Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 5.djvu/115

 tive person. Men guided by such rules of conduct do not make vehement exponents of public opinion, however agreeable they may be as units of society.

As to the Japanese official, different opinions have been expressed. According to some, the occupants of high positions are polite and obliging, whereas the juniors are veritable Jacks in office, always ready to abuse the little brief authority with which they are clothed; according to others, they are one and all thoroughly courteous and serviceable. Probably a subjective element is mingled with both views. The Japanese official's demeanour depends on the manner in which he is approached. His natural tendency is to be urbane and helpful, but he resents the de-haut-en-bas style of address adopted towards him by many foreigners, and is a little annoyed by criticisms generally founded on ignorance. Certainly in no other part of the world is it possible to find police-constables who treat the public with more uniform civility, and the conduct of the policeman is probably the least fallible criterion. Yet at times these same policemen have been guilty of cruel roughness in apprehending foreign disturbers of the peace, and there has followed the usually exaggerated outcry on the part of local foreign journalists whose sense of proportion is much marred by their spurious patriotism. What may be fairly stated in extenuation of any violence occasionally resorted to by the police is that they