Reischauer Optimistic About Japan After Spending Year in Far East

"I left for Japan with a feeling of optimism concerning her status, and I returned with that optimism strengthened."

With these words Edwin O. Reischauer, professor of Far Eastern Languages, summed up his past year's tour of the East with his family. Returning to the University after a year's leave of absence, Reischauer had his main base of operations in Japan, but he took a side trip to Korea for a few weeks and another one to Hong Kong and Formosa.

In contrast to the basically healthy situation in Japan, however, he found Korea and Formosa in a state of virtual stagnation.

The main purposes of Reischauer's tour were twofold. On the official level he went to visit certain universities in the Far East which the Harvard-Yenching Institute helps to support--altogether the Institute supports research and publications in about ten universities in Japan, Korea, and Hong Kong--and on a more personal level he went to gain a first-hand familiarity with recent developments in the area.

In Japan, Reischauer found healthy political, economic, and social progress since the end of the last world war. Economically, he noted the growth of factories and technical knowledge and the "modernization" of Japanese industry. He considers unlikely the prospect of any great amount of trade developing between Japan and Communist China.

Politically, Reischauer found a strong and healthy belief in democracy. "Ever since the last war," he maintains, "the Japanese have never doubted that the ballot box would decide the major issues." A higher percentage of people vote in the Japanese elections than do here, and the elected governments now have eleven years of successful rule under their belts.

Perhaps the most profound change has been sociological. "The younger people differ from their elders in the way they act and the way they think," Reischauer comments. "They are more western, more modernized, in their outlook." One example of this has been the virtual disappearance from the cities of the kimono in favor of more western-like dress.

Slow and Steady

All of these impressions tended to make Reischauer optimistic about the future of Japan and of Japanese-American relations. It is quite possible, however, to look at certain aspects of Japan and come away feeling rather pessimistic. Some people, for example, feel that Japan's slow and steady economic rise should have been faster, though Reischauer has anticipated the slower, safer kind of expansion. Moreover, the Japanese intellectual classes tend to be very critical of the United States, and if one reads only their writings, one can get the impression that the Japanese as a whole are hostile. "But the less vociferous classes, the men in the street, are very tolerant of the U.S.," Reischauer says, "especially considering the presence of foreign troops in their country, a situation which is always irksome."

One aspect of this common man's liking for the U.S. can be seen in the great popularity enjoyed by the New York Yankees on their several tours through Japan. A question on the Yankees in Jimmy Jemail's "Hotbox" column in a recent Sports Illustrated brought an enthusiastic response from Japanese fans, one of whom even praised Yogi Berra for "looking like a Japanese god."

Shirk Her Share

But despite Reischauer's optimism, he feels there are certain areas in which both the United States and Japan have fallen down. On Japan's part, he notes a tendency to divorce herself from Asia and to shirk her rightful share in world affairs.

This tendency to stand aloof from Asian affairs can be seen not only in the case of Japan, however, but also with the other three countries in the Far East with which the United States has the most dealings--Korea, Formosa, and Vietnam. Korea, for example, has significant relations only with the U. S. The same holds true to a lesser extent for the other three. Although Formosa and Japan engage in some mutual trade, there is really very little economic, personal, or intellectual contact between any of the four countries. Their main contact with each other is through the west.

No Self-Confidence

Moreover, the Japanese do not seem eager to assume any sort of leadership in the Far Eastern sphere. They have not yet recovered their self-confidence, Reischauer says, and they tend to leave the problems for others to solve. They tend to talk, he said, in terms of huge, outside forces--the U. S. and Russia, for example--over which they have no control.

This naturally leads the Japanese to ignore Far Eastern problems, and their isolation is further heightened by hostile feelings aroused in other Asian countries because of Japan's role in the Second World War.

It is in this area that Reischauer feels the U. S. has fallen down. Although basically it is up to Japan to snap out of her doldrums herself, he feels the U.S. should do everything possible to help the Japanese regain contact with the peoples of Asia.

While Reischauer feels that bolstering the confidence of the Japanese and restoring their contacts with the rest of Asia would be a very delicate business, he does suggest certain concrete steps in an article in the New York Times magazine. These included helping to solve the reparations disputes between Japan and certain other Asiatic countries, and using Japanese technology in economic aid programs.

But of primary importance, he says, is that the U.S. reorient its thinking and adopt a point of view implementing Japan as an ideological asset. "The problems are delicate and will require time, but they can be solved if the right objectives are sought."

In contrast to Japan, however, Reischauer found Korea and Formosa to be marking time rather than pushing forward. Emergency policies have been necessary up to now, and the situation seems to be stabilizing. The two regions will probably remain independent for the forseeable future, he predicts, which means the U.S. will have to continue employing a defensive-crisis type policy. But this situation adds to the feeling of stagnation in these areas.

On Formosa, much the same situation exists. Chiang Kai-Shek is also an old man and his military regime is not producing any long-range political or economic developments. Again there is a feeling of waiting