Note 30 — Chapter XVII
Reading edition · Edition 2
It should be carefully noted that not only has Japan no unfriendly feelings for Germany but that German Professors have been appointed to office during the war. In the matter of enemy trading Japan's policy has been even more extraordinary. Until there was a popular outcry among the Entente Allies, German merchants were allowed to trade more or less as usual. They were not denied the use of Japanese steamers, shipping companies being simply "advised" not to deal with them, the two German banks in Yokohama and Kobe being closed only in the Autumn of 1916. It was not until April, 1917, that Enemy Trading Regulations were formally promulgated and enforced,—that is when the war was very far advanced—the action of China against Germany being no doubt largely responsible for this step.
That the Japanese nation greatly admires the German system of government and is in the main indifferent to the results of the war has long been evident to observers on the spot.