent progress of the human race that the hearts of these two great powers beat in harmony. Japan must better understand America and America, Japan. The wider introduction of Christ in the Island Empire is the way in which this great accom- plishment can be brought about and the only way. The resulting better understanding between the two peoples will make for better friendship and better friend- ship will make for better World Conditions. TheA\fest has been copk M ost of us picture Japan as a land of gardens, tea ‘ houses and perfumes. It is also a land of crowds, movies and smells. Automobile horns scream at jogging rickshaws. Messen- ger-boys and workmen with bags of tools bowl along on bicycles. / d in all save its Religion 1 J APAN has an electric trolley system that would make any tired business man feel at home. One writer notes that pretty girls there, as everywhere, always get a seat. Japan achieved government owner- ship of her 6,000 miles of railroads in 1904. In the Flowery Kingdom are six daily newspapers which have a circu- lation of over 200,000 each. And the greatest of these is the Morning Sun. The air of dreamy Japan is a-ring with the ship carpenter’s hammer. Our new merchant marine will meet the Rising Sun flag on every sea. Japan has adopted all the trappings of modern life. We even read of public scandals about bribery accept- ed by members of the Lower House to insure the passage of an army bill! And Japanese Boy Scouts yell, “Let’s get the umpire’s goat!” Rival AMONG the most powerful religions in the world, Buddhism is second only to Christianity. In the East, the Buddhist temple is the strongest rival of the Christian Church. 5 Buddhism is atheism. Buddhists have no con- ception of a Creator. Who made the Creator?’ they ask with an air of finality. To them exist- ence is evolution through various gradations of heaven and hell. Forces The passage from one phase to the next is con- trolled, not by a gracious Supreme Being, but by an immutable law of cause and effect. There is no atone- ment for sin, no redemption through a Savior. Buddhists look forward, not to eternal life, but to “Nirvana”-freedom from all existence, annihilation. Pessimism is the key-note of Buddhism. All existence is held to be futile, evil, worthless. Devotees learn to crush all impulses, and so the religion encourages stagnation. How different from our living faith that inspires progress ! No God and 8 F ifteen hundred years ago Buddhism came into Japan from China by way of Korea. Today the religion has decayed until only the ornate trappings, such as this traveling shrine, remain. The temples of Buddha are as full of ritual and ceremony, candles and incense, images and processions as are the cathedrals of Rome. There are prayer-wheels to get blessings for the dead. Mothers put pebbles on Jizo Sama to insure for their children an easy journey after death. Poor benighted sufferers go through the act of rubbing the stomach of an image and then rubbing their own to cure the pain. HINTO, the first primitive religion of Japan, is well called “the god way. For its gods and goddesses number eight million. Shinto is nature-worship and ancestor-worship, and so there are gods of land, wind and sky, as well as deified grandfathers, generals and rulers. Simple shrines nestle in every grove and valley- Spirits are believed to inhabit the shrines. There are offerings of rice, fish and vegetables, and frequently the sacrifice of animals. Shinto has no sacred literature, no ethical code. One has merely to obey the Mikado, who is a god, and one’s own impulses. Shinto is the religion of the majority of the upper classes. To the Japanese, patriotism is religion and that religion is Shinto. So the faith survives in an intense national feeling. .000,000 Gods ^mm Educational Wonderful^ efficient government scho 98% of school-age children are in regular attendance. Japan has one of the finest public- school systems in the world Education Plus O Contrasts ols developing intellectual agnostics We need many more schools like this if we hope to keep pace with the need Education ns us What our Educational Ca A FEW of the traveled people of Japan awoke, some years ago, to the fact that the position of women in their cherry-blossom Lland was a degraded one. But comparatively few people traveled. So the awakening was a slow process. And then — as the fairy story says — and then came the mission schools. Young boys and girls trained in the healthy atmosphere of our educational institutions, under the guidance of Christian teachers, began to see the weaknesses of Japan’s social structure. This new generation looks now upon social and moral problems with level eyes, made level by their view of Western culture through the clear glass of Christianity. The girl graduates step back into their family circles with a higher home ideal. And when we count our graduates among the officials in the high places of use- fulness in public affairs, and think that we have moulded the characters of these leaders, then we can honestly feel that our work has not been in vain. mpaign has accomplished What our Religious Cain AIASAXOBU ISHIZAWA, Ph.l). Dean of Aoyama Gakuin C ^T to her own devices, Japan adopted the mechanics of Western civiliza- tion, and stopped short at that. It is Christianity that gives the spiritual stimulus which lifts the nation out of the mire of commercialism. It is the work of the Church to teach the Oriental peoples how to be civilized without being sorry. They look to us for guidance, for democratic institutions founded on liberal education and sound character. The new mis- sionary goes forth prepared to interpret JAPAN’S “BILLY SUNDAY” And a typical audience our industrial experiences, our labor problems, our New Testament standards of living to the nations, like Japan, who are just entering their Machine Age. Our success in Japan has inspired recent revivals in Buddhist circles. Shinto, the native religion of the Empire, rallies with the wave of patriotism. But even with this opposition, which grows as we grow, our religious campaign prospers. Eager crowds fill the churches and chapels to hear such men as Kimura “Billy Sunday” or Paul Kanamori, until there is need to adopt the “Standing Room Only” sign. As a result of country-wide evangelistic campaigns, thousands of intelligent inquirers enroll, thus signifying their thirst for knowledge of the gospel. T he Board of Foreign Missions has in Japan two schools and one publishing house, with a total property valuation of $270,000. Together with the Methodist Episcopal Church South and the Canadian Methodist Church, we cooperate with the Japanese Methodist Church. In 1917, the subsidy received from the three Mission Boards was $15,900. Japan’s Methodist Church has a total of 15,466 communicants. There are 384 Japanese workers, of whom 134 are ordained. The Methodist Church in Japan has a total of 133 churches, 29 of which are self-supporting. There are 168 organized preaching places. In the Methodist Sunday-schools are enrolled 35,802. OurProposals fortheHilure The Influence of Meth R ich man, poor man, beggar man, chief, — they all find in Christianity a something that enriches their lives a hundredfold. The men pictured here are figures big in financial, political, educational and ecclesiastical circles of Japan. Guided by the influence of such men, the Empire is strug- gling up out of the slough of paganism onto the firm ground which is Christendom. VISCOUNT SUTEMI CHINDA has been consul, min- ister, or ambassador to the four corners of the globe. He says: “The Christian mis- sionaries to Japan contributed to the building of an unseen bridge between East and West.” GINJIRE KATSUDA is a rising business man and million- aire. He has contributed generously to his alma mater, .-Toyama Gakuin, the most recent gift being a sum of 200,000 yen ($100,000 gold). SHOSUKE SATO is an educator of the highest rank. He was a fellow student of President Wilson at Johns Hopkins University. He is now Dean of the Agricultural College of the Imperial Northern University. BISHOP YOSHISHU HARAIWA was teaching in the Government schools when he became con- verted. He at once became a minister. In 1912 he succeeded Bishop Honda as head of the Japanese Methodist Church. YOITSU HONDA was one of the earliest Japanese Christians. He was a noted leader of Christian forces in the Empire. In 1907, when the Methodist Churches of Japan united, Yoitsu Honda was elected Bishop. TARO ANDO W'hileTaro Ando was Consul-General at Honolulu, he was converted to Christianity. He returned to Japan a fervent believer in its doctrines. He is one of the leaders of the modern temperance movement in Japan. H er soldiers stand shoulder to shoulder with ours. That in itself proves that the chasm which used to yawn between East and West is not impassable. The gulf is not racial, but existed because of ignorance and a difference in ideas and ideals. But with education and Christianity comes a community of ideas and ideals which bridges the old chasm ! East and West now stand side by side in every fight for Right. Factory Conditions C A T least 20,000 mills and factories dull the skies of the Sunrise Kingdom with their j^smoke. More than a million men, women and children grind out their lives toiling long hours in unhealthy workrooms for starvation wages. In silk and weaving factories, the machine hands work about twelve hours a day. There are no rest periods, and the lunch “hour” is reduced to the minimum. In the great manu- facturing plants, almost no preventive measures are customary, and the accident rate in the iron and steel industry is enormous. Many factories are unclean and unventilated. There are no systems of air-spraying to lay the germ-laden dust. A few fine exceptions are apparent, but even in the cleanest buildings a low wage-scale pre- vails and immoral relations exist between foremen and women workers. Houses of prostitution are filled with one-time factory girls. Many factory owners maintain dormitories for the workers where the crowded and unsanitary living conditions aid in the spread of disease. Night and day shifts use the same rooms and bedding. Of the thousands of recruits from rural districts to the big manu- facturing centers, 60% never return home. Of those who do, one out of every six has tuberculosis. There are no I. W.W.’s in Nippon. Japan’s factory law is tragic. It provides that little children shall not work before four in the morning, nor after ten at night. Another clause states that women shall not work more than twelve hours a day, except in unusual circumstances. SAFETY FIRST signs and decent wages, clean workrooms and good factory laws are evidences of Christianity in business. Japan has adopted all the machinery of modern industry, but none of the soul. hallenge Christianity T he thinking men of Japan have begun to realize that ill-paid labor is not cheap labor; that Japan’s products are often inferior because they are made by the fumbling fingers of worn-out girls. And Japan’s leaders would welcome any help from our Church. In factory centers where missions and other Christian agents have opened decent living quarters and honest employment agencies, the results have been splendid. Government officials and heads of Big Business will eagerly cooperate with the plans of the Church to improve the Empire’s industrial situation. What we propose to do J APAN’S gro wth has been like that of the rank vegetation of a tropical rainy season. Warmed by the sudden success of her commercial ventures, stimulated by the influx of war orders, her industries have lifted themselves above all the other established institutions of the country until they dominate the sky-line. But the growth is not healthy. It is inflated. One- sided. The other phases of national development have not kept pace with it. The structure lacks strength. Lacks the strong woody fiber that will keep it upright through coming seasons of storm. Lacks backbone. Christianity. Christianity applied to industries means sane, in- spiring leadership; means men in the pinnacle places who have broad vision, but who are capable of seeing with the Centenaiy Gift " ■ ■ — .... and understanding little people. Bread-and-butter Christianity stands for fair labor laws, enforced by honest and humane employers. Decent, wholesome living conditions for the many workers who must of necessity live in close groups around their work. All these interpretations of what religion may mean to a nation of work-a-day people are not visionary theories. They are possible and practical. Present-day Japan cannot be transformed to such an Elysian state in a night. But it can be changed in a generation or two. By training up, under Christian influence, men for the pinnacle places in the state. By making it possible for the Church to have a hand in the character for- mation of the future industrial leaders. By educating the employers and workers of the next generation. That’s what we propose to do with the Centenary gift. The Great War— c. U NTIL America declared war, in April, 1917, the conflict in Europe was just a war— differing from its predecessors only in size. When, however. President Wilson hurled into the ring the power of America, war as the world then knew it became a thing of the past. We were engaged in a righteous war, one in which greed and national aggrandizement never figured. Germany was but a pawn in the scheme of things as laid out in America’s great World Emancipation Plan. In spots the world is an unfit place in which to live. Man everywhere must be made to recognize man’s equality— his right to come and go and do as he pleases as long as he observes the common laws of humanity. America has set this conscience standard for the world ! World Betterment is the new cry and every movement, everywhere, which aims to speed this attainment will take on added emphasis. Weak peoples, little peoples, far-away peoples and oppressed peoples are to have their day. The helm of the world is held firmly in the hands of WoodrowWilson, chief executive of a people enjoying the blessings of true democracy. And these free millions through their able helmsman, along with their Allies, have decreed that the Spirit of Democracy must be given an opportunity to take root 1 a ipan— \bur Money wherever the need exists. The world must be made a better place. It was to accomplish that purpose that we drew the sword. And that we shall succeed in our crusade we are feeding- three-fifths of Europe, relieving distress and suffering in France and Belgium and in Asia Minor. It is for that reason, also, that the Missionary program for the world must go on. The fester-spots on the family of nations must be cured. The Foreign Missionary Movement of the Methodist Church of America is one hundred years old ! The anniversary comes at a critical time in Church history. Everywhere people are raising the question, “Flas Christianity failed?” Christianity has NOT failed! It was the Spirit of Christ that cried out to Germany “STOP!” It was the Spirit of Christ that compelled the Central Powers to laydown their arms and acknowledge defeat! It is the Spirit of Christ that will bring freedom- political, economic and religious freedom— to all the peoples of the world! It is the Spirit of Christ that will fill the coffers of the Centenary Missionary chests to overflowing that brotherly love and peace and helpfulness and true democracy may be spread broadcast throughout the world. I want to go to your Christian School AM one of more than seven million school-age children in far-away Japan. My country gives us splendid schools and looks after our health and safeguards it diligently. At home I am well cared for and well fed and sur- rounded with beautiful toys. But I want more. I want to learn more, ever so much more, about your Jesus, the Man who loved little girls like me. I want to learn about the great love He had for every one, and of how He died to give us life. I am Just a little child, and only today did I hear of this wonderful Man and of the schools where His life story is taught. I live far, far away from them and my father will not let me go. It is the foreigners’ school — that’s the name — the Christian foreigners. Their nearest school is fifty miles away from where I live. How I wish we had one here! I know of other chil- dren who would gladly join me in going to such a school. The foreigner who told us about Jesus said the Jesus school could be built here if enough money could — How much will ^u JOHN R. MOTT says: T he marvelous commercial and industrial expansion of our nation, and the penetration of the lines of its economic and social and political influence among the nations of the earth, accentuate the importance of having a Church like ours seek, more fully than it has ever dreamed of doing, to Christianize the impact of our so-called Christian civilization upon the non-Christian nations and civilizations. “The war itself made it obligatory that a Church which represents Christ so adjust its plans and its views as to grasp a situation literally world-wide in its significance and scope. “It is not only a time to plan for and to begin to do larger things in a constructive way, but it is the time also to confront the Church, as never before, with the idea of the permanence of the foreign missionary under- taking. In my judgment, this is the most nearly permanent work that is being conducted in the world today.” GRAPHIC SERIES t ‘Prepared by WORLD OUTLOOK for the CENTENARY COMMISSION OF THE BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH 111 Fifth Avenue New York City % The Graphic Series embraces books on the following countries NORTH AFRICA CHINA • JAPAN • KOREA CENTRAL AFRICA MEXICO • MALAYSIA PHILIPPINES SOUTH AMERICA INDIA Copyright, 1919, by World Outlook