JAPAN: Noble Expiation

During the past two years many a sympathetic traveler has paused before the tall barred gates of a great mansion in Yamaguchi (Western Japan). Its blinds have remained closely drawn. Within Masataro Namba, head of that once proud family, has lived with his brothers and their families in a retirement scarcely less secluded than that of the grave. Until a year ago, their aged father, once a member of the Imperial Diet, shared this seclusion with them, then died of brief. . . .

All this was brought about, all this endured, because...