The Yosemite Conference and Japan

A T THE Yosemite Conference of the Institute of Pacific Relations, subjects of discussion were not lacking. In the political as well as in the economic sphere of the Pacific area, changes of great magnitude had been staged for some time. Those famous goods made in had been shipped from Japanese shores to the farthest corners of the earth at a rate and with an effect the possibility of which the world had never contemplated. The most daring economic program yet undertaken by a capitalist country had been under copy in the United States for a period long enough to furnish critics with data to work on. And, needless to say, there was the gigantic U.S.S.R. enterprise-the most fundamental economic change that mankind had ever planned. In the political field also the U.S.S.R. had quickly been building up its status as a leading power in the Pacific. If, in China, the Nanking Government had not gone as far on its way toward the avowed goal of national unity as people might have expected, then surely there must have been a reason. The changing balance of political forces since the establishment of Manchukuo had engaged serious attention on the part of all the countries, certainly not excluding Japan and China themselves, which had even the slightest concern with peace in the Pacific and peace in the world. Europe and the Pacific, though remote from each other, are however fatally interdependent; and in Europe too, we were told, war clouds had been hanging dark and low. So our old colleagues of the Institute of Pacific Relations from England, and new friends from France, together with members from the Pacific region proper, met at the Conference in a somewhat apprehensive mood and with the utmost earnestness to discuss the possibilities of doing away with this whole damned war business. It had been anticipated in Japan-it is idle to pretend otherwise-that the Conference would not be at all a pleasant affair. Japanese members knew, from the Round Table syllabus prepared in advance, that Japan would be more or less the focal point for discussion in the Conference. All through the five Round Table Topics were questions concerning Japan's opinions, attitudes, intentions and motives

Geography · Political science · History · Japanese History and Culture

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