JAPAN’S EXPERIENCE WITH “CHRISTIAN NATIONS.”
So long as the sun shall warm the earth, let no Christian be so bold as to come to Japan. For about two hundred years previous to 1854 this is the sign that was posted up throughout Japan by order of the Mikado. And why this interdiction? When Christianity was first introduced into Japan by St. Francis Xavier (Roman Catholic Jesuit), it was favorably received, and there was almost at once a large number of converts, 12,000 or more. But Spain and Portugal entered into a conspiracy with these native Christians to overthrow the government. There was terrible bloodshed and persecution, 31,000 Christians at one time being put to the sword. In the end all missionaries were banished, and the edict just quoted was everywhere put up, and Japan became a hermit nation. In 1852 some American sailors were wrecked on the coast of Japan, and being harshly treated by Japanese authority, the United States despatched an expedition under Commodore Perry for the protection of American seamen; also to establish a treaty with Japan which would open up one or more ports. That expedition was most successful, and other nations followed a similar course. Soon that obnoxious edict had to come down, for missionary effort always speedily follows commercial opening. But it was not done without a struggle. The cry was raised throughout the empire: “Honor the Mikado and expel the barbarian.” For the first thirteen years that missionaries worked in Japan, in this second attempt, there were not thirteen converts—a sad contrast to the results of the first introduction under St. Francis Xavier. Alas! the Japanese had learned the bitter lesson of distrust in Christianity! But nearly fifty years of missionary work have wrought a great change in Japan. It would be difficult to tell just how many Japanese have become Christians; but this we do know, there are over 8,000 children in Japanese Sunday-schools. Let us not rejoice too much in this, however, for where one child is in the Christian Sunday-school there are a thousand children who are taught to worship idols. In the city of Tokyo alone there are nearly five thousand temples and shrines. Has Japan Anything to Fear from a Christian Nation?
Alas! yes, for close behind the missionaries has followed the demon drink traffic. The missionaries tell us that throughout the length and breadth of Japan, American wines and liquors are used, and that American breweries are in full blast, and more are constantly being erected. The Japanese can not be said to be temperate people, since one-seventh of all the rice raised in their country is made into an intoxicating drink called saki, containing about 14 per cent. of alcohol. This makes it all the more deplorable that a so-called Christian nation should do anything to increase the drink evil. Word comes to us from Japan that the next morning after treaty revision came into force in Japan—in July, 1899,—by which Japanese laws are made to apply to all European residents, America had the disgrace of seeing one of her citizens arrested for murder which took place in an American rumshop. The offender afterward met his own death on the gallows at the hands of the Japanese Government. Japan prohibits the sale of tobacco to minors and all students, and its use by them. Japan can and should prohibit the importation and manufacture of liquors. In regard to the prohibition of opium, Japan undoubtedly learned the necessity of this from the sad condition of her near neighbor, China. As to the prohibition of tobacco, this law was gained through the Hon. Sho Nemoto, M. P. The law became operative only so late as April 1, 1900. May the time soon come when Japan is as free from the liquor curse as it now is from opium and tobacco. Japan would probably have prohibited the importation of liquor as well as opium, but for hindering provisions in the treaties of “Christian nations.”