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Mr. Street is a genial and tolerant observer of men and events, and something of a philosopher withal; nevertheless, this book of his is likely to prove unpopular with a good many of his countrymen, because of its frank and uncompromising dissent from many prejudices that have lately become prevalent, not to say fashionable, since the war. Be this as it may, his work comes opportunely at a time when public opinion in the United States and elsewhere is being rapidly led, by the propaganda of an influential group of political writers, to look upon all things Japanese with increasing suspicion and hostility. For the spirit of "harmonious cooperation" among nations, to which Mr. Secretary Hughes appealed so earnestly at the close of the Washington Conference, is a state of mind which can never be attained and maintained except by virtue of a good understanding between them, based on mutual tolerance and respect. Mr. Street, writing as an American for Americans, endeavours to contribute towards this kind of understanding. In so doing. he has recorded his experiences and impressions in a form which can hardly fail to attract, even though it may not convince, a wide audience; for he combines breadth and freshness of outlook with a humorous ana breezily colloquial style. In that style ho boldly challenges the authority of many a current catchword, and denies the justification for many widespread prejudices.
He admits that he went to Sapan in a suspicious frame of mind, prepared to discover many unpleasant truths behind its "veil of mystery." In the end he came away having seen and learned things creditable to Japan and things discreditable, just as in other lands one sees and learns things in both categories." The Japanese, he discovered, "are human beings, like the rest St us, having their virtues and defects." Eventually he learned to like and respect them as a people, a fact which he proclaims "with the full knowledge that those who do not like them will accept it, not as a sign of merit in the Japanese, but as proof of my incompetence, or worse.'' It certainly requires some courage, in these days of active propaganda, to proclaim the belief that the Japanese are essentjolly simple as compared with
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.