OCR Text |
Show .it-GD-ROUHD I Jitg 1 EMPEROR ONCE DEMOCRATIC ! Twenty-three years ago, this 1 writer, visiting in Japan, got considerable consid-erable first-hand information about ; the emperor from a young Japa-1 Japa-1 nese Quaker, Renzo Sawada, who had been picked to accompany Hiro-hito, Hiro-hito, then crown prince, on a trip to see the western world. Why Sawada, educated in a Quaker Qua-ker school in Tokyo, wasr'chosen to j accompany the young prince on this history-making trip, I do not know, except that the Imperial council of education wanted a commoner of Hirohito's age who spoke English and French to travel with the future fu-ture emperor. Never before had a ruler of Japan left its shores. In the past scarcely scarce-ly was the emperor even seen by his subjects. Some idea of his isolation isola-tion can be gained from the fact that the word "mika" means "awful"; the word "do" means "place"; and the name "Mikado" means "awful-place." In the old days, priests came to worship at the "awful place," but they never saw the emperor whose other name even today is "Tenno," meaning "son of Heaven.". The emperor is synonymous with the sun and from this comes the Japanese flag, with 16 spreading rays symbolic sym-bolic of the rising sun and the emperor. em-peror. In those days, the Mikado was the theoretical owner of all the land and all the people and their possessions. posses-sions. He was their God and protector. pro-tector. His lance and shield came from Ama, "the ancestral region." Thus arose the cult of Shintoism which actually means "rule of the superiors" or "way of the Gods." Even the word for government in Japan, "matusurigoto" means "shrine visiting" or "religion." f Modernizing the Emperor. Thus during most of Japanese , history; in fact, up until just after the arrival of Commander Perry in 1852, the Mikado was an ethereal spiritual being, not a ruler; and it came as a definite shock to many Japanese that their emperor-to-be should sail off- to England and France to absorb western culture. In fact, some of the more intense patriots actually threw themselves on the railroad tracks in front of the train carrying Hirohito to Yokohama Yoko-hama In protest 'against the departure. depart-ure. Naturally Hirohito may have . changed a lot during the 25 years since his trip. Naturally, also my friend Sawada was prejudiced in his favor. However, How-ever, the story of that voyage was one of a young man anxious to mingle with his fel-Iowmen, fel-Iowmen, astound the emperor-worshippers emperor-worshippers by wrestling on the deck with his aides, get a bloody nose, and dance democratically with the servants of the Duke of Atholl In the same "barbaric" "bar-baric" Scotland, which, according accord-ing to Shinto priests, is made from the mud and seafoam left over after creation of the 'heavenly isles" Japan. Hirohito even managed to deliver de-liver a public speech to the lord mayor of London; and no emperor in all the history of Japan had ever delivered a public speech before. In all Japanese history, furthermore, no emperor had purchased an article arti-cle of any shape, size or form. In Paris, however, Hirohito insisted on going alone and buying a necktie, and later a pearl for his mother. Hirohito Goes Underground. His greatest ambition, however, was to ride on the Paris subway or "metro." Before leaving Tokyo, Hirohito's staff had been strictly forbidden for-bidden to let the heir to the throne ride on any subway; but despite this, the crown prince bolted most of his staff and ventured underground. under-ground. He insisted on buying the tickets himself and handed them to the fat lady guarding the gate. But he handed them to her in a bunch, instead of spreading them out fan shape, so that she could not punch them quickly. All of which brought forth a storm of abuse in metro French, heaped on the head of the future ruler of Japan. CAPITAL CHAFF C The 1946 congressional elections probably will see the bitterest fight, and the most money spent in years; Both sides are gearing for a showdown, show-down, partly as a result of the British Brit-ish elections. Conservatives are saying: say-ing: "It can't happen here." L Truman was kept informed regarding re-garding all these incidents . . . tip-off tip-off that Japan was weakening came after Russia declared war, and the Japs did not declare war in return. Congressman John J. O'Connor, victim of the Roosevelt purge and who has never forgotten it, is among those backstaging the Christian front campaign against Gen. William Wil-liam O'Dwyer. Another instigator is Father Edward Cumin. . . O'Dwyer fought the Christian front when he was Brooklyn prosecutor. C. The army is due to cutback on amost everything except hospitals. Several new ones will be built in-cuding in-cuding a $20.00(1.000 army hospital in Puerto Rico by the L. W. Robert firm of Atlanta. He was secretary of the Democratic national committee. |