Mr. Ballet Abend sees nothing funny in the Far East. His latest book "Japan Unmasked" is tense, timely, ominous. Abend never lived long in Japan. But as Ney York "Times" correspondent, he spent 14% years covering China. More than once he was in hot water with Gen. Chiang Kai-shek's Government for his realistic reporting, says "Time." Mr, Abend was in hot water all the time. Japan's Washington Embassy had called Abend's despatches "more fair and just than any news reports coming out of China" The Japanese Army in Chin thought otherwise.
Last year Mr. Abend was warned by Japanese friend to cross-examine his servant! Mr. Abend asked questions, found that one had been offered a bribe by a Japanese gendarme io put "some papers" in Abend's file. Another had refused $500 to put a box of opium and two loaded revolvers in Mr. Abend's car. When he complained, the Japanese said: So sorry. "The leader of the plot....is being sent back to Japan in chains."
One midnight two masked Japanese got into Abend's apartment, forced him to kneel by twisting his arms. They kicked him in the small of his back, slapped his face. Then they made off with 354 typed pages of his manuscript on Gen. Ward; did not touch valuable jewelry or $350 in cash.
On the day after Abend obtained a three-day scoop on the Japan-Axis pact, there were five threats by telephone. Next day there were more. Then anonymous letters began to arrive. So Mr. Abend said a sad farewell to two Scotties and one dachshund, began a long inspection tour of the democratic bastions in the Far East that took him to Singapore. The Netherlands East Indies, the Philippines, back to the U.S. In part his book is a report of what he saw, in part it is a report of his years as a journalistic China hand.
Like Mr. Jame; Young, Mr. Abend reports that that in Japan "life is harder. pleasures are fewer, luxuries are banned. clothing is shoddy, food is rationed, amusements are curtailed." Unlike Young, he is unable to laugh at what he finds. Instead he tries to see Japan's case from the viewpoint of a patriotic Japanese. So he does not run the risk of underestimating the Japanese.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.