New Philosophy of Life
Written by Okada Jikan Mokichi, 1950

When we thoroughly look at today’s society, bad people throw too much of their weight around. Therefore, good people are oppressed and suffering. Everyone knows these circumstances. Here let me explain why that happens.

It is said from a long time ago that good people are weak but bad ones are strong. Because of this, bad people behave as they like more and more. However, unlike today, regulations were not completed in earlier years. The controlling agency against violence was not established, either. Therefore, good people didn’t do anything against the violence that bad people commit. Good ones consequently had no choice but to cry themselves to sleep. In the old merchant class, people with a robust arm or of reckless character made their influence felt. Even in the warrior class, bad people abused the power of swords. People in the merchant class were afraid of them and had no power over them. A lot of historical documents or stories tell us those things. That situation was completely different from that in the present society. Having said that, laws and regulations were gradually equipped after the Meiji restoration. Japan entered the era of civilisation. The entire society has been heading towards denial of violence. Unfortunately, however, violence has not been completely eradicated yet in Japanese society. Especially before the war finished, people in military factions or right-wing political activists occasionally used a kind of violence as their last resort.

After the war, military factions and right-wing organisations were almost suppressed. This is the blight side. Instead of them, however, bad people started to use means cleverly other than violence. In other words, they financially afflict good people. They practice legal blackmail, which doesn’t violate the law at the last moment. I always introduce such cases in our newspapers and magazines. We also have some law cases that are not published. All of them are forgeries that abuse regulations to try to satisfy ones’ desire. It’s a pity that all cases are made up by people in the middle class and above. That is proved by the litigations that I have been engaged in for decades. Here, I have to tell you something.

I firmly hold a certain principle. That is good people should never be defeated by bad ones. True good is stronger than evil. Bad people throw their weight around just because good people are defeated by them. This is the biggest cause that social evils cannot be eradicated. Most of them are committed by people in the middle class and above. They are so-called nonviolent crimes. When abused by bad people, good people, of course, know that they can accuse or protest against it but they give up doing so. It is because they fear for their desperate revenge. They also think that a trial costs them a lot and it takes time and effort. They consequently think that it is worthless. Bad people think I will give up like them or at least won’t proceed with my action even if I bring the matter to court. In this way, they underestimate me and therefore, they start to blackmail me. However, I have the principle explained as above. I cannot lose to them so that I fight against them until I win. Therefore, most cases take a long time. The longest case that I am engaged in now becomes eleven years this year. In addition to my cases, everyone knows that masterminds are everywhere and never gone. The scandals of government officials never cease, too.

I took various examples as above. In a word, social evils are caused because good people are powerless. If that is the case, they are not truly good people. They are just cowards and not indignant at evil. They are so-called passive good people. They don’t have the courage to do evil things and just admit evil rampant for their own safety. Even if the number of such people increases, only that of cowards increases after all. To put it simply, we have to make bad people realise that good ones are better than them, very strong and hard to be dealt with. They have to think that it’s better to stop bad things because they are in vain. We consequently have to make them think that it’s better for them to be a good person. If that happens, social evils are drastically reduced and people will live in a bright and comfortable society.

You are supposed to agree with this theory. However, such a society will never be realised if good people try hard individually. Then what should we do? To begin with, good people should unite and found a federation. Its name would be the Elimination of Vices Federation. I advocate such an idea as I think that it is the most effective means for social improvement.

Translated by N.H.