[Secret]
From: Washington (Nomura)
To: Tokyo
October 20, 1941
Purple (CA)
(RETRANSLATION
BASED ON COMPLETE INTERCEPT COPY)
Will
Your Excellency please read this for your own information and then please
transmit it to the Minister of the Navy.
My
dear Mr. Minister:
Congratulations
on your new appointment! When this humble Ambassador was appointed to his
present post he asked for the fervent support of the whole Navy Department, but
since I came to Washington I am sorry to say that there has been no cooperation
between us. Furthermore, the Navy has not cooperated with the Foreign Office.
The times do not permit of such incoordination. On the one hand the United
States is faced by the European war and on the other hand by the Pacific
problem, but still she has made no military move. I believe that there is a
weak point here. Therefore, I had expected the United States to take a more or
less conciliatory attitude toward us as soon as the situation was favorable,
but, contrary to my surmises, so far all America has done is to stick to her
own national policy, and I am beginning to doubt if she can be reformed very
much. I think that probably in the last analysis this is due to the fact that
the United States has too many interests in China. My own desire has been to
leave the China question out of the picture and work out some modus vivendi between
our two countries. In my conversations with the Secretary of State I have shown
this by my way of talking. However, the Secretary says that the China question
is inseparably bound up with the stability of the Pacific. Some days ago I
talked for an hour or more with HALIFAX. He said that the British Empire has a
great interest in the Pacific problem and he would like to see some modus
vivendi worked out between Japan and the United States to avoid a crisis.
He said that he would like to talk with Secretary HULL about this. Since then,
however, I have had no chance to talk with him. Well, before I came here I had
talked with all the cabinet officials of that time and thought I thoroughly
understood the position of the Government; however, since then there have been
two administrative changes and now I am left floundering. I cannot tell you how
much in the dark I am. I have talked along my own lines with the Secretary of
State so often that, if we now explored the situation from a new angle, all my
presence would do would be to confuse the situation and cause an unfavorable
reaction. There is no doubt about this. That is why I wired you the other day
that I would like to come home. If you have anything which you want the Foreign
Office to transmit to me, please be sure to let them know.
Army #23774 Trans. 10-22-41 (1)
(EXHIBITS
OF JOINT COMMITTEE , EXHIBIT NO. 1 INTERCEPTED DIPLOMATIC MESSAGES SENT BY THE
JAPANESE GOVERNMENT BETWEEN JULY l AND DECEMBER 8, 1941)