cussions in a calm and dispassionate manner with proper regard for each other's susceptibilities and yet at the same time with perfect candor and frankness, for we believe that plain talking is always the shortest and surest way of arriving at a right understanding of all international questions.

Now, Mr. Chairman, permit me to try to lay before you and our distinguished fellow members a brief statement concerning the more important of the problems that confront us in various departments of our national life. All I can do is to outline these problems as they appear to me. I take them up in the order and under the general headings adopted for the purpose of round table discussions.

CULTURES, RELIGIONS AND EDUCATION

Japan is rapidly emerging from the first stage of contact between the cultures of the East and the West-a stage of which the distinctive feature was to lay more stress on what is different than on what is common between them. A more hopeful period is now dawning, a period characterized by a mutual desire for understanding and harmony. It may be remarked that there is a growing tendency among the Shintoists, Buddhists, and Christians to attach more importance to the practical aspects of their faiths than to dogmas so that in most of the movements for social regeneration they find common ground for service.

Turning now to the domain of education, it will interest you to know that a liberal tendency of a somewhat similar nature is prevalent. The problem which we now face is how to harmonize the traditional idea of nationalism with the new spirit of international cooperation.

I feel happy to be able to tell you that the internationalistic movement is making very satisfactory progress in Japan. To mention a few of the facts illustrative of this point, I may refer to the establishment in 1923 of the Japanese Association for International Education of which I have the honor to be president; its promoters include prominent figures like Professor Anesaki of the Imperial University of Tokyo and Miss Yasui, President of the Women's College of Tokyo. Another interesting fact is that a teachers' training course in international education was held in Tokyo last year under the auspices of the Department of Education; it was attended by over 600 primary and secondary school teachers from all over the country. It will interest you, especially my colleagues from America, to learn that the World Good Will Day adopted at the World Conference on Education in San Francisco in 1923, is widely observed in our schools on May 18th, carefully prepared literature on the subject of peace being supplied free by the Association for International Education.

To give you an idea of the kind of topics stressed by the promoters of international education in Japan, special mention may be made of a well

known text book widely used in secondary schools which include such subject as Ideals of Civilization, Social Justice, Love of Fellow Beings, Preservation of World Peace, Internationalism, The League of Nations, the State and Diplomacy, and Practical Applications of International Morality.

You will have perceived from what I have said so far that the Japanese people on the whole are making an open-minded and hearty response to the call of a broader and more enlightened world civilization combining the good qualities of the civilizations of the East and West. The East and the West are meeting in Japan. The West has found an opend-minded welcome from the east. May we not hope for a similarly responsive attitude on the part of the West, so that the cultural gulf that now divides the two great sections of the world may be removed to the lasting happiness of the human race.

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL RELATIONS

Japanese is being rapidly industralized. It is, of course, not a development of unmixed blessing. That is, however, not the place to dwell upon the spiritual and moral side of the subject. Suffice it to say that, whether we like it or not, industrialization has come to stay. It is, indeed, evident that manufacturing industries will form the principal means of fostering the material prosperity of Japan.

Another patent fact is that we are singularly deficient in natural resources, so that we have to go elsewhere for obtaining raw materials for our industries. And the quarters to which we chiefly look for this purpose is the adjacent continent of Asia, especially China and Siberia. The recognition of this fact and the consideration of it in all its bearings, is bound to bring home to our minds with increasing force the truth that even our own interests demand most intimate and cordial understanding with those great peoples.

From our economic dependence upon the adjacent parts of the Asiatic continent, there inevitably follow the necessity for free and open access to these regions. Japan is, therefore, necessarily keenly interested in the maintenance of the time-honored policy of the "open door" and equal opportunity for all.

RACE AND POPULATION

The world is entering upon a peculiar stage of development where different nations and races are getting acquainted sufficiently well to dislike one another but not well enough to like and respect one another. The inevitable consequence is unfortunate friction and misunderstanding between nations that should be friendly. Hence the urgency of finding some working basis

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on which nations of different racial affinities may get along with one another with a reasonable degree of harmony and mutual respect.

There is no problem of greater importance before the Institute. And unless some definite constructive progress is made along this line, we cannot be said to have achieved any degree of success in attaining the noble purpose that has brought us together. Let us, then, consider calmly and dispassionately the different aspects of this problem from different angles. What, for instance, are the real causes of these race antipathies? What practical steps can be taken, what forces can be enlisted in order to make these divergent races recognize each other as brotherly members of one human family, each remaining true to its historic traditions and its peculiar culture and yet fully prepared to do its share in the peaceful up-building of the general fabric of a world civilization. These are the problems urgently demanding the attention of our Institute, and I have no doubt they will receive careful consideration.

Speaking now of population, Japan is one of the most densely peopled countries in the world, the average density of Japan proper being 373 persons per square mile. In other words, it places Japan the third in the rank of density among all the nations of the world. The situation is made worse by the fact that the country being extremely mountainous, only a very small proportion of its limited area of 150,000 square miles can be brought under cultivation. Sixteen to seventeen per cent of it represents the acreage now actually under cultivation. On the other hand, the population is increasing at the rate of over 600,000 a year. The problem of population is, consequently, of vital interest to Japan.

Now it must be stated that there is a division of opinion among Japanese as to way in which the problem can be and should be solved. The prevailing opinion seems to be that the pressure of population in Japan can only be relieved by emigration abroad and industrialization at home. On the other hand, there are some who maintain that relief can be found through the further perfection of our system of intensive cultivation. Leaving the holders of these antagonistic opinions to fight out their differences, I shall for the present rest this problem where it stands and say that some way out must be discovered.

This problem of population leads me to take up the question of Japanese emigration. Lack of time prevents me from entering into this subject at any length. I must, however, state most emphatically that Japan does not intend to claim for her people the right of free entry into the territory of another country. What we object to is discrimination on account of race. Such discrimination is highly offensive to our self-respect as individuals and as a nation. I would not be telling you the truth if I did not say

that there exist among our people deep feelings of disappointment and dissatisfaction and even resentment over the discriminatory immigration law passed by the American Congress last year. I must, however, say at the same time that the more thoughtful among us still have sufficient confidence in the traditional sense of justice and fair play on the part of the American people to cherish the hope that in due course of time this wrong will be righted with honor to both nations.

As for Canada and Australia, we have also had occasion to complain of their attitude on this question. But it might be admitted that they have shown more tact and wisdom in dealing with the difficulty; that is especially true of Canada with whom the matter is regulated by means of a diplomatic arrangement. Australia took the matter up long ago when the number of Japanese immigrants was still insignificant, and settled it in a manner not openly offensive, although the real purpose of the law was easily perceivable. It may be questioned from a purely moral point of view and from the standpoint of world economy, whether any groups of human beings can rightly enclose a large extent of land and make little practical use of it, when there are other and larger groups who are in urgent need of a breathing space. Unfortunately, however, that point of view is still foreign to present international practice, and it only possesses academic interest. All we ask of you is that the problem of immigration will be examined with utmost candor and impartiality.

POLITICAL RELATIONS

In view of the increasing closeness of action and interaction between nations, the limits within which an independent country can regulate its domestic affairs without affecting the interests of other peoples are daily growing narrower and narrower. The duty, therefore devolves upon each nation, when it makes laws, never to lose sight of the foreign interests that may be harmfully affected. This duty is imperative where the rights and interests of aliens actually resident in the country are concerned.

In this connection I am glad to tell you that two notable improvements have recently been affected in Japanese laws affecting the rights and interests of resident foreigners. One is a law granting to foreigners the right to own land for agricultural, commercial or for other purposes, on the same footing with Japanese subjects. This law was passed by the Imperial Diet last spring, and will soon be put in effect. A noteworthy feature of the new, as of the old law, is that no discrimination whatever is provided on racial or any other grounds. Only the new law reserves to the Government the right of denying participation in the benefits of land ownership to aliens whose home country withdraws such benefits from Japanese subjects.

This power is, however, merely discretionary, and there is reason to believe that it will be seldom exercised.

The other legal improvement recently effected is an amendment to the law of nationality, which was passed in the special session of the Diet last summer and put in force on December 1st, 1924. Under the new law, children born of Japanese parents in America, Canada and certain South American countries automatically lose the Japanese nationality unless they declare through their parents within 14 days after their birth their intention of retaining it. As for those Japanese born in any of the countries enumerated and living there at the time the new law came into force, they are given the right of renouncing Japanese allegiance whenever they want to, whereas the old law restricted that right within a certain age limit, which in practice resulted in substantial injustice to those persons by placing them in the awkward position of being claimed as citizens by both Japan and America or one of the other countries at the same time. This was in its last analysis a result of conflict between two well-known principles of private international law, namely, the feudal and Anglo-American doctrine of jus soli and the Roman and continental European doctrine of jus sanguinis, which latter doctrine was in accord with our traditional juridical conceptions and therefore adopted as a basic principle in our present law of nationality.

I have already referred to the growth of a strong, liberal tendency in the educational world of Japan. Such a tendency, however, is by no means confined to educational circles; it is observable in all fields of activity. In politics, for instance, universal manhood suffrage bill was passed finally this spring after twenty years of hard and constant fighting. As regards our foreign affairs, a new generation of diplomats with a fresh and broader outlook on the requirements of international life is rapidly coming to the front. On all hands I notice unmistakable signs of the triumph of liberalism over the forces of reactionary conservatism. It seems, therefore, safe to say that the traditional Japanese policy of friendliness toward all nations will be realized even more effectively than before, for it will rest on the broad and conscious support of enlightened public opinion.

9. A KOREAN VIEW OF PACIFIC RELATIONS

BY HUGH CYNN

The Korean group is attending this Institute in the humble spirit of truth-seekers. The composition of this gathering prompts us to believe that the problems of each are the problems of all and the problems of all are the problems of each. It is our ardent hope that you who have come