Slides of Japan Today Presented By International Seminar Forum

"Are there nothing but crowds in Japan?" asked someone at yesterday's meeting of the International Seminar in Lamont Library. The question was prompted by a series of pictures of Japanese labor union demonstrations that opened an afternoon of slides with commentary by Japanese members of the Seminar, Mikiso Mizuki and Eiichi Nagasue. An answer of yes would be close in any case, for Japan has a population two-thirds that of the U.S. crowded into an area equal to Montana.

The International Seminar Forum this evening will feature representatives of Korea and Ceylon speaking on "Alliance, Neutrality, and Development," and two Germans discussing "No Miracles in Germany." At 8 p.m., in Emerson D.

The scenes of labor and industry were followed by a sobering reel of views of Hiroshima, which was the target of the dropping of the first atom bomb 11 years ago next week. Some shots of pre-war Hiroshima preceded scenes of the ruins and rubble left by the single explosion that killed or injured half a million people.

Grimmer still were the pictures of persons with horrible flesh burns or radiation-induced fallen hair and bleeding gums. The series ended with a ghostly shot of human silhouettes against granite--all that remained after the persons were totally vaporized by the bomb.

Turning from the painful to the pleasant, Mizuki-san devoted the rest of the time to a sequence of colored slides of Japan and Japanese life. The beauties of the Japanese landscape are second to none; and the closest resemblances in this country are to be seen along portions of the Maine coast.

There were pictures of native food dishes, a wedding, some folk dances, the geisha (who, by the way, are not prostitutes but rigorously trained and highly respected dancers and entertainers), the No drama, festivals and ritual processions, as well as shots of college life. Many of the views were of Kyoto, to my mind the most beautiful large city in the world and the least Westernized of the Japanese metropolises.

A few slides showed some of the choice Japanese gardens, including the famous one that consists only of sand and several rocks strategically placed with characteristic asymmetry.

Many views featured richly colored Shinto shrines, and their gates--the so-called torii, one of the simplest yet most highly artistic structural designs ever conceived.

As a bonus the Seminar members saw some slides of the Philippines furnished by their colleague Mrs. Fe Rodriguez Arcinas. Some views showed handsome rich terraces, flowers and waterfalls. A number were of Roman Catholic churches. "Eighty to 85 per cent of the people are Catholics," Mrs. Arcinas explained. Perhaps the most intriguing architecture are the Buddhist temples and cemeteries. "About one per cent of the people still are Buddhist," she said--a holdover from the days prior to the centuries of Spanish and American rule