711.417/1172: Telegram
The Ambassador in Japan ( Grew ) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 15—5:27 a.m.]
1630. Department’s 617, September 25, midnight. Fur seals. We have repeatedly and at frequent intervals pressed the Foreign Office for its reply and were told that the proposal of the American Government had raised a number of questions which were being carefully studied by experts of the Bureau of Fisheries. In reply to another urgent approach today, the Director of the American Bureau of the Foreign Office28 said that a reply is now being drafted. He did not offer any direct information with regard to the position which would be taken by the Japanese Government. However, he said that, even if the Fur Seals Convention were allowed to lapse, Japanese fur sealers would not be permitted to clear from Japanese ports until the enactment of necessary legislation, and that no such legislation could be provided until after the ending in April 1942 of the next session of the Diet.
- Taro Terasaki.↩