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Political Change-
University Daily Kansan
IN JAPAN'S interest, the treaty recognized her rights to enter into security pacts, and to re-establish economic and diplomatic relations with other nations.
(Continued from page 2)
IT HAS been reported that the Japanese are carefully eyeing Communist China as a potential outlet for Japanese products. The first trade agreement between the two countries ended in failure when the Chinese freighter bound for Japan with corn sunk in the Yellow Sea. An investigation to pinpoint the cause of the sinking is in progress.
During the first two years of occupation the Allies were more concerned with disarmament and democratic reform than with industrial recovery. An interim reparations program approved in 1946 by the Far Eastern Commission called for removal of industrial machinery in excess of peacetime needs. The machinery was to be distributed among the allies as compensation for war damage. Meanwhile, the Japanese government was directed to legalize trade unions and collective bargaining, and to launch an attack against monopolistic structures.
Japan was regarded as a hated enemy at the start of the occupation. When the occupation ended, Japan was a close and trusted ally. In return for guaranteeing Japanese security the United States signed a treaty with Japan whereby American troops could be stationed on land, sea, or air bases in Japan. The agreement was amended in 1960 placing the two countries on a more equal footing concerning bases.
Japan's close relationship with the Western world since the war restricted her ties with Communist bloc countries. Both the Soviet Union and the Red Chinese have criticized Japan's associations with the United States. To date, the Japanese have not concluded a peace treaty with the Soviet Union. And at no time since the war has Japan had diplomatic relations with the USSR or the Communist Chinese.
Industrial development during the occupation was slow. Other than emergency imports of food and essential materials, the allies placed responsibility for economic rehabilitation on the Japanese government. By 1948 exports were still only 10 per cent of pre-war volume.
DURING THE same period Communist expansion was witnessed in Asia and in other parts of the world. With recognition of the Communist threat to the free world came the realization that Japan held considerable economic potential. Re-examination of the repatriation terms by the United States brought a halt to exportation of industrial equipment before too much was removed. The Japanese government was encouraged to develop the country's industrial capacity.
ONE OF the early acts of the occupation was to abolish the government-sponsored Nippon Political Association, and to encourage revival of political parties of all kinds. Between 1946 and 1958 the number of eligible voters rose from 37 million to 52 million with an average of 74 per cent of the electorate voting.
A drive to halt inflation began as the government balanced the budget, tightened price controls and credit, and regulated wages. The economy began to show strength and stability. The Korean War in 1950 gave new stimulus to production. Large manufacturing contracts from the United States being issued to Japanese industrialists. By 1960 foreign trade and industrial development were growing at a rate of 7.4 per cent per year. Japan had achieved one of the highest growth rates in the non-Communist world.
Japanese politics since the war have been primarily conservative. However, the Japanese Socialists have always been a strong minority party which continually attracts more support.
stable. From the date of the Japanese surrender until the summer of 1960 Japan has had 17 cabinets, under nine prime ministers. During that time the country witnessed the birth and downfall of a number of conservative parties. Strife was also present among Socialist parties.
Japanese politics has been dominated by a succession of conservative parties which have had broad popular support in general elections. Opposition parties other than the Communists have been un-
The Liberal party, established in 1945, held the prime ministership five times between May 1946 and December 1954. The Liberals suffered a serious defeat in 1955 at the hands of the Democratic party. The result was the merger of the Liberal and Democratic parties into the dominant Liberal Democratic party.
All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.—George Orwell
The deadline for American rights to use Japanese bases has been set for 1970. It is anticipated that the continued maintenance of American fighting men on Japanese soil will be a hot political issue as the deadline draws nearer. It is not unlikely that Americans will be forced to withdraw the troops from Japan following expiration of the agreement.
THE SOCIALIST party has been the major rival of the conservatives. The Socialists in 1947 polled more than seven million votes to elect the first Christian prime minister in the country's history. The coalition cabinet was unsuccessful, lasting only nine months. The problem which caused a party split was dissension over American bases. The right-wingers favored the security pact with the United States. The left-wingers insisted on a peace treaty with Russia and Red China, and opposed the American security pact. The left-wingers continually rallied stronger support than the opposition.
The left wing eventually became the Social party, while the right-wingers became the Social Democrats. In the four general elections of the 1950's, the Socialists landed an average of 27.5 per cent of the total vote.
Short Ones
Few have heard of Fra Luca Parioli, the inventor of double-entry bookkeeping; but he has probably had much more influence on human life than has Dante or Michelangelo.-Herbert J. Muller
A man must not swallow more beliefs than he can digest.
-Havelock Ellis
(Continued from page 2) population have washers. No more will the Japanese family have to spend evenings discussing poetry and literature. About 62 per cent of the population in urban areas has television.
There are no atheists in the fox-
holes.—William Thomas Cummings
Economic-
The myth of "cheap" Japanese goods has become just that. A system of quality control has been set up to weed out poor quality exports. Japanese manufacturers realized that Americans would not buy poor quality goods, no matter how low the price.
A buyer at Weaver's department store in Lawrence said she had sold much Japanese silk brocade to KU women to make formals for Christmas parties. The brocade sold for $1.98 per yard. The buyer said she had no complaints or exchanges.
Most economists seem to agree that the American economy can continue to absorb Japanese exports. Japan is the largest buyer of American agricultural products in the world, and is a major buyer of raw materials. Despite complaints about Japanese competition in the sale of cotton goods in 1957, Japan had purchased five times more raw cotton in the United States than it sold here as a finished product.
WITH THE expansion and modernization of the fachies the Japanese are switching horses in the middle of the trade stream so to speak. Japanese products like electronics and petrochemicals are becoming more common. The trend is toward training more skilled labor.
BUT THE JAPANESE have another fear. With their rising level of living wages, the cost of living may go up, and so will the wages of the laborer. The low cost of Japanese-made products is attributed to the abundance of cheap labor. Now that India and Pakistan are beginning to develop as industrial nations some experts believe they could undersell Japan and replace her in the world market.
There also is much unrest over Japanese dependence on the U.S. One way that Japan has sought to remedy this is by diversifying its markets to include trade with Europe.
Japan's exports to the United States are expected to reach the $3 billion figure by 1970. A congressional subcommittee formed to study the effect of Japan in United States foreign policy came to some interesting conclusions, about Japanese imports.
There is little indication that Japan will begin to trade with Red China.
The subcommittee felt that Japanese competition on the U.S. market is a small price to pay for so valuable an ally in the cold war.
Social Change-
(Continued from page 2) paper house.
FOR MANY years, the Japanese were without a social system. They were freeer than they had ever been before. The autocratic form of government was removed and replaced with a parliamentarian democracy. A people who for centuries were used to following the orders and edicts of the emperor-god were now expected to rule themselves in the finest democratic tradition.
But the Japanese are an adapting people, an imitating people. They quickly learned the democratic system. They voted; they ruled themselves. But some of their actions seem strange for a democratic country.
One result of the Japanese unfamiliarity with democracy is the assuming of control of the labor unions by the Communists. The lack of leaders and the necessity for the same left a vacuum eagerly filled by the Communists.
But the Japanese are beginning to filter through the aspects of both cultures and pick out what is best and what can be used by them. They have lived long enough with no real direction to their lives.
THROUGH SOHYO, the AFLCIO of Japan, the Communists can call an almost complete nationwide strike of all unions under its control. And SOHYO controls a majority of the unions.
They want a solid social system on which to base their lives.
One aspect of the old Japanese culture which is rising in popularity is the seven sports of the samurai. Although the samurai are dead as a class, Japanese youths have revived the sport.
THE JAPANESE also have kept the traditional native costumes and the courteous tradition of bowing when greeting friends. In most respects, the Japanese adopted Western modes of dress, government and production for business and public life, but in their private lives they are still Japanese.
They remove their shoes when entering their homes, dress in kimonos, sit at low tables and eat the traditional Japanese food. But when it comes to business and politics, the Japanese are Western in thinking.
They demonstrate against unpopular ideas, they vote, they copy American production techniques, They assume Western ideas and institutions when it will be of definite benefit to them.
The Japanese society is evolving as a mixture of two parts Japanese and one part Western. They are solidifying their social system. They can be expected to be both Oriental and Occidental on a moment's notice. But most of all, they can be expected to be Japanese first and last, regardless of the degree of Westernization
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