390.1115A/414: Telegram
The Ambassador in Japan ( Grew ) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 9—10 a.m.]
373. The following summary brings the evacuation situation up to date:
Satisfactory response to Department’s renewed evacuation suggestion.
By and large, the response to the Department’s renewed evacuation suggestion on the part of the Protestant Missionaries, which account for more than half of the total Caucasian American colony in Japan, can be considered as satisfactory.
Although missionaries as a class have been, and still are critical, of Washington’s evacuation suggestions, practically all the Protestant Missions operating in Japan have been advancing furlough and retirement dates, transferring personnel to the Philippines, India and other less troubled areas, and encouraging wives and children to go [Page 410] home. This has been going on quietly for some months, due in part to the Department’s original evacuation suggestion of last October, and in part to the repressive measures lately taken against foreign influence in the Christian churches in Japan.
This gradual exodus has moved out many elderly people, women and children but also some men. The majority of those who have stayed behind have adopted a “wait and see” attitude, that is, they are far from convinced that hostilities are inevitable and they would like to stay on either until the situation rights itself or until the very eve of war. However, the Department’s recent approaches to the various missionary headquarters in the United States has radically changed the plans of those who have heretofore refused to consider withdrawal. Practically all mission groups here have lately received telegraphic advices from their home boards either urging or ordering prompt withdrawal, and these messages from American headquarters carry more weight with them than the general evacuation suggestions issued by the Department for the general public.
According to a news item in the local press, the Board of Missions of the Methodist Church has ordered the withdrawal of all its missionaries in Japan, Korea and Japanese controlled areas in China. The order affects 70 missionaries in Japan, 8 in Korea and 110 in North and Central China.
Twenty Episcopal missionaries and teachers are definitely leaving Japan proper during the present month, and remaining 17, including the ranking Bishop, have tentative steamer reservations for April, but these reservations may not be used unless the situation deteriorates still further. Sixteen members of the Lutheran Mission are due to depart within the next 30 days, while 13 will stay on for the time being. Almost all Adventists, excepting a few medical workers, are evacuating. Many Baptists have left or are planning to go soon. It is understood that American headquarters of the Evangelical and Reform Mission left the evacuating decision to its workers in the field and as a result it is said 23, including 6 children, decided to stay. Most Southern Presbyterians are following the Department’s withdrawal advice, but the attitude of the Northern Presbyterians appears unsatisfactory. In [An] early telegram from New York headquarters is said to have directed a general evacuation, but a later telegram left the matter to the discretion of the personnel in the field. As a result, about a dozen are said to be leaving but several times that number are reported to be staying, including 50 or more in Korea, among whom are a few women and half a dozen children.