Show SOLDIER SPIRIT IN JAPAN boys are arc taught from the earliest age every sort of military drill exercise the warlike spirit Is instilled into japanese boys from more babyhood the first presents to them being toy samurai armor ote etc so says sas gon clon komal kemal a distinguished japanese writer now in england for or the period of the war continuing in the london times ho he writes of these boys they have their own special manlike festivities on may 5 these are enlivened by as and by samurai warriors each bearing the celebrated ancient crest of tho the boys family and in their gardens are fixed long bamboo poles on which are hoisted carp made of coth cloth of paper shimmering in gold and silver dappled and scarlet as symbols of warlike fortitude and readiness to endure adverse fate with with the calmness of those brave fish these customs have been observed in japan for centuries and naturally we e japanese feel very proud it if wo we have more boys than girls in our family tho the festive opportunities are seized by us to make presents to our friends whenever they rejoice at tho the birth of a boy apart from these boys bos festivities we I 1 celebrate on the same day the great anniversary of the famous yasu kunt jansha shrine in boklo where all the spirits of our officers soldiers and sailors are delfred deified and worshiped for I 1 or as tho the reader may easily recall we japanese are great worshipers of our ancestors ance to whom we really owe awo our present existence and who are embodied in and represented by our illustrious mikado at tho the age of seven boys enter the elementary schools and at the completion ot of their six year course at tho the age of thirteen or fourteen they are entitled to enter the middle school course during which they have to undergo the military drill exercises tho the favorite national games of wrestling fencing and jiu jitsu all being optional some cannot afford to enter this course others go on to college and university at the age of twenty whether rich or poor high or low priest or no priest comes the ques tion of conscription says sas the writer whose treatment of this subject of universal service is affected by the current discussions in england tor for lie he says that it is not regarded by the japanese as a heavy heady duty but as a glorious privilege prior to the restoration in japan he says sas military service was regarded as the honored privilege of the samurai class and prized as such the samurai were our hereditary warriors and enjoyed a monopoly of all fighting the system continued until the abolition of feudalism in the country in 1868 conscription proper he says was really introduced in 1872 and provided in principle tor for the obligatory service of all men married and single from eighteen to forty but in practice the states right was never executed even een during tho the chino japan war in 1891 5 or in the russian war in 1904 5 then men were mobilized in manchuria alone universal service the w writer riter says is individually prized by the japanese as an opportunity to each and every one to become a samurai and to be allowed to fight for his father and mother it never occurs to us he writes to call it compulsion we regard it as it 0 personal shame or disgrace if we are rejected through physical unfitness tor for tho the army we do not hasten to get married before we join the army there thera Is no such thing as separation allowances etc in japan but as japanese are increasing at the rate of a year there frequently happens to be an enormous excess of candidates for military service and in such cases exemptions are decided by lot apart from this the only exemptions permitted are of only sons of aged parents more than sixty years old whose maintenance depends on them and a number of liberal concessions ces made to students and those employed on special missions the latter are allowed to postpone their term of military service until they cash their course of study |