Rising Sun

Japanese reaction, of course, was quick and bitter. “Japan is expanding,” retorted Yosuke Matsuoka, a diplomat whose sharp tongue and ready wit was winning him many followers. “And what country in its expansion era has ever failed to be trying to its neighbors? Ask the American Indian or the Mexican how excruciatingly trying the young United States used to be once upon a time.” Japan’s expansion, like that of America’s, was as natural as the growth of a child. “Only one thing stops a child from growing–death.” He declared that Japan was fighting for two goals: to prevent Asia from falling completely under the white man’s domination, as in Africa, and to save China from Communism. “No treasure trove is in her eyes–only sacrifices upon sacrifices. No one realizes this more than she does. But her very life depends on it, as do those of her neighbors as well. The all-absorbing question before Japan today … is: Can she bear the cross?”

“Seven hundred million brethren in India and China cannot gain their independence without our protection and leadership.
“The history of East and West is a record of the unification of feudal states after an era of civil wars. The only possible international peace, which will come after the present age of international wars, must be a feudal peace. This will be achieved through the emergence of the strongest country, which will dominate all other nations of the world.”