711.94/1939
Address Delivered by the Japanese Ambassador to the United States (Nomura) at the America-Japan Society Luncheon at Tokyo on December 19, 1940
Mr. Chairman, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am a plain sailor. I was brought up amid tall masts and crowded sails, and am accustomed to rough seas. I am, however, a complete stranger to the elegant society, its speech and its manner. In spite of my brief experience as Foreign Minister, I am not meant to be an Ambassador. Indeed, a sailor is quite helpless on the land; he is reduced to perfect impotence, like a stranded boat. In the tangled wood of diplomacy, he would be just as good as lost. Being well aware of my ignorance how to shine in graceful society and how to walk upon the tight rope of diplomacy at this critical juncture, I first declined Mr. Matsuoka’s kind offer although I greatly appreciated it as a mark of confidence which I know I hardly deserve. I held out as long as I could and then gave in. I could defeat an Invincible Armada but not Mr. Matsuoka—because he refuses to acknowledge his defeat.
However, both the Foreign Minister and I were agreed to one thing from the first: the necessity of improving drastically the relations between Japan and America which have deteriorated so much of late. I felt frankly disturbed by the ominous trend of affairs which, if left unchecked, may possibly bring about an acute tension between the two countries who have no reason to quarrel but every reason to remain friends. After much hesitation, therefore, I decided to accept the offer, rather in the heroic spirit of a common soldier who is called to the Colours. Swim or sink, survive or perish, I do not care. Only am I anxious to serve—serve the cause of better understanding between our two nations.
[Page 129]When the Four Power Pacific Treaty5b was announced at the Washington Conference the late Senator Lodge quoted a well known poet to describe the Pacific islands:–
“Sprinkled Isles
Lily over lily that overlaces the
sea.”
These islands are still there, same as old in spite of swift and surprising changes we have been witnessing in international situation. I believe that God has ordained these “sprinkled isles” to serve not as hostile bases but as stepping stones of goodwill between the two shores of the Pacific Ocean—Japan and America.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Light has gone out in Europe where nations have been thrown into a fearful vortex of a great war. Let us, Japan and America, guard the peace of the Pacific the only bright light of hope that is left to mankind.
- Signed December 13, 1921; Foreign Relations, 1922, vol. i, p. 33.↩