Note and Comment

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Dec 5, 1907

Japan and the Future

THAT Japan is methodically planning to be a very important factor in the future history of this world is evident to many observers. British residents in the far East have been noticing this for some time, and have been free to express their irritation over the growing pretensions of Japan to a leading part in the destinies of Asiatic peoples. Count Okuma’s recent speech has given fresh cause for irritation. He declared that Japan “would sorely disappoint the people of India, as well as ignore the opportunities given it by Heaven, if it failed to afford protection to the millions of India now oppressed by Europe.” As England is Japan’s ally, and as England is the country to which the count refers as the oppressor of India, it can readily be seen that there are indications of trouble in that quarter, especially coming at a time when England is considerably anxious over the matter of keeping down a threatened revolt of the Indian peoples. Concerning this situation the Times, an English paper of North China, says:—

This declaration reveals the cloven hoof and the attitude of a precocious and ill-mannered baby among the civilized nations toward a country the support of which gave her her present position in the world. We hope that the revelations made by Count Okuma will open the eyes of King Edward and his countrymen, as the eyes of Britons here were opened long ago.

It has been repeatedly asserted that Japan planned to be the England of the far East. If Count Okuma’s attitude is the attitude of his government, it is plain that Japan’s plans are much larger even than that. With Korea hers, and China under her tutelage, she will turn her attention to Indo-China and India.