74 DASA 2019-2 but because: (1) the Japanese wouldn't eat tuna because of fear; and, (2) the United States committed an unfortunate faux pas, as Merril indicated, in saying, 'We will not import this tuna fish unless it's ‘certified, '' This was ridiculous on our part but our tuna fish industry was adamant and they were extremely vociferous in reiterating, "We're not going to be subject to the economic ills of Japan. That's their problem," although, of course, our nation was largely responsible for creating the environment that made this problem. The fishing vessel owners, then, and the crews, were subjected to economic disaster. I think we were inclined to minimize the overall sociological and emotional impact of this sort of thing upon a peaple whom we normally should ccensider our friends after the war. We did not, however, take into consideration the overall impact of this unfortunate event, Thus, during the first few days we assumed this trauma would | disappear, but there were certain other very real problems within Japan, which, [am sure, have never been documented. Merril left about the time it was becoming increasingly evident that the press—always antaponistic—was willing to grab some bit of news and immediately blow it up into a big headline. This was a.great problem in Japan. Very carefully planned sessions were held with the American Embassy staff and with the Asiatic section of the Japanese Foreign Office, and very carefully laid plans were developed to handle situations as they arose; we discussed all aspects of the situation, Then there would be big headlines in the Japanese press: “The nara [kelp] is contarninated with radiation.’ This radiation problem was discussed at the :neetings but the levels were not publicized, Surely, you could measure fallout by this time in the onshore drift. It was detected in small amounts; this had been discussed, but it would be blown up to a big headline. ‘ So you have this weird conflict, our failure to face up to what we felt were real responsibilities, to do what Wright suggested, make a forthright statement, "This is what happened— period, which was not done, Mass hysteria spread through Japan, a country where this cculd happen because of the previous experience of the Japanese; in addition, there was an attempt on the part of some to discredit any move in the way of a solution or to disrupt anything which might contribute to a logical solution. All of these interacting factors tended to