702.9411A/78
The Secretary of State to the Swedish Minister (Boström)
The Secretary of State presents his compliments to the Honorable the Minister of Sweden in charge of Japanese interests in the Territory of Hawaii and has the honor to refer to the Minister’s note no. B–113 of December 31, 1942 and to the Department’s acknowledgment of January 26, 194392 regarding the alleged mistreatment of the personnel of the former Japanese Consulate General at Honolulu after the attack on the United States by Japan.
[Page 1070]Careful consideration has been given to the protest of the Japanese Government regarding the alleged mistreatment of this group of Japanese nationals, and it is felt that the comments of the Japanese Government do not take into consideration the proximity of the former Japanese Consulate General to military and naval installations and the fact that after the Japanese attack on the Island of Oahu, certain precautions were immediately necessary in view of probable further hostilities in that area. Mr. Kita, the Consul General, was for his part fully aware of these circumstances and later expressed his appreciation for the considerate treatment he and his staff had received.
On the morning of December 7, 1941, soon after the Japanese attack on Hawaii, a group of local police were sent to protect the Japanese Consulate General. Mr. Kita was so informed and he acknowledged the fact that the Consulate General was under protective custody in view of the outbreak of hostilities.
Shortly after this, the military governor of the Territory of Hawaii issued an order prohibiting any alien Japanese from possessing any weapons, cameras, radios, codes, ciphers, sketches or information regarding military and naval installations. Mr. Kita was informed of this order and was requested to turn over to the authorities any of these articles which he and his staff might have. Receipts were given for those articles taken into custody. It has been ascertained that no threats or force were used in any case. As there was a large amount of money in the possession of the members of the Consulate General, this money was placed in the safe of the Consulate General, the combination of which was known only to the members of the Consulate General. In accordance with the regulations of the Treasury Department, Mr. Kita later took this money to the Bishop National Bank of Hawaii and placed it in special blocked accounts in his name and in the names of Messrs. Okuda, Tsukikawa and Seki. Special permission was given to Mr. Kita to withdraw up to $1200 a month from the blocked account in his name for living expenses of the members of the Consulate General and their families.
With regard to the alleged destruction of the property of the Consulate General, it will be recalled that Mr. Kita wished to recover some keys which were locked in the cable room and Mr. Kita gave his assent to the breaking of the panels of the doors in order to obtain the keys. A lock on the steel cabinet was forced as there were no available keys to open it. Mr. Kita himself broke the mirror over the chest of drawers in his bedroom.
With reference to the loss of $21 and a fountain pen and pencil set belonging to Mr. Seki, a thorough investigation was made, but no trace has been found of these missing items. The loss of various articles belonging to Mr. Tsukikawa has also been investigated. It [Page 1071] appears that one bolt of bleached cotton was given to the Red Cross by one of the employees of the hotel where Mr. Tsukikawa resided. A search for the baseball glove and $60 has not revealed the whereabouts of these articles. However, it has been determined that none of the above-mentioned articles were taken by the police authorities.
For the first days after the outbreak of war, the movements of the members of the Consulate General were necessarily restricted and with the exception of the night of December 7, 1941 when everyone remained fully dressed in view of probable air attacks, a precaution which was followed by almost everyone on the Island, this group lived an almost normal life. At no time was anyone forbidden the use of sanitary facilities or embarrassed in this connection.
The boundaries of the Consulate General were protected by police officials with riot guns while the buildings were protected by men with revolvers, and at no time were any guns intentionally pointed at members of the Consulate General.
The members even on the first day of hostilities were served by a Japanese maid the best food available on the Island. A blacked-out game room was prepared which permitted the Japanese to read and play games in the evening. During the day the Japanese exercised outdoors and freely mingled with other persons on the grounds of the Consulate General.
When the members of this group were to be removed to continental United States arrangements were made to return any articles which had been taken from the group. As she had done during the stay at the Consulate General, Miss Asakura purchased a variety of articles and clothing for the group to be used on the trip. It is to be noted that it was impossible to buy heavy winter clothing since none of the clothing stores in the Territory of Hawaii carried that type of clothing. There was no restriction on the amount of available clothing and luggage which could be purchased other than the space permitted on the vessel.
When the group boarded the vessel they were met by the commanding officer who informed Mr. Kita that in order to safeguard his party it was felt necessary to restrict the group to a certain area. Guards were placed at the entrance way in order to see that none of the other passengers or crew molested the group. In view of the fact that the ship was traveling in a war area, Mr. Kita was also informed that search would have to be made of everyone boarding the ship as well as their baggage. The search which was deemed by the captain of the vessel to be necessary in the interest of the safety of the vessel and its passengers was conducted with due regard to the modesty of the individuals and a female nurse was requested to search the female passengers.
[Page 1072]In accordance with the military requirements all portholes were sealed while traveling on the open seas. Temperature of the area occupied by the group was taken at frequent intervals and there was no evidence that the health of the passengers was impaired. The Japanese nationals received daily medical inspection and several of the group received medical treatment for seasickness, and with the exception of an infection on Robert Hiroyoshi Sumida’s leg, there were no serious problems regarding the health of the group.
Mr. Kita gave approval to a plan whereby food for the passengers was prepared by servants of the former Consulate General in their own style, and this method was found to be most satisfactory.
The Department has made a reply direct to the Spanish Embassy93 regarding that portion of the protest of the Japanese Government which pertained to the treatment of this group while in continental United States.