Press translations [Japan]. Political Series 0044, 1945-12-02.

ITEM 1 How to Advance on the Way to Democracy - Tokushima Shimbun - 20 Nov 45. Translator: K. Ketet.

Full Translation:

Already three months have passed since the end of the war in Greater East Asia. We need hardly say that self-government of towns and villages is related to the nation's welfare at a time when we are all making efforts to restore JAPAN and to fulful the demands of the ROTSDAM Declaration. Therefore, we're anxious to hear the opinions of chiefs of towns and villages of SHIMO-Nada and UMIBE-Gun. We suppose that it should prove very interesting, for there are many newcomers.

Chief of AKI-Machi, Mr. IWAMURA, Kiyoski stated, "In post-war JAPAN we have to put all our strength into protecting the National Constitution. For that purpose, education will be greatly needed in the agrarian districts. I am against co-education in elementary schools. At present we need only a completely democratic education as in AMERICA. It will be very hard for the Imperial family to advance toward democracy but it must go along with the times, even if it has to sacrifice a great deal in the present period of reformation. In the meantime, there will come a day when men like KOJIMA, Takatoku or TAKAYAMA, Hikokuro will appear.

At present the food problem has become very critical. If this problem is neglected there may be a riot by the farmers. We should establish a sort of deputy association to supply food; I am attempting to accomplish this aim at the present time. Much is said about misbehavior of the military after the war. The problem is not that a sergeant or a common soldier has brought home a blanket. No, the fact is that officers, who had to be examples to their underlings, have brought home many things, mainly food, belonging to the military. After detailed investigation, from my point of view, these elements should be punished for the crime and, if possible, they should be executed."

Mr. IKEDA, Toyotano, chief of KAWAHIGASHI-[illegible]ura, said. "In the future, it is important to towns and villages that they respect the people's feelings and maintain co-operation between the villagers and the rice-supply groups. Up to the present it was asserted that the will of the upper classes was impressed on the lower classes and vice-verse, but the truth is that only the will of the upper classes influences the lower classes. This fact is obvious. Spiritually it is necessary that we trust the leaders completely. Now, everybody wants democracy and liberalism but real opinion, in general, cannot be grasped, for they are still in the minds of the people. In Government circles and among scientists the democratization of JAPAN is demanded, but the lower classes must also move toward democracy. If we do not move forward together, there will be great danger that we will perhaps repeat our mistakes.

POLITICAL SERIES: 44 (Continued)

ITEM 1 (Continued)

As for the food situation, the Government should formulate a practical plan but the entire nation must participate in overcoming this problem. Therefore, it is necessary that every one must be prepared to produce by himself. This must be carried out in the near future."

Chief of KAWAHISHI - Mura, Mr. NOJIRI, Shigeichino said, "As a newcomer, I want to propose the following five fundamental items: 1. Principeles to be observed by post-war leaders: face problems with sincerity and treat the people with kindness; 2. Examination of increase in efficiency and business. 3. Abolition of red-tape and avoidance of misunderstandings; 4. Co-operative reconstruction system; 5. Performance of duties with complete responsibility.

All people do not have the same opinion, and there will be, of course, some disagreements. However, in the end, the policy today is to act in agreement with the common people. I am charged with two duties at the same time. I am chief of the Agriculture Association, and Mayor of this village. I think this dual responsibility is very desireable in a purely agrarian village like mine. Many people have critisized this. Indeed since conditions very in different towns and villages, all matters cannot be managed in the same way. Those who have not yet been in touch with agricultural management are somewhat cool towards the Agricultural Association. As for myself I have been in touch for many years with these problems so that I know every kind of difficulty and hardship involved in agriculture.

In these extraodinary and unprecedented times of food crises the burden which is laid upon the agrarian districts is serious. I want all available energy to be put into the increase of food production with the closest cc-operation between towns and villages."

Chief of SHISHIGUI-Machi, Mr. NUMATA, Kojiro, said, "Our past policy was one of centralization of power and it was centralized only in big cities. The agrarian people did not participate, and the opportunity to take part in learning was non-existent. We must be a skillful nation in which the power is devided and the will of the people freely expressed. In the future we have to cast off old-fashioned forms and carry out a policy subservient to the desires of the people.

In our town, different from others, there are fish, wood and an agricultural activities. My intention is that these various activities work in harmony. The forest administration must establish a practical plan of self-government and must alter and improve forest roads. The agricultural management must reflect the farmer's will. The fish industry can look ahead to overseas trade in the future. This cannot be carried out at present because of a lack of facilities. Therefore, we must put our main efforts into supplying the fishing industry with equipment and in constructing harbors.

Furthermore, it is necessary to care for recreation facilities and the educational equipment of this town. The problems of food and unemployment are very hard to settle even in the country. My opinion is that this can be managed, well, if everyone is willing to help."

Chief of TOMO OKA-Machi, Mr. KAHAOKA, Genji, stated, "Officials and the public are earnestly advancing towards the establishment of democracy but here it must be said that the democracy of our country must be of a different form. We must not forget that our nation's task is to protect the national constitution. During the MEIJI Restoration the first steps were taken toward democratization, but at the end of the

- 2 -

POLITICAL SERIES: 44 (Continued)

ITEM 1 (Continued)

TAISHO period we went back again to the feudal policy because of the corruption of the parties and the victory of the militarists. Self-government in the agrarian district was gone. From my point of view, we must regain self-government.

The most anxious post-war problem in this town is that of food. There are but a few rice fields which belong to this town and, therefore, we are depending almost entirely on other agrarian villages. There can be no other way. On the other hand, we can catch plenty of fish here. So, my intention is to increase fish production. Nowadays, a shortage of hands is not to be feared, because of the huge supply of demobilized soldiers. The main problem is a lack of implements, nets, ships and so on. The Agriculture Department must take this case in hand and do something about it.

In addition to fishermen, there are only small or middle-scale merchants and industrialists. It is necessary to hurry the supply of goods and raw materials and at the same time abolish the restriction laws. Then small and. middle-sized businesses and industries will be able to expand. From now on we must all, as one great family, face the crisis of the nation with real democratic and liberal ideas. To fulfill this purpose, the citizens of my town must be educated in a liberal and democratic direction. Moreover, I think it will be necessary that our women get an education along political lines."

ITEM 2 Requests Made To the Government - Asahi Shimbun - 26 Nov 45. Translator: T. Unayama.

Full Translation:

At the Extraordinary session of the Diet, we hear that Premier SHIDEHARA's administrative address to the Diet is the only speech scheduled on the part of the Cabinet. However, our requests through the Diet from the Government about home and foreign affairs are many.

The bills for the revision of the Election Law, for the Agrarian Reform Plan, for the Trades Union and other various bills will be the centers for discussion. The newly created parties, which are counted by the scores, will make ardent efforts to propagandize themselves, partly in preparation for the coming general election.

The coming Diet must be the stage for outspoken discussions on various problems, the existence of which former Premier Prince HIGASHIKUNI's cabinet clearly showed but did not set about to solve.

People have clamored to have explanations and confessions of the responsible remnants of the military clique heard, with the object of revealing the fraudulence of the Imperial Headquater's announcements during the war.

We wish all the people to proceed with the main object of examining into the past historical facts, forgetting about the merits and the sins involved and passing over the question of goodness or revenge. To discuss such important problems as those of reparations, unemployment, promotion of the welfare of people, reconstruction of the damaged areas, demobilization and the pension and retiring allowance, a session of 18 days cannot be considered two long a period.

The report that demobilized officers are to be appointed as Ministers

- 3 -

POLITICAL SERIES: 44 (Continued)

ITFM 2 (Continued)

of the First and Second Demobilization Ministries, which are scheduled to come into being following the impending abolishment of the War Office and the Navy Ministry, has caused disappointment among the people. They have been thinking that a bureau would be organized with civil officials which would wind up affairs pending the abolishment of the two Ministries.

It is a cause for regret that the Government cannot break itself of the old methods once and for all. It is certainly a rarity to hear the fai[illegible]report that the Navy is now volunteering in preparation for organizing a court to judge the cases concerned with the maltreatment of the prisoners of war. We desire that the Army and the Navy have the broadmindedness to establish a joint court of justice.

ITEM 3 The Objectives of New Parties' Campaign ([illegible]) - Tokyo Shimbun - 27 Nov 45. Translator: J. weiller.

Extracts:

The Objectives of New Parties' Campaign.

The Fight against the Emperor System by TOKUDA, Kyuichi.

JAPAN Communist Party.

The most fundamental question we are now facing is that the Japanese populace is being exposed to the danger of ruin. The cause of the aggressive war in MANCHURIA, internationally speaking was the weakness of Japanese Capitalism during the world wide panic of 1929; and, internally speaking, the intensifying of internal problems caused by Japan's Capitalistic method of exploitation, both in the country proper and in the colonies, under the Emperor system and backed, by police force. As a way out of this internal difficulty the military aggressionists of the Emperor system, displaying their true aims, attempted the aggressive action in MANCHURIA.

What did this aggressive war entail? It required the tyranny of militarists and. bureaucrats and the enormous wealth accumulated by both the new and the old ZAIBATSU in the production of munitions. Elated by success, our ruling class turned to aggression. Their encroachment on CHINA extended from North CHINA to FRENCH INDO-CHINA, and when they attempted to invade the DUTCH-INDIES, the war with AMERICA and ENGLAND broke out.

It is an incontestable fact that this is the way in which the war maniacs started the recent world conflagration. Unless those responsible are down away with, it will be impossible to establish a democratic, peaceful nation. As already pointed out, it is indisputable that the cause of the war lies in the militaristic and police controlled Emperor system and naturally our stragetic aim must be the overthrow of this system.

There is no need to mention that it is our immediate and fundamental duty to stabilize and promote the national life as a whole. The Japanese nation has had its means of livelihood so utterly destroyed by the war that in order to obtain a handful of food the people are obliged to work like slaves. Impossible prices are being asked for underwear and shoes. Having no decent home to live in some must either huddle together in a small room or take shelter in a tunnel-like but. With the shortage of foodstuffs there is an increase in both black market prices and the number of unemployed. Army discharges and repatreations are also increasing the number of unemployed.

- 4 -

POLITICAL SERIES: 44 (Continued)

ITEM 3 (Continued)

Cultivated land, the basis of all food production, is becoming scarcer year by year due to the extreme shortage of fertilizer; and, according to the farmers, next year's rice crop will not yield more than the basic requirements of all formers themselves. With starvation in sight, efforts must be made to fight against this crisis. Despite this appalling situation the Emperor and his militarists, bureaucrats, landowners, and Capitalists are worried only about their own preservation. They are fostering an underground for the restoration of militarism, and they blame the Allied Forces for the possibility of food riots. Not only are they incapable of freeing us from present conditions, but for the sake of their own preservation they are oppressing us further. Millions of deaths by starvation will probably not affect the mode of their living. Plenty of good food, good clothing, and comfortable houses are theirs. For that reason, they are neglecting the responsibility of guiding the production of food and its proper distribution.

The Government explains to the farmers the urgent need of selling foodstuffs to the Government, telling them that otherwise the people will starve; yet the Government continues to neglect the production of farming necessities. The Government is not making any demands on the capitalists. The capitalists, their pockets bulging with the enormous profits of the war, have embezzled the food and daily necessities which should have gone to the workers at the end of the war. Moreover, anticipating the rise of commodity prices due to inflation, they think it to their advantage to neglect such production. The Government may encourage the farmers to sell food but it is unimaginable that farmers would willingly respond because selling to the Government is tantamount to being robbed. The farmers were very cruelly robbed during the war and they are not going to put up with this cruelty any longer.

Therefore we must, first of all, demand the transfer of food and other daily necessities to the people's control in order that they may conduct the distribution of rations. To make food control effective. We must produce more by eliminating the sabotage wreaked by the capatolists. Logically then we must establish the control of industry by Labor, However this may not be necessary if the capatolists make a sincere effort to increase production. The workers' control of industry will be instrumental in reinstating the unemployed, and it must be put into effect at all cost to free them from the impending crisis.

Next, in order to increase agricultural production, we demand that all the land held, by parasitic owners; forest plains, and other unused lands, be immediately confiscated without compensation and divided among the farmers at no cost. Until this project is realized, a reduction in rent and free use of non-utilized land must he put into effect, lightening the farmers' burden, on one hand and facilitating cultivation on the other.

Unless the above policies are put into effect, it is hopeless to solve the present crisis: but the Emperor system, and its military and bureaucratic control stand in the way. Our duty is therefore, to go on to our objectives, fighting and breaking through each obstacle. Our stragetic aim is the overthrow of the emperor system and ultimate establishment of a people's republican government.

DISTRIBUTION "X"

- 5 -