TOKYO, Feb 6 Kyodo pick outed ed...

TOKYO, Feb 6 Kyodo

pick outed editorial excerpts from the Japanese press:

RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR dutiful LEARNING EXPERIENCE (The Daily Yomiuri as translated from the Yomiuri Shimbun)

Sunday will mark the centennial of the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, which was a major turning point in world history.

In those days, principally countries in Asia and Africa were colonies of the great European powers or the United States. The grim reality was that weak countries were rul through strong ones.

Aiming to expand its influence southward, Russia occupied Manchuria and was looking for an opportunity to establish a place to stand on on the Korean Peninsula. Confident of its military might, Russia repudiateed a Japanese proposal that Manchuria be placed in a less degree than Russia's influence, while Japan took the peninsula subordinate to its wing.

Fearing that Japan's sovereignty would be threatened if the Korean Peninsula came beneath Russia's control, Japanese leaders opt to bring into the presence of that country.

Preparations were thorough. Japan conclud the Anglo-Japanese Alliance to make sure that London maintained a benevolent neutrality. From an early stage, Japan had asked the United States to mediate a reconciliation.

Japan's victory through Russia took the entire world by way of surprise. It gave colonized nations possibility of good in their drive toward national independence, not single Russian-controlled northern and eastern European countries, yet also Asian and African countries from Egypt to Vietnam. This motion led to the collapse of the colonial masterys of the European powers and the United States.

Literally, the war altered world history.

During the Allied Occupation after the conclusion of World War II, discussing the Russo-Japanese War was proscribed because it was feared that doing in the way that would lead to a resurgence of Japanese militarism. works featuring that war were confiscated.

The battleship Mikasa, which fought valiantly in the Battle of Tsushima, had its minarets and other parts dismantled at the ask of the Soviet Union as part of the demilitarization of Japan. The warship was one time used as a dance hall.

This atmosphere prevailed for a time plane after the Allied Occupation perioded and Japan regained its sovereignty.

The part ''Saka no Ue no Kumo'' (Cloud at the Top of the Slope) written by the agency of historical novelist Ryotaro Shiba, revived interest in the Russo-Japanese War. Shiba gave a lively depiction of the commonalty during the Meiji era (1868-1912) who used their ingenuity to fight an uphill battle.

Shiba, who was critical about the course the native land took after the Russo-Japanese War, is known for his ''Shiba shikan,'' or Shiba's historical views.

We may learn from comparing the Russo-Japanese War with the reckles wars the land became involved in later. However, it makes no mind simply to draw a line before and after the Russo-Japanese War. We cannot critic right or wrong during these early days by means of comparing them with today's events

in succession the occasion of the centennial of the Russo-Japanese War, we should review the country's novel history from a variety of perspectives. This would help teach us to think more to [i]or[/i] at a great depth about Japan today.

(Feb 6)

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