Impressions of the Japanese People

A.M.S…
There are so many things about the Japanese people to consider and contemplate that it is indeed difficult to know where to begin. We've mentioned at some length our reaction to those whose business directly or indirectly meets tourists. What about the others?

We did meet some others. For example, at the Bible House where we sought to locate a former Pastor, Jack McComb (who was out of town at the time). Here we met a Japanese gentleman who was equally as courteous. At a book shop we tried to get the telephone number of McGraw-Hill's Tokyo office; again the same cheerful, painstaking courtesy.

Amusingly enough, after much effort, the young lady came up with the McGraw-Hill address - in New York!

Don't Mention the War!

A.M.S…
What did WWII do to these people? What would it have done to an American if these circumstances had prevailed…

1. we lost a war?
2. we were occupied by foreign troops?
3. our laws are revised and a new constitution is written for us by the enemy?
4. we were told that the deity of our worship (the Emperor) was not a deity at all?

The easy answer is: “Yes but they deserved it. Look what they did at Pearl Harbour and look at their atrocities during the war”. That's true, of course. Nevertheless, the readjustment especially to point #4 would have been something difficult for us to understand.

Their accomplishments since the war and their attitude toward the U.S. is, I believe, a tribute to the:

1. tremendous job that General McArthur did in the epoch now known in Japan as “the McArthur Era”. From our present vantage point, as we leave Japan, General McArthur's stature assumed the proportions of greatness. He's possibly the greatest American of our time
2. financial aid we have provided; and
3. fortitude and willingness to work of the Japanese themselves

Sightseeing in Japan

A.M.S…
This to me was the disappointing aspect of our visit to Japan. When you go to see the sights of a country, to my way of thinking, you hope for sights that are either of unusual interest or that are especially beautiful. I will not categorically say that Japan has neither. I will say that, to me, we saw little of either.

From an interest standpoint the palaces, temples, and Buddhas were at best only so-so. The Imperial Palace at Kyoto was certainly only so-so and the much advertised Nijo castle also at Kyoto, one of those take-off-your-shoes jobs, was utterly boring, colourless and dull.

It had 38 rooms, not a piece of furniture in any room, all open on one side, and all 38 rooms equally boring, or at least those we saw. The grounds are mostly dusty gravels and swarming with Japanese school children who visit these places during cherry blossom season.

The two Buddhas we saw (one at Nara, the other at Kamakura), well, for my money, it wouldn't have made any difference if they had been skipped. Sure they are huge. So what?

A Culture Lost

A.M.S…
The Deer Park at Nara has 3,000 stone lanterns, donated I understand for memorials purposes, which might conceivably be spectacular at night if lit, but which are pretty dull stuff in the daytime. There are also several hundred deer here, most of them being fed a biscuit-like food bought by swarms of tourists who seem to think the whole business is all worthwhile because they the can feed the beasts.

Many of these palaces and temples are no doubt of considerable historic importance to the Japanese, but it's not easy for an American tourist to be profoundly and emotionally affected by what Shoguns did a thousand years ago. Since both Kyoto and Nara were former capitals of Japan, their historic importance and significance to the Japanese is not to be underestimated.

It should be said also that to the serious student of Japanese lore, history, architecture and art, the palaces, temples, pagodas, shrines and gardens at Kyoto and Nara would doubtless have some interest. To me, and many of our fellow visitors, they were uninteresting and dreadfully drab.

Where's Mt. Fuji?

A.M.S…
Now as to scenic beauty, here our fantastic good fortune with beautiful weather all the way from New York failed us. This at perhaps the one single most important half-day of our trip. I'm sure it had a profound effect on our entire visit in Japan.

Perhaps the one sight in Japan or maybe on our entire trip that we'd especially looked forward to and eagerly wanted to photograph was Mt. Fuji. When we were at the beautiful Hotel Fujiya at Miyanoshita from where we could view the famous mountain and also drive to Lake Hakone, we encountered a furious rain storm together with fog so dense that visibility was reduced to less than 100 yards.

So we never saw Mt. Fuji, then, nor at any other time, even from a distance. It was obvious, however, even in this beastly and dangerous weather, that the grounds, gardens, near and distant views at and from the lovely Hotel Fujiya must be really beautiful. (Incidentally we enjoyed meeting our good friends Jo and Woody Mayer again at this enticing spot.)

Hotel Fujiya - A Self-Contained Resort

A.M.S…
Hotel Fujiya is itself considerably above sea level, perhaps as much as 2,000 ft. We cannot omit being fulsome in our praises of this fine hotel. It has enough Japanese style, architecture and quiet beauty to really make you feel you are in Japan. It does this without sacrificing any of the comforts of the most demanding western tourist.

The food was excellent. The rooms charming, even including Japanese paper shutters. It has hot springs, Japanese bath facilities, delightful shops both in an arcade and in nearby shops on the street. It's really a “self-contained” resort (to quote Sydney Clark).

If we had been at Hotel Fujiya instead of the two days at Kyoto and Nara and had the weather which was so wasted in those two places, I am sure our memory of Japan scenically would have been much different. I mentioned that the storm was “dangerous”. It was so severe that it caused rock slides on the mountain made which we had to traverse to drive to Lake Hakone and later to Tokyo.

Also it interrupted the electric supply the night before so that we had to find our room and retire by emergency candlelight. Despite all this, if we were ever to return to Japan, I am sure we would start our planning and itinerary around this hotel and give it as much time as possible. There must be many lovely drives from there and then see what else could be fitted into the balance of the time available.

However, I didn't hear this. So I commented on the bad weather. I still recall Woody's disapproving look as he said, “But, Al, he's already apologised”. Woody sensed that this very gracious gentleman might perhaps be offended and so tried to make some retribution for my quite unintentional offence.

A detail? Yes, but nothing seems to bother me more than to offend or hurt in any way people in foreign lands. Americans have, I believe, a deep responsibility to create a friendly and courteous “image” of our country.

Tokyo

A.M.S…
From Miyanoshita we drove by private car to Tokyo, via Odawara and Kamakura (where the Daibutsu or Big Buddha is located), a distance of forty to fifty miles. As we approached Tokyo at about 4.30pm, the traffic was so congested that I surmise it took well over one hour to one and a half hours to negotiate the last ten miles.

We finally arrived at the Imperial Hotel. This is another excellent hotel which survived the big earthquake and was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. We were quartered in the “new” section. This hotel also would satisfy the most demanding tourist. I think it had five or six dining rooms, all excellent.

One cannot describe Tokyo in just a few sentences or brush it off hastily either. Imagine if you can, one Of the largest cities in the World (perhaps the largest) virtually levelled and burned to the ground just 16 years ago. Today it houses over 9,000,000 people with modern buildings galore, streets of blazing neon lights, thousands of wildly driven cars, subways, elevated trains, and railways all pouring people and merchandise into and out of the place. All this, yet not showing even one tiny war scar…

5. Other Facilities…
   • A sports stadium seating about 100,000 people
   • indoor swimming pool seating 6,000
   • 232 universities and colleges (in all Japan, many in Tokyo)
   • restaurants of all kinds: western, Japanese, Chinese Indonesian, Formosan, you name it. You can buy, among other things, tasty shark fins, fried chrysanthemums, raw seaweed, not to mention conventional dishes like Tempura or Sukiyaki (we really enjoyed the latter with warm Sake - rice wine)
   • newspapers: over 5 million circulation of Tokyo newspapers including in the English language
   • “Asahi schools”: their students all dressed in neat uniforms
   • churches, temples, shrines of about every denomination: Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Shintoist, and Muslim
   • neon lights and advertising displays that make Broadway look quite conservative. An example: a full-size motor car replica made as a balloon floating over the main streets
   • a radio tower similar to but higher than the Eiffel Tower
   • eight symphony orchestras
   • parks and museums

But so far as we saw there was no London Mayfair or New York Park Avenue districts. Tokyo, considering that it was so terribly destroyed in 1945 is utterly amazing in 1961.

Japan's Economy & Politics

A.M.S…
“The McArthur Era” made great changes in Japan in the direction of trying to take away the concentration of wealth and power from the few. For example, large landowners had to divest themselves so that none would own more than ten acres; consequently there are a large number of small but independent farmers owning an average of just three acres.

Another example, a guide told us that her grandmother, one of the rich, influential Japanese, had 62 servants before the war but under the McArthur Era, she was allowed only two servants. Also in this era trade unions were established for the first time to give a labour force due rights.

A Leftward Move

A.M.S…
Ironically, they are now the chief anti-American group in Japan. So through this period Japan moved apparently not alone toward a more democratic state, but possibly a bit toward socialism. The younger element seem more inclined in this direction. Also they are anti-military and against U.S. military involvements.

Astronomical Growth on Poor Wages

A.M.S…
The Japanese economy has grown astronomically since WWII, of course, largely due to U.S. help. The future plans the Japanese have for further growth stagger one's imagination. Within ten years they visualise and are planning for a doubling of their economy.

Their present rate of growth is 14% per year as compared to US. growth of about 4%. Japan exists on foreign trade. It cannot feed itself without imports, nor can it support its industries without them. It cannot exist without large scale exports.

The Japanese labourer earns about USD14c per hour as against the U.S. average of about USD2.00 per hour. In this short paragraph is the essence of the great problem in U.S. and Japanese relationships.

How can we continue to increase the imports of Japanese goods with that disparity in wages? We must also understand that Japan imports about twice as much in dollar value from us as they export to us.

We Look to the USA, Else…

A.M.S…
The majority of Japanese are certainly pro-US. They want to do business with us. They must do business with somebody or die. As a Japanese Prima Minister put it:

“We live or die in the matter of trade. We have no natural resources. We are pro-western, but we will not starve to death to prove your case. If the U.S.A. puts up bars for trade, then we will have to trade with China, or Russia.”

In that eventuality Japan would, of course, be drawn inevitably into the communist orbit and Eastern leadership in Asia would be ended.

To illustrate how tough this problem may become: we understand that a garment union in the U.S. will refuse after 1st May 1961 to make any clothing from Japanese materials. How do we handle that? Also, how can we expect American labour to lose jobs to cheaper Japanese goods, just to halo our Japanese relationship?

A recent nationwide election in Japan greatly favoured continued alliance with the U.S. The socialist and communist parties which opposed continued relationship with the U.S. were badly beaten. Supposing over a period of time there are more movements like the U.S. garment workers?

This once great military power is virtually defenceless without either. Also, its young people are strongly anti-military, so in Japan a resurgence of military strength at present seems to be most remote.

Sayonara Japan, and may you prosper and stay in the Western camp.

An Evocative Departure

A.M.S…
At Yokohama they made us downright sad at leaving. Again, the Mayor's representative bid us farewell. A group of Geisha girls put on a show on the ship just before it sailed.

The stirring Shanagawa Prefectural Police Band played U.S. music pieces for a full hour while the Geisha girls and a large crowd of well wishers waved us goodbye, until we were out of sight.