Japan's Industrial Arts: Present and Future (1917)

An Urgent Call1 In the short time frame since Japan opened its doors to the outside world 50 years ago, we have strived to import, imitate, and assimilate Western culture in the bid to attain parity with the great powers. In some parts of the world we are now considered quiet achievers, and we ourselves cannot help but be surprised by our remarkable progress. Even so, if we think about the issue carefully, Japan’s irregular course of progress, achieved over the span of what barely constitutes several decades, is not in the same league as that of the West’s systematic progress obtained through two to three hundred years’ of experience. Accordingly, our progress is marred by disorder, disconnection, and inconsistency. We face many urgent ongoing issues, including some that should have been resolved long ago and others that require our immediate attention. No doubt, there are still others yet to materialize. Japan’s accumulated problems are so vast, in fact, that it is difficult to know where to start. For example, there are many unresolved and serious problems in such areas as religious morality, education, national defense, postwar management, the promotion of industry, and overseas development. But without doubt, at the present time, the most urgent of these pertains to the problem of industry.