The Days of a Man Cign 



Cabinet 



paniment of geisha and jugglers. And if we were found 

 wanting in some of the niceties of ceremonial tea- 

 drinking, it was probably not the first time our host had 

 been obliged to overlook international discrepancies. 



Kuma From California I had arranged with Dr. Toshiyasu 



Kuma to act as my secretary in Japan. ^ Kuma was 

 an able graduate of Stanford and had held a fellow- 

 ship at Clark University, where he took the degree of 

 Ph.D. in Education. Later he served for a time as 

 secretary of the Japan Society of California. Being 

 thoroughly familiar with Japanese customs and eti- 

 quette and possessed of much practical sagacity, he 

 proved equal to all occasions, steering us safely 

 through every kind of social perplexity. 



Katsura Ou teaching the capital one of my first duties, 

 according to Kuma, was to call on the various mem- 

 bers of the Katsura Cabinet. This was largely com- 

 posed of reactionary bureaucrats, more or less 

 controlled by military influences. Baron Hayashi 

 seemed an interesting exception, a bold, outspoken, 

 apparently sincere man. I was much impressed by 

 his frankness of speech regarding foreign aff^airs and 

 his criticisms of Japan's ''vigorous foreign policy." 

 I was the less surprised, however, when I found the 

 same ideas already printed by him in English. After 

 his death the publication of his memoirs threw much 

 light on modern Japanese politics. 



Soon after my arrival the Katsura ministry fell,^ 



^ See Chapter xxx, page 153. 



^ Katsura and his Cabinet had tried to restrict freedom of speech and the 

 teaching of "dangerous doctrines," Socialism especially. Their efforts at repres- 

 sion had the usual result of spreading the cult far and wide. When Katsura came 

 again into power a few years later, the Cabinet was driven out by the Tokyo 

 mob, which made use of cobblestones from the street as a political argument. 



I 352 1 



