OCR Text |
Show JAPANTfiKiNG 1 EEf I WE! ! I Skilled Labor Is Cause, of Strikes in Far East, Says ! Merchant. j Industries of Japan are flourishing and preparations are now being made by the i novelty nut nu fact urers to supply the American trade with Christinas and ,holi- day poods formerly sold to the U fitted States by Germany, according to Junzo Kanai of Toklo, en route to London, where he will represent a Japanese firm. Japan, too. he said yesterday, is experiencing expe-riencing labor troubles at the present. There the strikes are being conducted by skilled labor, while unskilled labor seems quite satisfied with the postwar conditions, condi-tions, under which it receives higher wages than ever. Mr. Kanai was formerly head of the cotton department of the Mitsui company of Osaka, Japan. Since the end of the war, he said, Japan has imported more cotton from the United States than at any other period of commercial relations between the two countries. This trade will increase, Mr. Kanai said, because the cljth manufacturers of Japan are steadily increasing their production to meet the demands of purchasers in India, Java and South Africa. Commenting' yesterday on current affairs af-fairs in Japan, lie said: "The future for Japan looks promising. promis-ing. The people are enterprising. AS'e are anxious to progress, to procure the latest machinery for our industries and to build up our land. Before t left Toklo the main topic of conversation was the league of nations. The people, of the United States do not understand Japan's posit ion on the Shantung quest ion. Japan Ja-pan has no ambition to acquire Shantung, as the Japanese know that it belongs to China. Japan simply wants to help lead the Chinese and to build up the district, after which it will be returned. The former for-mer ill feeling between the people of ' hina and Japan is disappearing." In connection with the problem of the high cost of living, which, he says, is as acute in Japan as in other parts of the world, Mr. Kanai stated that the cabinet, after considering the question, determined that it would be impossible to fix universal food prices. |