Press translations [Japan]. Editorial Series 0360, 1946-02-05.
Date5 February, 1946
translation numbereditorial-1132
call numberDS801 .S82
Persistent Identifier
EDITORIAL SERIES: 360
ITEM 1 (A) The Government Officials' Associations (B) The Government's Cold Attitude (C) Opportunists in Democracy - Mainichi - 3 Feb 46. Translator: K. Nobunaga.
Full Translation:
(A) It is said that in the Agriculture and Forestry Ministry and other Ministries
the personnel associations have been
organized for democratization. I am not satisfied with these organizations. I think
that democracy consists neither of
speaking on an equal footing from lower to higher officials nor demanding to transfer
rights, nor demanding increased
salaries. Democratization for you is to abandon the spirit of putting government above
the people. You should testify this by
receiving civilians of ability.
Your associations seem to have been organized for preventing civilians from entering
government, offices. Even the recently
established Trade Office has hardly adapted any civilian except MUKAI, Tadaharu. Your
personnel associations are apparently
organizations for the increase of your salaries. During the war, you illegally received
tobacco, sake, and rice, and abused
your privileges.
Unless you apologize; for this arbitrary action, we, civilian salaried men, can never
join forces with you in the demand for
the raising of salaries. As long as you make efforts to further yourselves or desire
increased salaries under the pretense of
democratization, you will become the focal point of public hatred. (From TOUN)
(B) The increased property taxation bills admit special deductions for war victims,
but not for repatriates. Almost all the
repatriates came home without their belongings. Some of them must live on a little
sum of money which they had kept in our
country. It is strange that they should not be treated as war victims. These new taxes
seem to be effective even in blocking
their deposits at the banks and association in the districts affected. This applies
also to remittance checks. Only defeat and
taxes await them on their return home.
This is not merely a problem of taxation. It so happened that the authorities revealed
in the property taxation bill their
cold attitude toward the repatriates. We take this up as a problem. The authorities
gave to them only two pieces of bread, ten
pieces of GAI SHOKU KEN (distributed tickets for eating) and a reduction in railfare.
This is all the aid given to our
compatriots who have worked hard and long in foreign countries. How could the government
is! (From NAKAHO, Yosaku.)
(C) At the welcome meeting of the people for Mr. NOZAKA, Mr. MUROFUSHI, Toakanobu
made a speech to the effect that a cabinet
for the people is very necessary, with a gesture as if he were a leader in liberalism.
Simultaneously, he called the Emperor
by the pronoun of "he" (TN Does not show respect).
When the ne[illegible]order system was at its best, he fawned upon the powerful
EDITORIAL SERIES: 360 (Continued)
ITEM 1 (Continued)
and wrote a book, "Lecture on a New Order System." At the beginning of this work
he mentioned, "I have supported a New Order
System from the beginning. He explained at the end of the same book, "We should be
unified in the name of the Emperor." It is
our obligation as well as our privilege to defend our notional character. Did he forget
this? If he now excuses himself saying
"I am not a thinker, but a journalist" he should have written his book anonymously.
He often called Mr. NOZAKA by his real
name.
How superficial he is that he should leave a person whom he has worshipped! This
shows him to be an opportunist. He was
arrogantly smoking part of a cigarette made in a foreign country, when Mr. GAKUDO
was a nouncing a message. I cannot help
being indignant at him. The problem of opportunism is not limited only to him. But
he does seem especially to be a
representative of the opportunists. (From TAKAHASHI, Kinichiro)
ITEM 2 Illegal Acts In Labor Disputes - The Yomiuri-Hochi - 3 Feb 46. Translator: K. Gunji.
Full Translation:
The Government issued, on the first of this month, a statement on labor disputes
in the names of the Ministers of Home
Affairs, Justice, Commerce and Industry, and Welfare. It was to the effect that, in
the recent labor disputes, acts of
violence, throat, and infringement of ownership are occurring, and that such acts
henceforth shall be punishable. When one
reads this statement, one is apt to think that the laborers are going too far in the
matter. We believe from this statement,
that the Government intends to give the public the wrong impression that this kind
of illegal conduct is frequently being
committed.
We cannot help wondering at the lack of seriousness revealed by the authorities in
their treatment of this important question.
If as the authorities claim, so many cases of illegality really take place, they should
make public such facts in detail.
Without giving the people the complete report of the real situation, they speak as
if the recent labor disputes were full of
these unlawful acts. Should this be the attitude of the Government which "desires
the development and activities of labor
unions?"
Mr. ASHIDA, Minister of Public Welfare, and Mr. OMURA, Vice-Minister of the Home
Office, pointed out as an example the case of
the TSURUMI Dockyard of the NIPPON KOKAN Co. However, according to our information,
the truth is that when a group of
employees visited the president for negotiations, he avoided them by running away
where upon they ran after and caught him for
the purpose of negotiation. That was the case. Of course it is not desirable for negotiations
to be forced upon a person, but
is it right for the capitalist, who holds the key to the life of the laborer, to purposely
avoid negotiations? Suck events
result, in many cases from the unfair conduct of the employers. The statement in which
the blame is laid upon the employees
alone reveals which side the Government is taking.
We must emphasize, once again, that one of the prominent features of the post-war
labor disputes in this country is the
laborers' demand for increased production as opposed to negligence on the part of
the capitalist. Because of the difficult
existence resulting from inflation, they demand a great increase of pay. At least,
they are seeking to attain their aims by
devotion to production, instead of adopting sabotage methods. In many cases, production
has actually increased as the result
of labor
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EDITORIAL SERIES: 360 (Continued)
ITEM 2 (Continued)
disputes.
If laborers are obliged to rely upon extreme conduct, its reason must be sought in
the irresponsibility of capitalists. The
government has never had to issue any statement against their irresponsibility or
negligence in production. Concerning the
labor movement, the Government maliciously issued a statement which propagandized
a few extreme cases to indicate an overall
trend. We venture to say that the Government itself is threatening laborers and scheming
to interfere with them. In short,
this statement intends to control the labor movement by misrepresenting the facts
in the case.
This is probable part of the program of the SHIDEHARA Cabinet, which recently decided
to take compulsory measures for buying
up rice. If, in that time, our democratic groups had cooperated to fight against that
measure, it would not have been followed
by such a despotic act. The fact that the formation of a united front of laborers
and farmers is delayed allows the cabinet to
develop its ambition for the exercise of coercive measures and leads to social unrest.
We must bear in mind that the
reactionary SHIDEHARA Cabinet is seeking the opportunity to exercise coercive measures
and that the only method to check it is
to form immediately a united democratic front.
ITEM 3 Religions and Shrines - Asahi Shimbun - 3 Feb 46. Translator: I. Hotta.
Full Translation:
We have heard that the tens of thousands of the spirits of the war dead which should
have been enshrined to the YASUKUNI
Shrine still remain without a shrine. It is a fact that less people visit the YASUKUNI
Shrine, the MEIJI Shrine and the
KASHIWARA Shrine these days. To put it bluntly it seems to show a frivolous side of
the Japanese.
However, if we think about it rationally, our life had too much relationship with
the gods. We cannot blame those who have
been enrolled among the gods, but those who were superstitious are culpable. It is
similar to the relationship between a
primitive faith and a medicine man. We can think that the allegiance to the gods in
our country has its origin in the
primitive days and not in the feudalistic system. However, every civilized religion
has a similar factor. This religion will
never leave us if we do not understand the true meaning of life, sickness, or death
since human beings came to exist, and we
have to depend upon superhuman ideas to form cur character.
If a shrine belongs to a religion, one who does not believe in the religion will
not be allowed to visit the shrine. MORI,
Yurei and HIRAO, Hachisaburo, the late Ministers of Education, once raised a question
about a visit to the ISE Shrine. We do
not know whether they are now in heaven or hell, but what do they think of the recent
decision announced by the Minister of
Education?
DISTRIBUTION "X"
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