Empires and Emperors of Russia, China, Korea, and Japan: Notes and Recollections by Monsignor Count Vay de Vaya and LuskodVay, Péter
History
Empires and Emperors of Russia, China, Korea, and Japan: Notes and Recollections by Monsignor Count Vay de Vaya and Luskod
Vay, Péter
Asia -- Description and travel; Eastern question (Far East)
Baron Ivasaki, one of Japan's principal financiers, and the leader of
many social enterprises, after his return from a voyage of investigation
round the world, wrote a most interesting paper, not only dealing with
his personal experiences but pointing out possibilities, both of
financial and moral crises that might occur if the country did not unite
to promote, not only commercial and financial endeavour, but a high
moral tone. All good patriots and friends of Japan agree with the author
in this respect. Unquestionably, there is always a great danger when a
nation's ideals become merely material. It is even more disastrous if
its spiritual life threatens to become extinct. One of the causes of
Japan's strength has been her firm belief in her religious, national,
and domestic codes. The great rapidity with which she has adopted
Western civilization might easily have resulted in her acceptance, not
only of our good points, but also of our bad ones. Considering her
marvellous gift of adaptation, the question arises whether this does not
happen sometimes, to the detriment of better judgment. In her great zeal
to advance and to use all Western means, some of her deeper thinkers
begin to realize the dangers which might beset her. The rapid
transformation of the old social order must develop by gradation to
avoid fresh revolutions, and to spread over the whole country. It is not
enough for her to accept merely the technical side of Western
civilization, she must understand and be fully convinced by its moral
and spiritual principles. The nations of Europe may belong to different
denominations, but their mind and soul are imbued by the higher laws of
Christianity. Baron Ivasaki, in his articles, points out with great
foresight that it is not enough for his countrymen's future greatness
and happiness to improve materially, if there is not a corresponding
moral elevation.
It becomes evident that the most important question of the day is that
of education. During my prolonged stay in the capital I visited a great
many schools and colleges. Besides the well-equipped Government Primary
Schools I saw many Grammar and High Schools, Public and Private
Colleges, and Missionary Establishments. Public instruction, as a rule,
is very satisfactory. The teaching of foreign languages, and especially
of technical knowledge, is quite surprising, and the examinations in
these subjects have the best results. Education, as such, is less
successfully carried out; the chief defect of our Western system of
devoting itself exclusively to the imparting of knowledge, to the
detriment of the formation of character and the arming of the child for
the battle of life, more from a moral than from a material standpoint,
is also the drawback of this country. Among Tokio's scholastic
foundations the University is the most important. To give an epitome of
its history:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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