894.00/564: Telegram
The Ambassador in Japan (Grew) to the Secretary of State
37. Embassy’s 36, February 26, 10 a.m.
1. It now appears fairly certain that former Premier Admiral Saito, former Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal Count Makino, Grand Chamberlain Admiral Suzuki, and General Watanabe, Inspector General of Military Education, have been assassinated. It is also reported that Finance Minister Takahashi and the Chief of the Metropolitan Police Board have been wounded.
2. The Military have established a cordon around the district containing the Government Administration Offices and the Imperial Palace and do not permit ingress without army passes. Telephonic communication with the administrative offices has also been stopped. The stock exchange has been closed.
3. It has been reported that Premier Okada, Home Minister Goto and former War Minister Hayashi were also assassinated and that Finance Minister Takahashi has died of his wounds. The Embassy cannot confirm any of these rumors.
4. So far there has been no disorder and no street fighting as far as the Embassy is aware. The troops taking part in the uprising appear to be under perfect discipline and are not interfering with normal affairs of the people. Until the nature and probable results of the uprising are better understood by the Embassy however the Embassy is advising those who ask to remain at home. There appears to be absolutely no anti-foreign feeling involved in the affair.
[Page 720]5. A mimeographed statement was left by groups of soldiers at each of the principal newspaper offices this morning. The statement alleged that the present Government had been drifting away from the true spirit of Japan and that it had usurped the prerogatives of the Emperor. As evidence of this statement cited the signing of the London Naval Treaty17 and the dismissal of General Masaki. It continued rather vaguely with an expression translated by the United Press about as follows: “If this condition is permitted to continue, the relations of Japan to China, Russia, Britain and the United States will become ‘explosive in nature’“. The statement was signed by Captain Nonaka and Captain Ando, both of the Third Infantry Regiment stationed in Tokyo. According to the soldiers who delivered the statement, another announcement will be made at 5 o’clock this evening and at that time “a new law of state” will be promulgated. The Embassy’s informant believes that certain constitutional prerogatives will be suspended. He likened the existing situation to the Batista coup d’état in Cuba.18
6. As far as the Embassy has yet been able to ascertain, the uprising is in the nature of a coup d’état engineered by the young Fascist element in the army and intended to destroy the entire group of elder statesmen who have been advisers to the Throne and thereby to effect the so-called “Showa restoration”. The Emperor himself is apparently being held incommunicado in the Palace presumably to prevent anyone from obtaining access to him and securing an Imperial mandate which would interfere with the plans of the army group. The immediate causes of the uprising appear to have been the recent election which returned an unexpectedly large number of the more liberal candidates and the trial of Aizawa, murderer of General Nagata, which has excited the feelings of the Fascist element in the army.
Latest reports indicate that General Masaki is the leading spirit in the affair and that Admiral Osumi, Minister of the Navy, has assumed the position of Acting Prime Minister. The movement appears to have been thoroughly organized in advance down to the last detail.
7. The Embassy has just learned from a fairly reliable source that Count Makino is safe.
- Telegram in four sections.↩
- Signed April 22, 1930, Foreign Relations, 1930, vol. i, p. 107.↩
- See ibid., 1933, vol. v, pp. 361 ff.↩