At last, Minister Aoki came—and left. What he said and did: the usual speeches, the routinary inspections, the gatherings of captive audiences.
But there is a subdued feeling that everything is not going well with the war despite what they would have us to believe. The Rising Sun is probably not as bright as it used to be a year ago. From the vagueness of the true goings-on within the Sphere, we can glean that something serious has befallen the advance lines of this gigantic Eastern front, and something unexpected is about to happen in the geographical center of this great circle of the Japanese Empire. These visits and these sudden offers of independence presage a new turn in the policies of Tokyo, and these changes in diplomatic postures must be motivated by developments not at all favorable to the cause of the Sphere.