Proof of how the Japanese—like the British and the i cam forget their party wars and unite when danger threatens the State was amply shown recently when Dr. Uesugi, of the Imperial University, a staunch conservative and Mr. Takabatake, whose pro-Socialist views with regard to public utilities have got him in the bad books of the Police, where he is marked as ''dangerous," joined hands to form the Japanese-"Black Shirts." Mr, Takabatake was asked by Mr. Antonov, according to th2 Japanese papers, what the "Blaci Shirts" intended to do and how he (Mr. Takabatake), as a believer in State Socialism, could join such an organization. ~The Japanese Socialist replied, 'The 'Black Shirts' will endeavour to combine the good in the Soviet with the guidance of the Imperial Family" and left Mr. Antonoy puzzling over how Imperial guidance and a form of revolution—such as Socialisni cells for—could go together. To the Japanese, however, such a star.: of things is by no means contradictory, and the great mistake that is often made with regard to Japan is that writers try to measure her with the yard-stick of Occidenral nations. If there ig considerable attention being paid to Rus-gla to-day, this is due primarily 10 the fact that Russia " is Japan's next-door neighbour and, next to the fact that Japan wants to see whether there is anything of the Fussian expertment that can be adopted for herself with safety. She. will not make the mistake of risking making the experiment herself. There are well-known people who boldly praise Lenin openly, regularly read the works. of Karl Marx, and when haled before the police reply to the inquisition-like' questioning of the guardians of the law by quoting from speeches of Lenin and from the works of Marx, but their loyalty to the Emperor and to the Imperial institutions is wnquestioned.
It is this strange blend in the adaptable, and at the same time feudal, Japanese psychology that is the most powerful protection against the "Red" madness, and it was in this frame of mind that a Japanese member of parliament, denouncing the police roundly for breaking up each and every meeting convened by Socialists, said that what was needed was a brass band placed in the hall. and the'
Kimigayo," Japan's national anthem, played at intervals, especially when the speakers were getting out of their depth. There is more than the proverbial grain of. truth in this.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.