Page
or
Encl No. 2
I
No
From.
aot oa what constitutes the maxicum tolerable limit. It is wrth noting, how
“om, that the Welfare Ministry took considerable pains te contradict the scien‘se Cusdis of the report and t« exert a moderating influence on a rather vola-
Le subject.
(SSC)
il. Foreien
Of ice
Relations
As recent Bubassy telegrams have in@icated, the Foreign Office has bean
.cgely on the sidelines on the recent controversies over Japan's policy for re
waning negotiations with the USSR, This situation has beon reflected in reac
“ong ranging from clear diegruntlement to cynical humor on the part of middle
:a lower level Foreign Office officials with whom Exbasay officers have boom
ch contact.
As one official put it, "not even the Japanese politicians know
vhat Japan's policy is,*
By
The situation has not escaped press attention:
for exanple, ze
oterber 27 carried a lengthy report asserting thai. ite personnel bemoar the
<7t tust the Foreign Office is "quiet as a mouse" despite feverish activity on
che diplomatic front. This, the stery continued, is blamed on the Foreign Minis“ar, whose reserved personality, lack of political force and influence, and cavalier attitude toward staff work have brought the prestige of the Foreign Office,
. i 148 ow prestige therein, 10 a low ebb,
Another element of reported criticiga, that Shigenitsu has lacked the
,rvace to assert himself affirmatively on the issues of policy toward the USSR
s ice tne first few days after his return from Moscow, is not without founda~
.im. There have been few public utterances of any consequence from him. His
. ‘mr ce at the iiarris Centennial. banquet of the America-~Japan Society September
“" was a tribute to the first Azerican consul and thereby to American-Japanese
Srierds"ip -~ a theme, of course, appropriate to the eccasion but one vhich
suowed oo dispesition to utilize the oppertunity for his ow political purposes
1¢ might have been expected,
(In contrast was the speech of former Prime Minis-
wer Osizeru YUSHIDA, whose name wis added to the list of speakers subsequent te
whe first formal invitations. Yoshida obviously attended for the purpose of mking
“Ie point that there were some Japanese who believed, ae his address concluded,
Liat “this is no time for us to flirt with Moscow.")
In cabinet meetings as well,
i> ecnpears, Shigenitsu has been virtually eilent where Soviet-Japanese relations
-@ concerned, His spirits are unierstood to have improved, hewever, since it was
.mtatively decided that if and when the ‘Prine Minister goes to» Moscow Shigeniteu
will be acting Prime Minister,
:
erg RE rT hes
SHRab agg -
But it is not only the present J
Japanese Government Leadership that ts by
pascing the Foreign Office. Ever since
Agricultare-Forestey Minister Ichire KONO
biased the trail to the doer of the Soviet Fisheries Mission in order to confer
with Sergel Tikhvinsky on the question of a Mive~point settlement formula, late
in August, others have followed suits Tatewsosuke TAKASAKI,
Cabinet recber in
sharge of the Economie Planning Ageoay, and the Socialists Shichiro HOZUMI and
Snichiro MATSUMOTO.
Tikh®insky, for his part, has likewise by-passed the Forelga
<a