A SPECTATQR'S NOTEBOOK
I • T was announced at the weekend that the American garrison on Hokkaido, the more northerly of Japan's two main
islands, is shortly to be relieved by some 50,000 men for roughly three divisions) of the newly formed Japanese Self-Defence Force.' I suppose that most people who knew the Japanese before or during the last war would expect this development to portend a great up-surge of militarism in . Japan and a rapid expansion of her euphemistically named army. In fact it is not likely to have these consequences in the foreseeable future. The martial impulses which sent the Japanese so fast and so far into Asia and across the Pacific seem—temporarily, anyhow—to have withered. No form of conscription exists, nor could it be introduced in the present mood of the country; and although rates of pay are higher and -conditions of service easier than they used to be, volunteers are not flocking to the -colours in large numbers. Most of those who do flock serve for (I think) two years and are then—since, rather surprisingly, no reserve has been formed —discharged without any further obligations., Possibly in order to underline the cosy, innocuous nature of the Self- Defence Force, the badges of rank worn by officers ate designed to represent cherry-blossoms.
Previous page
