(3) Around noon on April 1 the Foreign Ministry called . the Embassy and advised that the Myojiim Maru had left Shiogone that morning, that its destination was not known, and that the , fish had been disposed of in an unknown manner, The Embassy eos informed the Foreign Ministry that, _this being the case, we oe would limit our trip to Misaki. 0 (4) At 4 PM on the afternoon of April 1 the Foreign Ministry again called to inform the Embassy that the Koei Maru . had left the port of Misaki one hour before to dump its con- . . taminated catch at sea, The Embassy asked the Foreign Ministry . to call the vessel back inasmuch as it was only one hour off port but the Japanese stated this could not be accomplished. To summarize the tuna situation, it is my belief that no": . significantly contaminated tuna have arrived in Japan except for the catch from the Fukuryu Maru. Rigorous inspections pro-..- ,_ cedures will undoubtedly disclose certain amounts of low level -. . %. radioactivity on the surface of the tuna but the significance of this is minimized by the practice of skinning tuna prior to canning. In the meantime the tuna market has stabilized and tuna representatives of American tuna interests have informed. me that their companies are no longer concerned over ‘the Problem. 7 Apprehension of Long Range Contamination of Japan and ° . its Fishing Grounds ~ - -. Japanese apprehensions over the possibility of long range SaaS radiological contamination were very similar to those we en~--. ©. =, countered in the United States as a result of NPG operations,. Mee A diffrence in Japan 1s due to the fact that none, if _ any, of the counting equipment is calibrated, GM tubes are used ° without shields, and under conditions where the background count is apt to be highly variable, This, coupled with the fact that they do not know the background activities of such things as -. . soil and pyctogtcal materials, makes it very difficult to evaluate the reports, Many of the reports of "ash" falling in various carts of Japan are undoubtedly dust or soot falls that occur ~ normally in any industrial area from time to time, Reputable scientists have examined samples of potassiun-rich soil and have reported their data in gross counts without any reference to normal soil background, For this reason I find it very diffi- cult to take serious the frequent public report of 50 to 100 counts per minute for the unspecified size of samples, reported from tine to time, 7 CO At my conference with the Japan scientists ana government officials cn March 24, I explained the procedures we use in the States for messuring fallout, I urged them to use similar pro-~ cedures for the sake of uniformity and offered to loan them the equipment we used. They seemed eager to accept and I requested 4 sets of equipment which has since arrived from the States. — However, since the-arrival of this equipment, I nave delayed giving it to the Japanese because in telrpresent state of mind . ijttle good could come of it. I do believe, hovever, that when’ . the present confusion subsides, it will be useful for the Japanese to maintain a fail out monitoring network and I think we should ~<° cooperate with them to the fullest extent. Se