711.417/796
Memorandum by the Assistant Secretary of State (Johnson)
The Japanese Ambassador called upon me this morning at twelve o’clock and referred to the conversation which I had with him on January 7 concerning the question of fur seals and the proposal which the Government of the United States had made informally to him on [Page 149] November 29, 1926 for a joint Japanese-American scientific investigation into the migrating and feeding habits of fur seals. It will be recalled that replying to that proposition the Japanese Ambassador had stated that his Government accepted the suggestion of the United States Government but desired that experts of Soviet Russia and Great Britain be asked to participate with experts of the United States and Japan in making the proposed investigation, and that in the conversation which I had with him on January 7 we had demurred to the suggestion that the investigation be participated in by Russians and British on the ground that the question to be investigated was one that particularly concerned the habits of the American herd which was charged by the Japanese with becoming a menace to the Japanese fishing industry.
The Ambassador stated that he had not failed to telegraph at once the reply which we had made to the Japanese suggestion to his Government and that he now had received a reply from his Government stating that the Japanese Government was very anxious to have Russians and British experts participate in the proposed investigation, in view of the fact that the data to be investigated would be used in a conference which might be called in connection with a revision of the Convention which the Japanese desired very much to have revised, and that if we failed now to have the British and Russian experts present at this investigation the matter might be delayed a long time in order that the investigations made by the Japanese and Americans could be checked up by the British and Russian investigators after the present investigation had been completed.
He said that the Japanese Government was being very much pressed by Japanese interests concerned to accomplish something in this matter, as they were very much dissatisfied with the present situation and that the Japanese Government was very much embarrassed by this pressure, particularly at this time when the whole question was getting into the political situation, and that the Japanese Government while appreciating our position vis-à-vis Soviet Russia in any conference that might be called, felt that there could be no real objection on our part to participation by Russian and British scientists in an investigation which would be limited solely to fact-finding and that the Japanese Government hoped that we would reconsider our position in this matter and that we would give a favorable reply to their suggestions, particularly as such favorable reply would assist the Japanese very much under present conditions.
I told the Ambassador that I would bring this matter to the attention of the Secretary and that as soon as I learn the decision I would communicate it to him.