esent
Majesty the case is entirely different. Moreover,
some of his compositions breathe a patriotism
formerly undreamt of.

*****

One might have imagined that Japan's new religionists would have
experienced some difficulty in persuading foreign nations of the truth
of their dogmas. Things have fallen out otherwise. Europe and America
evince a singular taste for the marvellous, and find a zest in
self-depreciation. Our eighteenth-century ancestors imagined all
perfections to be realised in China, thanks to the glowing descriptions
then given of that country by the Jesuits. Twentieth-century Europe
finds its moral and political Eldorado in distant Japan, a land
of fabulous antiquity and incredible virtues. There is no lack of
pleasant-mannered persons ready to guide trustful admirers in the right
path. Official and semi-official Japanese, whether ambassadors and
ministers-resident or peripatetic counts and barons, make it their
business to spread a legend so pleasing to the national vanity, so
useful as a diplomatic engine. Lectures are delivered, books are written
in English, important periodicals are bought up, minute care is lavished
on the concealment, the patching-up, and glossing-over of the deep gulf
that nevertheless is fixed between East and West. The foreigner cannot
refuse the bolus thus artfully forced down his throat. He is not
suspicious by nature. How should he imagine that people who make such
positive statements about their own country are merely exploiting his
credulity? HE has reached a stage of culture where such mythopoeia
has become impossible. On the other hand, to control information by
consulting original sources lies beyond his capacity.

For consider this peculiar circumstance: the position of European
investigators vis-a-vis Japan differs entirely from that of Japanese
vis-a-vis Europe. The Japanese possess every facility for studying and
understanding Europe. Europeans are warded off by well-nigh insuperable
obstacles from understanding Japan. Europe stands on a hill-top, in the
sunlight, glittering afar. Her people court inspection. "Come and see
how we live"--such was a typical invitation which the present writer
recently received. A thousand English homes are open to any Japanese
student or traveller who visits our shores. An alphabet of but
six-and-twenty simple letters throws equally wide open to him a
literature clearly revealing our thoughts, so tha