time of giving something of worth to the world, will doubtless be realized."

It is Japan's hope not to disappoint such well-wishers as Professor Gulick. And the more the Japanese are maligned and oppressed at the hands of foreign nations, the firmer and more unconquerable will their determination become to rise and to attain the end which they have started out to reach.

N

III

CAN WE AMERICANIZE THEM?

O nation, perhaps, has turned to environment so sensitive a front as the Japanese.

Its history of twenty-five centuries is a record of unceasing adoption and assimilation. Aye, the process of assimilation began even before the curtain of history rose upon the pristine calmness of its Elysian islands, for the archipelago seems from time immemorial to have been the meeting ground of all races inhabiting the Asian continent and its adjacent islands. From the South came various tribes of Southern China, of the Malayan islands, and of India; from the northwest came tribes of Korea, Tartary, Mongolia, and Northern China; from the grim forests in the north the Ainu descended upon the sunlit plains of Southern Japan; even the aborigines of North America seem to have crossed the Pacific to swell the confluence of human streams that was forming in the archipelago of Japan.

A glance at the map of Eastern Asia convinces us of the comparative ease with which these early tribes must have steered their courses towards Japan over vast expanses of water. Off the eastern coast of the Asian continent a chain of innumerable islands runs from north to south, as if forming stepping-stones between the tropical islands of the Malayan group and the peninsula of Kamchatka in the grip of eternal ice. In this chain of islands Japan occupies the most fortunate position. To

enhance the advantage afforded by this geographical configuration, the shores of Japan are laved by a warm current which issues from the South Sea and which finally runs towards Canada, across the Pacific. The monsoon, too, blows from the South Sea, taking in spring an oblique southerly course towards the Pacific, and in autumn veering to the opposite direction. For the restless souls of prehistoric times, therefore, it was no insurmountable difficulty to drift from island to island until the fair scenery of Southern Japan greeted their eyes. Thus it came to pass that the Japanese nation incorporated a greater variety of races than any other nation in the world. That some of these component races were of Aryan origin not a few scholars have begun to recognize.

When the primitive tribes met with one another in the fair isles of Japan, they saw little cause for quarrel. The climate was agreeable and the earth bountiful; and the sea was so abundantly supplied with fish that they could be caught by hand without any trouble of netting. There was plenty of food for every one, and the winding hills and embracing valleys afforded hospitable shelters-why should they quarrel? And so aborigines and immigrants freely and happily intermingled and conversed over the hearth in a tongue that quickly became common among them. With the barrier of race animosity thus insensibly removed, it was but natural that the Japanese people should draw into its veins the blood of numerous tribes and races.

That indeed was the first step toward assimilation. As the various races became fairly homogeneous and unified under a common government, they began to adopt the civilizations and cultures of continental countries, especially of China. When Japan came in contact with

the Western world, she set out to study and absorb the civilization of Europe and America with the same zeal and receptivity which she had displayed in adopting the civilization of the Asian continent.

Mr. Robert P. Porter means to be courteous, I presume, when he says, in his "Full Recognition of Japan," that Japan absorbs but does not imitate. Let us be more frank and admit that the Japanese are imitators. Imitation, however distasteful to the sensitive Japanese that word may be, is a virtue and trait common to all progressive nations. "Herein," says no less an authority than Dr. W. E. Griffis, "is the abysmal difference between the Chinese and Japanese, yes, between the sons of Ham and ourselves. The Chinese invented what they have. We did not, nor did the Japanese. The Chinese have had but one culture. It is indigenous. They have held to it and have only recently, under pressure from all sides and within, begun to change. The Japanese, like ourselves, inventing little until modern times, adopt and adapt new things, and even become adepts. Always, when opportunity offered, they took the novelties and were soon at home with them. The Japanese mind, thoroughly un-Mongolian, works in other grooves than those smoothed by the Chinese."

Successful imitation implies creative ability. No people, not endowed with originality, can adopt the complicated sciences and the intricate machinery of industry of other nations, and in a comparatively short time be thoroughly at home with them. Herein lies justification for Mr. Porter's assertion that Japan is not a nation of copyists. For she modifies the arts and ideas of other nations to meet their peculiar needs and to suit their own ideas. Take, for instance, the fine arts of Japan. Japan was China's pupil in painting and sculpture, yet

the style of painting and sculpture which she eventually developed is no more Chinese than the painting and sculpture of Europe. Western critics recognize admirable qualities in the fine arts of the Japanese; they declare that in this particular field the Japanese displayed remarkable creative genius. What they have achieved in the field of fine arts they are also achieving in other fields. No nation of mere copyists could handle the intricate yet tremendous machinery of modern warfare with such absolute mastery and precision as has been displayed by the Japanese. No nation of mimics without creative genius could in a brief period of thirty or forty years master the industrial arts of the Occident so completely as to enable it to construct mighty dreadnoughts, to build mammoth merchant vessels, and to establish and operate great factories. In the world of material science, also, Japan has already made remarkable records. Even the comparatively new and small Japanese community in America already boasts of such scientists as Dr. Takamine and Dr. Noguchi, of New York, whose remarkable inventions and discoveries are well-known among the specialists of all countries.

Professor Sydney Gulick, for fifteen years an educator in Japan, attributes the imitative trait of the Japanese to his sensitiveness to environment; his success in imitation he traces to the flexibility of his mental constitution. "Great flexibility, adjustability, agility (both mental and physical), and the powers of keen attention to details and of exact imitation "-these are qualities with which Professor Gulick credits the Japanese. Comparing Japanese imitation with that of other nations, this American scholar has this to say:

"The difference between Japanese imitation and that of other nations lies in the fact that whereas the latter,