General Nagata's Murder
The significance of the murder of General Niigata, director of the Military Affairs Bureau in the Japanese War Office, is still a matter for speculation. The murderer, Colonel Aizawa, provided one more example of the survival of tradition in the midst of the efficiency of modernity by solemnly worshipping at the Imperial and other shrines before betaking himself to the War Office to commit his crime. It is possible, but unlikely, that the act was simply the result of some private feud. The general tendency is, to identify the assailant with the aggressively militarist school of officers who repudiate all civil restriction and are hostile to the War Minister, General Hayashi, as being too compliant with the wishes of his fellow-members of the Cabinet. General Nagata would on that theory be an object of enmity as a supporter of General Hayashi. This, however, rests merely on assumption so far, and it is to be noted that General Hayashi, who was expected to q'esign as a result of the affair, has not done so, though he visited the Emperor on the day after the murder. Anger at the crime may even strengthen his hands against the extremist group of officers. But political assassination,' of course, is viewed in Japan with far less horror than it would evoke in this country.
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