Press translations [Japan]. Social Series 0157, 1946-12-10.
Date10 December, 1946
translation numbersocial-0697
call numberDS801 .S84
Persistent Identifier
SOCIAL SERIES: 157
ITEM 1 School Principal States Reality Instead of Myth Must be Taught School Children - Provincial Paper Kochi Shimbun (KOCHI) - 3 Jan 46. Translator: H. Mishihara.
Full translation:
A directive from General Headquarters on 31 December abolished school courses in
history, morals, and geography which taught
children the mythical origins of the country and the superiority of the Japanese race.
In this connection, NAGANO, Tomihisa, a
teacher in the DAISAN School at KOCHI, stated:
"The so called Japanese spirit is taught to children through school courses in morals,
history, and geography. The directive
deals a fatal blow to our teaching standards on these subjects, but a new democratic
Japanese spirit will be surely
established. Formerly, education in politics and economies was not given in the national
schools, out now it will be
different. It is important to teach facts.
"When I related the myth of 'The Rabbit and the Sharks', a boy asked, 'Can a rabbit
and a shark speak in the language of men'
I was embarrassed. We must tell stories which are rational to a child's mentality.
"There are other contradictions in our former ways of teaching. For instance, a child
may write a good essay on being a good
son in an examination, but in actual life the child may behave quite differently.
Such anomalies as this existed in our old
methods of teaching, especially in morals. We must reconsider our former methods in
such cases."
ITEM 2 Interview with HYOGO, Police Chief on Measures to Uphold Public Order - Provincial newspaper Kobe Shimbun (KOBE) - 3 January 46. Translator: C. Gilbert.
Summary:
The police are aware that public order has been affected by the recent crime wave,
but the special patrol measures of the
police have already shown good results, Quite a number of crimes have no doubt been
prevented and the number of arrests has
also increased.
Efforts are being made to improve the quality of the Japanese police and - also to
better their treatment. The question of
arming the Japanese police with pistols and of cooperating with the American MPs has
been taken up with MacARTHUR's
Headquarters. If foreign nationals break Japanese 1aws sanctioned by the Allies or
commit criminal offenses, they will also be
punished.
ITEM 3 Measures Against Immoral Japanese Girls Fawning upon Occupation [illegible]oo Provincial Newspaper Kochi Shimbun [illegible]- [illegible]Jan 46. Translator: H. Nishihara.
Full translation:
SOCIAL SERIES: 157 (Continued)
ITEM 3 (Continued)
lately several persons have stolen into Occupation Troops' barracks to steal things
there. In addition, many women are
approaching the soldiers with the idea of prostitution. The commending officers of
the troops have directed strong protests to
the Japanese police office.
Therefore, the Police Office decided to examine for venereal disease any woman who
ever had sexual intercourse with the
soldiers of the Occupation Troops, no matter whether she is a professional or not.
ITEM 4 The Sinking of Japanese Morality - Provincial Paper Tokushima Shimbun (TOKU[illegible]HIMA) - 4 Jan 46. Translator: H. Nishihara.
Summary:
A song carries my mind back to the time when, on New Year's Day, I spent my boyhood
peacefully in the country, and I have a
vivid picture of my grandmother and mother in my mind. Years ago, a farmer who worked
from morning till night used to enjoy
his work and content himself with simple food and clothing and find joy in pleasing
other people to whom he offered the
products of his labor. What were the comforts of a New Year's Day for these farmers?
On New Year's Day the family gathered at
the fireplace to thank the god that they had spent the year in good health and talked
peacefully about the past and future.
These peaceful pleasures gave them the will to work in the coming year.
But according to the papers, the situation seems to have changed of late. The farmer
aims only to have luxuries and beautiful
clothes, obtained from profits of his black market dealings. They seem to have lost
the art of finding comfort in a simple
mode of living and no longer thank the gods for their good health. They aim at material
satisfaction only, and forget
spiritual contentment. This regretful tendency presents itself not only in rural life,
but among all classes in JAPAN.
Up to now, the Japanese people have maintained that they do everything from the moral
point of view. How their defeat is said
to be due to the demoralization of the people. This should have made the people think,
but they do not seem to have improved.
First of all, we must do our best to rebuild public life on the basis of good morals.
To achieve this, I want religious
leaders and educators to play the leading parts. Under the influence of religion and
education, public life must be
revitalized and steps taken toward building a peaceful JAPAN on the basis of justice
and love.
ITEM 5 Education and Democracy - Provincial Newspaper [illegible]uga Nichinichi (MIYAZAKI) 4 Jan 46. Translator: T. Ogawa.
Summary:
That many swords have been found together with gems and bronze miriors among the
finds unearthed from the ancient tombs in the
province of HYUGA, indicates that JAPAN has long been a martial nation. We Japanese,
however, have been stripped completely of
all armaments under the terms of the surrender to the Allied Powers. This is the biggest
change JAPAN has ever experienced.
Incomparable hardships are ahead of us, and now we have to establish a peaceful new
country with a highly developed
civilization. We must take the path of democracy to reach, this goal. Needless to
say, to change in such a short time the
customs and habits which have been observed by our ancestors for nearly 30 centuries
will not be easy. Accordingly, we must be
very resolute if we are to realize this purpose. I will write chiefly on the reconstruction
of our education, as it is
impossible to describe in detail all the necessary measures to be taken in this short
essay.
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SOCIAL SERIES: 157 (Continued)
ITEM 5 (Continued)
The Establishment of a Democratic Foundation
I wonder how Japanese servicemen who are supposed to be lo al and patriotic, could
be so cruel as to massacre innocent peoples
abroad, and so degenerate in their morals in the homeland. In short, it may be attributed
to the fact that as individuals they
are immoral. Those who have been mocking the individualism of the ANGLO-SAXONS, were
the very people who lacked morality, and
as such deserve to be scoffed at far more than the individualistic ANGLC-SAKONS. Therefore,
it is absolutely necessary to
improve morality by living the necessary training to individuals, regardless of whether
it be in JAPAN as a whole or in, one
province such as HYUGA.
Indeed, the morality of individuals is the foundation of democracy. Opposed to this
is self-interest. During the war, how
widespread was self-interest: The cause of our defeat apparently lies therein. Self
interest and personal gain to together.
Those who were in public office achiever their selfish ends. Such trends have prevailed
throughout the province. We must sweep
away this evil as quickly as possible if we are to realize the reconstruction of our
province, and make every possible effort
to establish democratic foundations.
Reconstruction of Education
The reconstruction of the province of HYUGA should be centered around education.
I regret to have to point out that education
so far has been too bureaucratic and militaristic. In this sense, educators ought
to share the responsibility for defeat. The
cause of our bureaucratic education is to be found in the methods employed in the
Public Schools, which are based on those
prevailing in the High Schools. The latter changed its name to the University of Science
and literature (RUNRIXA DAIGAKU).
Being established in TOKYO and HIROSHIMA, these universities have been taking the
lead in educational circles of JAPAN by
competition with one another. University graduates of superior ability did not want
to remain in offices in the Education
Ministry because of the in competency of the Ministry. As a result of this the Education
Ministry has become the stronghold of
High School graduates, who have finally assumed the management of the Ministry. These
officials have elevated public schools
to the high school grade recently. The bureaucratic methods on which these schools
are run is astonishing. It is inevitable
that teachers who have been trained under such a system should become mean spirited
and insidious. Drastic improvement must be
made in order to effect the democratization of education. For this purpose the abolition
of High Schools is essential. The
principals of public schools should be appointed freely or by public vote, or an able
man of repute in the prefecture should
be nominated. With regard to the methods of education, it is necessary to encourage
the student tendency to bury themselves in
their studies and deepen their interests in their studies, it is so necessary to encourage
them to continue their studies
after they become school teachers. The establishment of a highly civilized country
should begin with the influence of teachers
on school children. As a matter of fact, primary school teachers in the farming districts
have hitherto been ignoring this
fact. These defects must be remedied.
For the democratization of education, it is necessary to obtain advice and criticism
from the townsmen or villagers, and not
leaving education to school authorities alone. The teachers may neglect or miscarry
their duties owing to lack of advice or
criticism. To prevent this, the people must be made aware of the benefits of education.
(to be continued) by SAKAGUCHI, Shiro.
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SOCIAL SERIES: 157 (Continued)
ITEM 6 Establishment of Sanatoriums - Provincial Newspaper Hyuga Nichinichi (MIYAZAKI) - 5 Jan 46. Translator: T. Ogawa.
Summary:
Here is good news for the New Year: about 1,000 sanatoriums will be established shortly
in our prefecture.
The rapid increase in population due to the return of demobilized service-men and
repatriates following the termination of the
war has produced an increase in tubercular cases recently. In view of the shortage
of sanatoriums for these patients, the
JAPAN Medical Treatment Society (NTPPON IRYODAN) is planning to establish 3,000 sanatoriums
throughout the country. The
establishment of 1,000 sanatoriums in this prefecture is also scheduled and the sites
for these sanatoriums are being sought
in all sections of the prefecture, including KOYU-Gun and NISHIMOROKATA-Gun. One site
has already been fixed at
SUMIYTOSHT-Mura, in MIYAZAKI-Gun.
The ABURATSU Hospital, which is located in the southern part of the province and
is operated by the JAPAN Medical Treatment
Society will be converted into a sanatorium from the existing combined hospital. The
society will also combat tuberculosis by
soliciting the cooperation of Dr. YOSHIDA, Chief of the Health Section of the prefecture,
Dr. MATSUZAKI, Director of the
MIYAZAKI Central Health Office, and others. The establishment of 1,000 sanatoriums
is widely expected to produce remarkable
results in HYUGA, since such a plan is the first one of its kind ever drafted in this
prefecture.
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