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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (April 14, 1963)
MEDFOHD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD. OREGON Japan: A Land of Dynamic Regeneration Following A World War (Editor's Note: Jpnei dynamism in coming back irom shattering defeat in World War II hai asioniih d tha world. This diipatch, by a Uniiad Prata Inierna iional liaiiar who lives and works lhara, gives a fasci nating iniighi into how it hat baan accomplished.) Cascade Shopping Center Scheduled to Open at White City Early This Summer By ARTHUR HIGBEE Tokyo-UPD-Twice in little more than a century, Japan has tried to fly in the face of the facts toward the peril of self-destruction and then turned and made the facts work for her. SUNDAY, APRIL 14. 1963 In 1854, she tried to keep herself sealed in a cocoon of mcdievalliy from the rising winds of progress, then emer. ged to transform herself into a world power with a single minded speed that stuna the imagination even today. In 1945 Japan pursued a losing war to the suicidal point of arming her people with bamboo spears to fight off the invader. But after atomic bombs blotted out Hiroshima and Nagasaki she made ungrudging peace and set to work on an economic regeneration that frequently has been called miraculous. Siss of California Japan is the size of France or California. Her populallon, now stabilized by rising liv ing slnndard9 and by birth control and a permissive abor tion law, is 05,300,000 - sixth largest on earth. But her birth rate, 16.9 per thousand, is the seventh lowest. Japan's four major Hands - Honshu, Kyushu, Shlkoku and Hokkaido - stretch in a closely-knit arc off the cast coast of Asia about the same latitude as the eastern sea board of the United States, and with about the same vari ations in weather that prevail from New England to Geor gia. Japan is so mountainous that less than one-fifth the land is level enough for cul tivation. But it ia so inten sively' cultivated that Japan is nearly self-sufficient in food. Clotttt Neighbor Japan's closest neighbor is not China nor even Korea but Russia: it is only 30 miles across the La Perousc Strait from Hokkaido to Sakhalin Island. Japan Is densely populated (252 persona per square kilo meter) but the Netherlands England and Belgium arc more so. Japan has a high suicide rate (21.3 per 100,000 population) but Hungary and Austria have higher ones. Hara-kari (ritual suicide by discmbowclment) vanished after the war. The Japanese arc the most racially homogeneous major nation on earth, except for the Ainu, white aborigines of whom a few thousand have survived and maintained some of their own identity. Malay ans, Mongols and Chinese in the Japanese islands merged and fused into a single peo ple before the dawn of his tory. Writttn Language The written language con sists of Chinese picture-words combined with a 50-character Japanese syllabary. The sys tem is so cumbersome than an otherwise-admiring Brit ish scholar wrote that "as a practical instrument It Is sure ly without inferiors.'' The countryside is beauti ful. The houses, If drafly, have a calm-Inducing simpli city. But Tokyo Is one of the scruffiest great cities any where. To the Japanese, na ture is an end in itself; the home is a refuge; public build ings and thoroughfares are strictly utilitarian, like sew ers In the Western world. Japanese children arc cod dled .Mid cussctcd until they reach school age. Then the web of family and social obli- ASSEMBLE WIRING Female workers at Toshiba's Kom ukai plant in Tokyo, Japan, arc shown above assembling wiring for television sels. It takes each girl 40 seconds to complete her part of the operation. The average Jap anese wage-earner takes home only $18.48 a week, but there are six television sets for every 10 families. (UP1) gations begins to be drawn tight. Only the very young, the very old and the very drunk arc exempt. Atrocities Explainable Japanese wartime atroci ties, from the rape of Nan king to the Bataan death march and beyond, arc ex plainable, if inexcusable. Japa nese soldiers were systemati cally brutalized by slaps and beatings from their superiors. They were serving abroad and the lid was off the custo mary inhibitions. Commanders tolerated and even connived at atrocities as a means of striking fear into the enemy and the conquered peoples. The effect of course was quite different. The Japanese arc inscruta ble only in old U.S. wartime movlc9. They consider reserv ed behavior in public to be good manners. But on con tact they arc kind, friendly and even gay. Marina Biologist Emperor llirohiln, now (11, a mild-mannered marine bi ologist who stubbornly stared down (he literal die-hards In 1945, Is no longer the sacred and ultimate ubject of obli gation and veneration. Under the American-inspir ed postwar constitution, he Is simply "the symbol of (he stole and of the unity of the people. In the Middle Ages the em perors fell on hard times. eventually being supplanted anchored in Tokyo Bay and demanded harboring, rcviclu alling and trading privileges. Japan, thirsty for progress and determined not to be colonized like most of hapless Asia, burst open like an over ripe seed and sprouted into modernity. The shogunate was abol ished, the emperor restored. Public education was en forced almost overnight and a tycoon class created at a stroke. Streams of eager young men were sent to England to study naval and maritime practice, to the United States for commercial and industrial methods, to Germany for military and scientific knowl edge. 1 Within a generation, Japan had embarked on her qwn imperial adventures, annex ing Okinawa from China in 1875. Within two generations her fleet under Admiral Togo, often called Japan's Lord Nelson, had annihilated the Russians in the Korea Strait. Government Imported Parliamentary government was imporled, too. It flowered briefly in the 1920's, but withered in the glare of mili tarism, extreme nationalism and coloniul conquest in the 1930s. After Pearl Harbor the Japanese Empire, one of the richest the world has ever seen, swept from Burma to Wake Island, from Manchu- In actual power by a "shogun" I r'a l" New Guinea. (literally, the full title means barbarian-subduing general- issimo"), who In turn might be controlled by a regent. In 1803 the year England's first Queen Elizabeth died, a shogun named Tokugawa ley asu consolidated the warfare- ridden country, forced mem bers of the great duns to re lay each other as courtier hostages, left the powerless emperor Installed at the an cient capital of Kyoto and moved the real capital to Edo, renamed Tokyo. Foreigners Banished Foreigners, except tor a tiny and closely-policed com numity Of Dutch traders, were banished. Christians, converted by Francis Xavier and his successors, were cru cified. Sailors shipwrecked on the Japanese shore were be headed. Japan was sealed ufl tmni the rest of the world. This lasted 980 years, Then the Americans, under Com modore Matthew L'. Perry, But the Americans built up an overpowering niiliUry ma chine. Japanese atrocities quickly alienated the subject peoples who might have be come friends. Japan had all the resources she needed but her long supply lines to them were quickly cut. Her Industrial capacity was not up to replacing the losses of total war. The first atomic bomb was the coup de grace. Postwar Japan Postwar Japan turned to peacetime pursuits with a vengeance. The American-inspired constitution specifical ly outlaws war or the mainte nance o( armed forces; Ja pan's 200.000 - m a n "self-defense force" is grudgingly accepted as a cold war neces sity by the majority Conserv atives ami e, mstantly opposed by the minority Socialists. Democracy was grated onto Japan by the v s occupation authorities; II Is still uncer tain thai it will take If politics at Its best is prac tical idealism, it is far from its best in Japan. The faction ridden Conservatives have been accused of practicality without realism, and the mill lantly Marxist Socialists, of idealism without practicality. Small Communist Parly There is a small, shrill Communist party with 90,000 members and seven men in Parliament. At the other end of the scale there are spora dic sentiments for a revival of the old patriotic holidays, but there is no concerted neo nationalist movement. Japan has become the world's fourth-ranking nation in industrial production. She has seven cities of more than one million population, lo- kyo, the world's largest, num bered 10,224.309 residents within the city limits as of last Jan. 1. Yet one out of three Japa nese live on farms, compared to one out of 12 Americans or one out of 25 Englishmen. The average farm la 2A acres. Japan has increased her gross national product by an average 10 per cent a year since 1946. It went up an in- redible 15 per cent last year to $50 billion. Leading Shipbuilder She is the world's leading shipbuilder. She ranks sev enth in the world as an ex porter and fifth in sports. Japan has 12 million tele vision sels In use, six for every 10 families. The aver age wage-earner takes home SIS-SB a week and gets gen erous fringe benefits besides. On the other hand, Japan rocks with the slightest shift in world trade winds. The "buy American" policy, for example, has cost her S40 million a year in truck sales. Onlv 10 per cent of Japan's roads are paved; only 14 per cent of the houses have sew erago, Traffic regulations and workmen's safety laws arc laxly enforced. A Source of Hope Prime Minister Hayato Ike da has summed up: "Japan is an important member of the free world and source of hope for the new nations." "But we cannot be satis fied with what has been achieved so far. Although the economy has grown outatand- I Ingly, capital accumulation IS small and per capita income is still far less than In Europe cannot be denied that we also arc lacking in love of coun try, nation and traditions and in public courtesy in social life." But the enormous capacity of the Japanese for self-criticism is equalled by their tremendous drive for self-improvement. " "- "- A C D E. WHITE. ClfV NEW DEVELOPMENT The first section of the building on the extreme left is the new Cascade Market. The center section with the roof windows is the arcade. The other section shows the laundromat, barber shop, and beauty O (stWU shop with the bank building to the right. The covered walk way can be noted along the roof line. Hard surfaced driveways and parking areas will be on both sides of the buildings. Medford Student Takes Solo Flight A dream came true for a 16-year-old Medford boy Fri day morning when he soloed a Piper Tri-Pacer plane from the Medford airport. Grant Shaw Mayfield, son of Mr. and Mrs. R. S. May field, 332 Murphy ave., learned to fly last year and has flown since that time, but he could not solo until he was 16. So determined was he to solo on his birthday, that he arranged with a doctor to have his physical examination the evening before afler school. Young Mayfield soloed Fri day at 7:20 a.m., flying for about 30 minutes. He now has 10 hours of flying time, according to his mother. The Medford High school sopho more has been attracted to airplanes since he was a small boy. Mrs. Mayfield said. His father attended flight school during World War II, and his mother soloed about three years ago. The only member of the family who ! does not fly at the present is Grant's sister, Marsha, who will be 17 In May. The fam ily owns a plane which they keep at the Medford airport. White City The opening of the new Cascade Shopping Center in White City has been tentatively set for late in May or early June to enable the completion of additions to ori ginal building plans. The Cascade Super Market has been doubled in size from a 5,000 square feet to 10,000 square feet capacity because of the expected demand for the use of the building needs. The addition of a bank building is nearing comple tion with the vault construc tion. The First National Bank of Portland will open a branch office in the building with a drive up window. Also being included in the shopping center will be the beauty shop, barber shop, and laundromat located at the side of the market with a cov ered arcade between the two sections. The arcade will include n pond, tables, chairs, and Two Posts Will Be Filled on Board Phoenix - Two vacancies will be filled in the Phoenix school district board in the May fi election. Terms expire for J. Allen Harris, present chairman, who is seeking reelection, and for Bruce Cyphers, who is not a candidate. Harris, who represents the Phoenix area in the combined district of Talent and Phoenix, is opixscd for the office by MM. Leah Zundel, who also Dawson Attends Portland Meeting Ashland Dr. James Daw son, associate professor of science at Southern Oregon college, served as a panel member and presented a paper on 'The Importance of Versatility in College Teach ing" at the American Asso ciation of Colleges for Teach er Education seminar on the Improvement of College Teaching in Portland recent ly. Purpose of the conference was to study and discuss ways to improve the quality of col lege teaching. Dr. Leonard Rice, president of Oregon College of Educa tion, was keynote speaker and Dr. Roy Lieuallen, chancellor of the Oregon state system of higher education, was a ban quet speaker. drinking fountain for shop pers in the center. A covered walk will connect all build ings with a hard surfaced cir cular driveway allowing en try to the center from either end. A drug store will be opened in the near future in the oth er half of the building which now houses the Cascade Sports Marina. Other commercial business es will be added to the shop ping center in the future. Ac cording to John Laden, inqui ries regarding other types of businesses, such as a restau rant and bowling alley, have been made to the company. Swimming Pool Planned A swimming pool is planned for the use of resi dents in the White City area. The pool should be ready for use by late this summer. The desert area had been used for grazing until World War II. when the first real development started with the construction of an Army can tonment. In 1946. when the army declared the camp a surplus, most buildings were torn down with only a large hospital and several large warehouses and depot facili ties remaining. In 1948, the area was pur chased by a group of indivi duals as a site for future in dustrial development. In 1951 a spur railroad line was built to Tolo. connecting with the Southern Pacific Railroad line. 27 Industries in Area Today there are 27 indus tries, which include several lumber mills of various types, Oregon Washington Tele phone company, and the Cen tral Point rural fire depart ment in the area. Besides the industries there are several service stations, a dress shop, restaurants, a bottling com pany, a tire shop, a church, and real estate office. A recent estimate was made of between 300 and 400 homes, cither permanent or mobile homes while the own ers were building. About 70 new homes are included in the White City realty sub division, with long range subdivision plans calling for 300 to 350 homes. The esti mated building will be about 50 new homes a year, depend ing upon demand. About 5,000 acres of land in the Hoover subdivision liaa already been sold in from 2 to 40 acre tracts. Construction of several duplexes in the area is planned by a group of area businessmen to meet the de mand for rentals. AT STARK'S MON., TUES., WED. 3-DAY SALE WARRANTED USED ELECTROLUX RECONDITIONED BY STARKS OF PORTLAND BIG MODEL 30 VACUUM CLEANERS COMPLETE WITH SEVEN WORK SAVING ATTACHMENTS FULL PRICE ONLY 14 95 WITH ATTACHMENTS FREE TRIAL it NOTHING DOWN LIBERAL TRADE-IN ir PAYDAY TERMS EXCHANGE PRIVILEGE COME IN OR PHONE FOR FREE HOME TRIAL & PHONE 7724998 STARK'S One Year Fret Service Warranty Included Even Al Thii Low Low Price 22 N. Rivenidl NEW STORE HOURS: 8 am to 9 pm Mon. & Fri. Other Days 8 am to 6 pm M nr America. ' The lus is clearly ippar resides in the pnoenix area ent in t be field of public in- ; Kd llrim ol Talent is a ran Vestment, such as highways, i riidate for the post left va housing and sanitation. It ' cant by Cyphers. It's as easy as ABC to open a savings account at . . . Jrj1 Jackson County Federal V Savings and Loan Assn. Home Office-2 E. Main, Medford Ashland Branch-337 E. Main, Ashland PARADE ENTRY BLANK for the Rogue Valley PEAR BLOSSOM FESTIVAL Sat., April 20 r i CHECK ONE I NAME PHONE. I ADDRESS CITY CONTRACT AGE A ( ) Individuals jj B ( ) Animals or pets C ( ) Vehicle decoration D ( ) Costumed walking groups j E ( ) Organizational float J $ 255 CASH PRIZES ! Clip and Fill in Entry Blank Bring in or Mail to: PEAR BLOSSOM FESTIVAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE MEDFORD, OREGON 00 GENERAL RULES 1. No animal larger than St. Bernard Dog. 2. All pets must be caged, leashed, or harnessed. It is permissible to harness pets for floats, etc., providing pet is trained for this purpose. 3. Any age group may march in the parade but will be judged for prizes on following basis: a. Anyone up through sixth grade students. b. Anyone from seventh grade and older. c. Only one parade entry blank should be prepared for a group entry. 4. All entries will be judged prior to start of parade. Judging will beg-n promptly at 1-.30 P.M. All entries will receive an entry ribbon. Late arrivals will be allowed to enter line of march but may not be judged for prizes unless time permits MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE
