Press translations [Japan]. Editorial Series 0039, 1945-12-02.

Full Translation:

A certain election candidate asserted that no punishment is sufficiently drastic in punishment of those who buy votes, but no punishment should be mated out those who are bribed. For the bribed will reveal the fact without fear and the police can easily search out the candidate who violated the law. Also a voter can receive bribes from many candidates and vote for whichever of them he believes to be the ablest. Thus bribing becomes so rediculous for those who bribe that a candidate will never resort to such a measure, and ideal elections will be realized. From the legal point of view, this plan may contain defects, but we believe it certainly holds the key to the matter, and will beer great importance in the election.

The food administration law is based upon an entirely opposite manner of thinking. According to the law, imprisonment for not more than ten years, or a fine of not more than 50,000 yen will be imposed upon any producer who breaks the law, but no punishment to the illegal purchaser. This led to a decrease in production because of producers' dissatisfaction with the law. One reason for exorbitantly high prices of food at present lies, not in the farmer's greed, but in the reckless purchasing and hoarding on the part of the consumers. If we apply the above-mentioned method of avoiding election bribes to the food problem, we believe it will alleviate the latter to a considerable extent.

Many Japanese do not seem to appreciate fully the actual conditions which prevail in current JAPAN. Probably this is one of the reasons why things at present are not running smoothly in our country. JAPAN was completely bankrupt owing to the four-year-long war. Moreover, she was as it were, destroyed by being beaten into surrender. It is natural that nothing remains in her possession. If anything, only broken nails are found among the ruins. Our restricted sovereign power, old school democracy, stocks of daily necessities too small to sustain a living and huge amounts of bank notes and securities not backed with any goods or production, correspond to those broken mils scattered among the ruins. In addition, we must pay quite a bit in reparations. However, even if most officials and civilians may realize this miserable state of JAPAN, they seldon show it by deed and action.

In spite of the fact that they can settle nothing without directive from the Allied Powers, most governmental officials seem to feel

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themselves as important as heretofore and pose as such. Some seem to play the liberal only because they were once called "liberals" by the public. Some seem to confuse it with reflection and repentance only to abuse JAPAN and the Japanese in their actions. Some politicians seem to be exempt themselves from their responsibilities for war crimes as House members by forming a pseudo-democratic party with socialistic items displayed in its platform. Some entrepreneurs seem still to be selfishly absorbed amid the ruins of their factories. Most workers seem to find it difficult to imagine any workers' group except the one clamoring "down with the capitalists."

Many of the Japanese are confusing trifling matters with important matters and they are striving to re-construct JAPAN on the basis of this misapprehension. However, JAPAN is not under re-construction, but only skidding. Officials and civilians must of necessity realize the fact that JAPAN was completely destroyed. Thus, they will learn to know that it is not the "re-construction", but the "foundation for JAPAN that we must strive for. If this is done, we shall find our country ceasing to flounder about as heretofore.

Full translation:

Japanese people, you have committed thousands of atrocities. You have fallen into the illusion that you have the qualifications for being the leading power through the infantile principles propounded by your leaders. All of you are still so haughty as to attribute all the responsibilities for the defeat and for the present miserable Sino-Japanese relations to the militarists and bureaucrats. I will warn you to be conscious of the kind of feeling you are still harboring towards the Chinese people. How did they who blindly followed the militarists and tried to seek fortunes after the Manchurian Incident behave themselves on the continent?

Do you remember what crimes those soldiers now being repatriated committed in my country? If you look over my country now, you see ruins, and recall the murder of innocent people, and the wanton looting of valuable possessions, all committed by your soldiers. But we are not so narrow-minded as to scrutinize what was done in the past. We have not yet published the details of the atrocities committed by your brutal soldiers. General CHIANG K'AI-SHEK, chairman of the National Government of CHINA was generous enough not to order the taking of revenge for your brutalities even though we are permitted to hate your leaders.

We Chinese are very anxious about your future. I have been educated here and have stayed in JAPAN for a lone time. I have many friends with whose manner of livelihood and their customs I am well acquainted and though I have a great admiration for your good characteristics, I am sorry to say that I have still more advice to you. When I was listening to the historical broadcast telling of the Japanese surrender on 15 August, with one of the Japanese

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families I was acquainted with, I heard a passing word which seemed to forbode a gloomy future between us.

An imprudent girl among you remarked in an insulting tone "the CHIANKORO or the ignoble CHINESE will also cone and reign". I dare question how many of you have rid themselves of this kind of superiority manifested by this passing word.

You all say that you have lost the war only with AMERICA and that you are far more civilized than we. We have not believed in the probability that we could win this war single-handedly. This is similar to the belief that most of us had that BRITAIN or RUSSIA could not have won the war with GERMANY singlehandedly. You Japanese must remember this reason. You were only victorious from the strategic point of view, and who could deny the GERMAN defeat in World War I, even though the conclusion of the war was attained in FRENCH territory? You were mistaken in the thought that you had always had great military power, being ranked one of the three strongest powers in the world and that you were the most civilized country in the Orient. Should everything be scaled according to the military preparations, JAPAN to be sure, would have been superior to AMERICA or BRITAIN at a certain period in the past. But who supported this self-styled conception?

Military preparation may be made by sacrificing the happiness of the people but civilization can only be developed in such countries as deserve the name of civilization. The civilization you are proud of is either borrowed or an imitation. Your stubborn fascists are still futilely boasting of the civilization peculiar to JAPAN. What is the civilization peculiar to you? Shintoism is one of the most primitive religions. The beauty in architectural simplicity, the tea ceremony, and flower arrangements have all originated in CHINA. This is the time for you to be frank once and for all that this feeling of superiority, fostered by the militarists, drove you to war.

It is very dangerous that you are always very eager to show faith in those who are in power at any time. It is this perverted humility that the militarists took advantage of in the past and other new fascists will have an opportunity to misuse in the future. The Chinese occupation troops which will arrive here in JAPAN before long will not compell such obedience from you. They will expect to see in the Japanese a proper attitude toward them and a critical faculty which is honorable and independent. You must remember that the causes of your present misfortune have originated from among you and you yourselves are responsible for them.

Full translation:

The three big reform bills of the Election Law, the Labor Union Law and the Farm Land System are not only the big task for the present Cabinet, but the foundation for the birth of a new JAPAN. Furthermore, JAPAN through their enactment will be qualified to join the civilized nations of the world. And yet the two reforms

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of the labor union law and the land system are the most serious problems. They must tackle the traditional antagonisms which exist between employers and employees as well as landlords and tenants. Therefore, the criticisms or discussions on these reforms will be manysided. Needless to say, we must deliberate over these most carefully.

However, we shall have to be content with the draft bills in their present form since these problems which have been discussed for some ten years before probably cannot be handled more satisfactorily, considering the calibre and the experience of the present officials concerned. Furthermore, we must carry out whatever measure enables us to advance, since we are unable to make any predictions about JAPAN's future. Therefore we are entirely opposed to any revisions which will change the draft bills into wishy- washy ones or which will raise more serious objections. Also we are opposed to such a timid attitude of the Government which antocopates incomplete deliberation on the draft bills in the Diet. We shall be able to revise anything which is wrong with the draft bills in the future.

Experience is the best basis for revision. At any rate, let every one of the three reform bills pass the Diet. It is anti-democratic to raise any opposition based on side issues and trivial matters.

Full translation;

If the government will not distribute a day's ration of three go of staple food among the people, let it confine the present ration of 2.1 go to rice and wheat alone. Let the other food, like wheat flour, potatoes, acorns, sea-weed, vegetables and fish, be sold freely, the eople, rich and poor, will make efforts to cover the daily shortage of food by buying at exorbitantly high black market prices. If the controls over those foods were removed, merchants would supply some substitutes for staple food by contriving to mill any available materials into flour. Then restaurants, as well as green-grocer's and fish dealers, would open one after another.

Merchants, not minding long trips, would be sure to find places where they could obtain food at cheaper prices and would never fail to provide provisions. Free competition among sellers will lower the selling price and raise the quantity of provisions, assuring consumers of a far better bargain than the black market and simplifying supply.

The free market could make the livelihood of the nation easier. The government would only have to regulate profiteering. This year's rice output estimated 45,000,000 kola, will supply a sufficient amount to feed the whole nation of 80,000,000 for nine months supposing that a day's ration be 2.1 go or 63 go per month. The amount of 2.1 go is reckoned on the average disregarding the age and occupation of the people. Amounts short of the average will fill the larger amounts for the farmers, miners, carpenters and other heavy workers.

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The farmers allowed a specific amount in addition to the average ration should provide general distribution at reasonable increased prices. If the full utilization of supplementary food effects a surplus of rice, it should be sold in the free market. Some amounts of rice and wheat which disappeared in the confusion at the end of the war will make its re-appearance in that market, and the farmers may be expected to sell some rice, though it be only little, after completing their compulsory sales of it. It may not be said that retail rice will not appear.

After June next year the nation will be sustained by the output of wheat which will amount to 20,000,000 koku. Therefore, if we save rice by mixing wheat with rice in the present distribution of staple food, we will be able to continue the distribution of rice after next June as well. Therefore we are sure to maintain ourselves with the 2.1 go ration of rice and wheat, leaving potatoes out of account.

Continuance of the present situation will bring on the ruin of the nation. It is foolish for the government to cry about the shortage of food, which makes even those things actually existing disappear.

DISTRIBUTION "X"

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