By the President of the United States of America.
a proclamation.
Whereas a treaty of commerce and navigation between the United States of America and the Empire of Japan was concluded and signed by their respective plenipotentiaries at Washington on the twenty-first day of February, one thousand nine hundred and eleven, the original of which treaty, being in the English language, is, as amended by the Senate of the United States, word for word as follows:
The President of the United States of America and his Majesty the Emperor of Japan, being desirous to strengthen the relations of amity and good understanding which happily exist between the two nations, and believing that the fixation in a manner clear and positive of the rules which are hereafter to govern the commercial intercourse between their respective countries will contribute to the realization of this most desirable result, have resolved to conclude a treaty of commerce and navigation for that purpose, and to that end have named their plenipotentiaries, that is to say:
- The President of the United States of America, Philander C. Knox, Secretary of State of the United States; and
- His Majesty the Emperor of Japan, Baron Yasuya Uchida, Jusammi, Grand Cordon of the Imperial Order of the Rising Sun, His Majesty’s ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the United States of America;
Who, after having communicated to each other their respective full powers, found to be in good and due form, have agreed upon the following articles:
Article I.
The citizens or subjects of each of the high contracting parties shall have liberty to enter, travel, and reside in the territories of the other to carry on trade, wholesale and retail, to own or lease and occupy houses, manufactories, warehouses, and shops, to employ agents of their choice, to lease land for residential and commercial purposes, and generally to do anything incident to or necessary for trade upon the same terms as native citizens or subjects, submitting themselves to the laws and regulations there established.
They shall not be compelled, under any pretext whatever, to pay any charges or taxes other or higher than those that are or may be paid by native citizens or subjects.
The citizens or subjects of each of the high contracting parties shall receive, in the territories of the other, the most constant protection and security for their persons and property, and shall enjoy in this respect the same rights and privileges as are or may be granted to native citizens or subjects, on their [Page 316] submitting themselves to the conditions imposed upon the native citizens or subjects.
They shall, however, be exempt in the territories of the other from compulsory military service either on land or sea, in the regular forces, or in the national guard, or in the militia; from all contributions imposed in lieu of personal service, and from all forced loans or military exactions or contributions.
Article II.
The dwellings, warehouses, manufactories, and shops of the citizens or subjects of each of the high contracting parties in the territories of the other, and all premises appertaining thereto used for purposes of residence or commerce, shall be respected. It shall not be allowable to proceed to make a domiciliary visit to or a search of any such buildings and premises, or to examine or inspect books, papers, or accounts, except under the conditions and with the forms prescribed by the laws, ordinances, and regulations for nationals.
Article III.
Each of the high contracting parties may appoint consuls general, consuls, vice consuls, deputy consuls, and consular agents in all ports, cities, and places of the other, except in those where it may not be convenient to recognize such officers. This exception, however, shall not be made in regard to one of the contracting parties without being made likewise in regard to all other powers.
Such consuls general, consuls, vice consuls, deputy consuls, and consular agents, having received exequaturs or other sufficient authorizations from the Government of the country to which they are appointed, shall, on condition of reciprocity, have the right to exercise the functions and to enjoy the exemptions and immunities which are or may hereafter be granted to the consular officers of the same rank of the most-favored nation. The Government issuing exequaturs or other authorizations may in its discretion cancel the same on communicating the reasons for which it thought proper to do so.
Article IV.
There shall be between the territories of the two high contracting parties reciprocal freedom of commerce and navigation. The citizens or subjects of each of the contracting parties, equally with the citizens or subjects of the most favored nation, shall have liberty freely to come with their ships and cargoes to all places, ports, and rivers in the territories of the other which are or may be opened to foreign commerce, subject always to the laws of the country to which they thus come.
Article V.
The import duties on articles, the produce or manufacture of the territories of one of the high contracting parties, upon importation into the territories of the other, shall henceforth be regulated either by treaty between the two countries or by the internal legislation of each.
Neither contracting party shall impose any other or higher duties or charges on the exportation of any article to the territories of the other than are or may be payable on the exportation of the like article to any other foreign country.
Nor shall any prohibition be imposed by either country on the importation or exportation of any article from or to the territories of the other which shall not equally extend to the like article imported from or exported to any other country. The last provision is not, however, applicable to prohibitions or restrictions maintained or imposed as sanitary measures or for purposes of protecting animals and useful plants.
Article VI.
The citizens or subjects of each of the high contracting parties shall enjoy in the territories of the other exemption from all transit duties and a perfect equality of treatment with native citizens or subjects in all that relates to warehousing, bounties, facilities, and drawbacks.
[Page 317]Article VII.
Limited-liability and other companies and associations, commercial, industrial, and financial, already or hereafter to be organized in accordance with the laws of either high contracting party and domiciled in the territories of such party are authorized in the territories of the other to exercise their rights and appear in the courts either as plaintiffs or defendants, subject to the laws of such other party.
The foregoing stipulation has no bearing upon the question whether a company or association organized in one of the two countries will or will not be permitted to transact its business or industry in the other, this permission remaining always subject to the laws and regulations enacted or established in the respective countries or in any part thereof.
Article VIII.
All articles which are or may be legally imported into the ports of either high contracting party from foreign countries in national vessels may likewise be imported into those ports in vessels of the other contracting party without being liable to any other or higher duties or charges, of whatever denomination, than if such articles were imported in national vessels. Such reciprocal equality of treatment shall take effect without distinction, whether such articles come directly from the place of origin or from any other foreign place.
In the same manner there shall be perfect equality of treatment in regard to exportation, so that the same export duties shall be paid and the same bounties and drawbacks allowed in the territories of each of the contracting parties on the exportation of any article which is or may be legally exported therefrom, whether such exportation shall take place in vessels of the United States or in Japanese vessels, and whatever may be the place of destination, whether a port of the other party or of any third power.
Article IX.
In all that regards the stationing, loading, and unloading of vessels in the ports of the territories of the high contracting parties, no privileges shall be granted by either party to national vessels which are not equally, in like cases, granted to the vessels of the other country, the intention of the contracting parties being that in these respects the respective vessels shall be treated on the footing of perfect equality.
Article X.
Merchant vessels navigating under the flag of the United States or that of Japan and carrying the papers required by their national laws to prove their nationality shall in Japan and in the United States be deemed to be vessels of the United States or of Japan, respectively.
Article XI.
No duties of tonnage, harbor, pilotage, lighthouse, quarantine, or other similar or corresponding duties of whatever denominations, levied in the name or for the profit of Government, public functionaries, private individuals, corporations or establishments of any kind shall be imposed in the ports of the territories of either country upon the vessels of the other, which shall not equally, under the same conditions, be imposed on national vessels in general, or on vessels of the most favored nation. Such equality of treatment shall apply reciprocally to the respective vessels from whatever place they may arrive and whatever may be their place of destination.
Article XII.
Vessels charged with performance of regular scheduled postal service of one of the high contracting parties, whether belonging to the State or subsidized by it for the purpose, shall enjoy, in the ports of the territories of the other, the same facilities, privileges and immunities as are granted to like vessels of the most favored nation.
[Page 318]Article XIII.
The coasting trade of the high contracting parties is excepted from the provisions of the present treaty and shall be regulated according to the laws of the United States and Japan, respectively. It is, however, understood that the citizens or subjects of either contracting party shall enjoy in this respect most-favored-nation treatment in the territories of the other.
A vessel of one of the contracting parties, laden in a foreign country with cargo destined for two or more ports of entry in the territories of the other, may discharge a portion of her cargo at one of the said ports, and, continuing her voyage to the other port or ports of destination, there discharge the remainder of her cargo, subject always to the laws, tariffs, and customs regulations of the country of destination; and, in like manner and under the same reservation, the vessels of one of the contracting parties shall be permitted to load at several ports of the other for the same outward voyages.
Article XIV.
Except as otherwise expressly provided in this treaty, the high contracting parties agree that, in all that concerns commerce and navigation, any privilege, favor, or immunity which either contracting party has actually granted, or may hereafter grant, to the citizens or subjects of any other State shall be extended to the citizens or subjects of the other contracting party gratuitously, if the concession in favor of that other State shall have been gratuitous, and on the same or equivalent conditions if the concession shall have been conditional.
Article XV.
The citizens or subjects of each of the high contracting parties shall enjoy in the territories of the other the same protection as native citizens or subjects in regard to patents, trade-marks, and designs, upon fulfillment of the formalities prescribed by law.
Article XVI.
The present treaty shall, from the date on which it enters into operation, supersede the treaty of commerce and navigation dated the 22d day of November, 1894; and from the same date the last-named treaty shall cease to be binding.
Article XVII.
The present treaty shall enter into operation on the 17th of July, 1911, and shall remain in force twelve years or until the expiration of six months from the date on which either of the contracting parties shall have given notice to the other of its intention to terminate the treaty.
In case neither of the contracting parties shall have given notice to the other six months before the expiration of the said period of twelve years of its intention to terminate the treaty, it shall continue operative until the expiration of six months from the date on which either party shall have given such notice.
Article XVIII.
The present treaty shall be ratified and the ratifications thereof shall be exchanged at Tokyo as soon as possible and not later than three months from the present date.
In witness whereof, the respective plenipotentiaries have signed this treaty in duplicate and have hereunto affixed their seals.
Done at Washington the 21st day of February, in the nineteen hundred and eleventh year of the Christian era, corresponding to the 21st day of the 2d month of the 44th year of Meiji.
Philander O. Knox. [seal.]
Y. Uchida. [seal.]
And whereas the advice and consent of the Senate of the United States to the ratification of the said treaty was given with the understanding “that the treaty shall not be deemed to repeal or affect any of the provisions of the act of Congress entitled ‘An act to [Page 319] regulate the immigration of aliens into the United States,’ approved February 20, 1907”;
And whereas the said understanding has been accepted by the Government of Japan;
And whereas the said treaty, as amended by the Senate of the United States, has been duly ratified on both parts, and the ratifications of the two Governments were exchanged in the city of Tokyo, on the fourth day of April, one thousand nine hundred and eleven;
Now, therefore, be it known that I, William Howard Taft, President of the United States of America, have caused the said treaty, as amended, and the said understanding to be made public, to the end that the same and every article and clause thereof may be observed and fulfilled with good faith by the United States and the citizens thereof.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
By the President:
P. C. Knox,
Secretary of State.