The Savior Comes

Those busy little borrowers, the Japanese, prepared last week to pay back an old debt, with interest. The debt was Buddhism, which Japan borrowed from India (some 14 centuries ago) via China. Now the Japanese see in Buddhism a heaven-sent means of controlling their newly conquered Asiatic populations. A Nipponese broadcast, picked up by the Indian radio and cabled to the U.S., forecasts some steps in Tokyo's program of spiritual regeneration :

> "Thai Buddhism has something in common with Japanese Buddhism. If we Japanese can control and guide [the Thai] priests, then we shall not have difficulty leading Thailand religiously."

> "Burma is a mass of temples; if we control them our task is complete."

>"India possesses deeply religious consciousness, but the spiritual aspirations of the Indians have not yet been fulfilled. They also await a savior."

The Japanese are not quite so confident that the Filipinos are awaiting a savior. Said the broadcast: "The Filipinos are a very superficial people, thoroughly demoralized by the American example. Nevertheless the Filipinos have several characteristics in common with the Japanese. They are fairly pious. When they make money, they prepare magnificent, costly coffins for their parents, even while they are alive, thereby comforting their declining years. If we Japanese can develop Filipino filial piety in other directions, there is some hope that the Filipinos may become a decent people."

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