711.94/1740: Telegram
The Ambassador in Japan (Grew) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 6—9 a.m.]
950. 1. A growing nervousness is evident among American citizens in Japan arising out of the present situation and the prospects of a possible rapid deterioration in Japan’s relations with the United States. In the light of the grave uncertainty surrounding the future, American citizens here have already begun to ask my advice with regard to the wisdom of sending their families to the United States and have begun provisionally to explore the question as to measures [Page 932] which would be taken by our Government to facilitate their repatriation in the event of an emergency.
2. I have admitted the serious potentialities with which the situation in [is] charged but I have indicated that I see no immediate cause for alarm.
3. The consular officers at Osaka and at Kobe have likewise been consulted in this regard by American citizens and we were informed yesterday in strictest confidence by the Manager of the Standard Oil Company here that the company is quietly but firmly requiring the families of all its employees in China and in Japan to return to the United States. We also learn that several British firms have received instructions of a similar nature. Several American newspaper correspondents have arranged upon their own initiative to have their families leave within the next 2 or 3 weeks.
4. I raise the point at the present time not in the belief that it is of immediate import but nevertheless as a question which both the Department and the Embassy will wish to have constantly in mind as developments in connection with Japanese measures further implementing its declared policy of establishing a “new order in greater East Asia, including the South Seas.”
5. I need hardly point out, purely as a consideration for the eventual future, the powerful effect which would be created on Japanese consciousness if at a given moment it were to become known, either directly or indirectly, that the Embassy was quietly advising certain categories of American citizens in Japan to return to the United States or that the American Government was exploring possibilities of transportation. As such a move would undoubtedly create a degree of alarm among Americans in Japan it should, of course, not be resorted to unless, or until, an acute situation appeared to be developing. I earnestly hope that such a situation will never eventuate but it would be puerile to deny that such a situation conceivably may develop or that under certain circumstances it may develop rapidly.
6. This telegram is sent not with the thought of seeking present instructions but rather to indicate that I cannot and do not underrate the future possibility of intensified difficulties between the United States and Japan.