125.5216/104

The Ambassador in Japan (Grew) to the Secretary of State

No. 5421

Sir: With reference to the Embassy’s despatch no. 5400 of February 27, 1941,31 and to previous correspondence concerning the tampering with American official mail by Japanese postal authorities, I have the honor to enclose a translation of a personal note addressed to me by the Minister for Foreign Affairs32 in response to my personal notes to him of December 26 and 27, 1940.33

It will be noted that despite the glaring examples of tampering which had been given him on more than one occasion, the Foreign Minister maintains that the minutest search failed to reveal any evidence that American official mail had been opened in the post office. In view of this attitude, the Embassy believes that further representations would serve no useful purpose and proposes, therefore, to take no further action without specific instructions from the Department.

Respectfully yours,

Joseph C. Grew
  1. Not printed.
  2. Yosuke Matsuoka.
  3. None printed.