COMMENT ⊗   VALID 00002 PAGES
C REC  PAGE   DESCRIPTION
C00001 00001
C00002 00002	New Republic
C00004 ENDMK
C⊗;
New Republic
1220 19th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036

To the editors:

	L. W. complains about the anti-semitism (I presume with
justice) of some British writers but then commits a similar sin
with his ``So much for the Westernization of Japan.
It turns out that it takes more than technology and
cultural mimicry to turn a closed society into an open one''.

	Even if the accusations that precede this remark are
true, they wouldn't justify such a sweeping categorization of
a whole society.  Political pressure against showing a film
has occurred in the U.S., Britain and France.

	What we seem to have is evidence that prejudice
springs eternal in the human breast.  Fortunately, such examples
as this probably don't arouse fears in the Japanese of being
massacred, although it may cause some of them to remember the
Oriental exclusion laws and their internment during World War II.
One can also suppose that this example exhibits mere thoughtlessness
and isn't the result of a sinister campaign.

Sincerely,