(See Cover)
To Suzuki-san, Japan's man in the street, this was a day of days. By special dispensation of the Son of the Sun, he could take a bite of sweetmeats, and he was allowed enough extra sake to make the New Order race through his tight little veins. He could stand in the open places and shout banzai for General Yamashita until he was froggy. He could go to the plaza by the moat and watch, with a tingle in his buttocks, as The Emperor himself rode out on his charger White Snow, showing his unbearably beautiful self to the bowing thousands. He could meander into Hibiya Park and listen to the public gloating.
If he stayed long enough, he would see a tall white man, with huge shoulders and a crunching jaw, get to his feet and shout, in clear Japanese: "Japan and Germany. . . . Germany and Japan. ..."
Suzuki-san probably would know who this speaker was: Major General Eugen Ott, German Ambassador to Tokyo. But he probably would not know why this foreigner's tone was so cordial, his eye so gleamy, his smile so quick. He would not know why General Ott was so warm whenever he mentioned the name of Lieut. General Tomoyuki Yamashita, the conqueror of Singapore, the hero of this day of days.
Not a Tool. The reason was this: General Yamashita, perhaps more than any other Japanese general, represents the extreme pro-German element in Japan. That he should have been the one to take Singapore was cause for special satisfaction to Eugen Ott. This event-considering the showing of the unhappy Italians-marked the first great milestone of Axis collaboration. It promised much for the future, not only of Japan, but of Germany as well.
The word for this event was cooperation. In the democracies the final mistaken hangover from the idea that the Japanese were little monkeys, just playing at the game of mankind, was the idea that the Japanese were little lackeys, just playing Germany's game. There was no basis in fact for the impression that Adolf Hitler had ordered, or blackmailed, or even wheedled Japan into its southward drive for riches. Japan wanted to be rich. Japan had begun the process of solving problems with the sharp edge of a sword back in 1931, two years before Hitler came to power. Japan is not Germany's tool.
The Pupils. German-Japanese military relations began in the year that Tomoyuki Yamashita was born, 1885. The Japanese, when they first opened themselves to the world, had modeled their fighting forces on the French. But France's humiliation in the Franco-Prussian War eventually turned the Japanese genius for emulation toward Germany. In 1885 a student of Marshal von Moltke, Major Meckel, went to Japan with a military mission to teach the sword swingers the smell of powder.
Meckel taught them the principles of Clausewitz, which they eagerly took over, revamped, stamped Made in Japan. After a victory at Liao-Yang in the Russo-Japanese War, Field Marshal Prince Iwao Oyama cabled Meckel: "We hope you are proud of your pupils."