Office of the Historian

375. Memorandum of Conversation0

Washington, April 25, 1963, noon.

SUBJECT

  • Japan’s Role on the World Scene and US-Japan Relations

PARTICIPANTS

  • The President
  • Ambassador Ryuji Takeuchi of the Embassy of Japan
  • Mr. Duke, Chief of Protocol
  • Mr. Rice, Deputy Assistant Secretary, FE

After an exchange of amenities, the President commented that a remark he had made to Japanese cabinet ministers during a luncheon last [Page 778] December1 about China, had evidently created quite a stir in Japan. He added that he had merely expressed how he felt, and that he still felt the same way. The Ambassador said he recalled the occasion (which was on December 3 in connection with the second meeting of the Joint US-Japan Committee on Trade and Economic Affairs), as he was among those present. The Japanese press, he commented, had examined every word to see what it could read into the statement. (Later on he commented that few Americans realize how free the Japanese press is, and that it is uniformly anti-government—though people have learned to read between the lines.) The President said that some had thought his remarks were intended to be taken in the context of trade, but that this was not what he had in mind.

The President adverted to Japan’s remarkable economic resurgence and asked the Ambassador what he envisages the role of Japan to be on the world scene, in the years ahead. Ambassador Takeuchi replied that Japan should serve as an example of economic stability and of successful democratic government. Without social, economic and political progress and stability in Japan, the countries of the area would look elsewhere (by implication, to Communist countries) for their model.

There were but passing references to the question of outstanding problems in US-Japan relations: The Ambassador characterized our relations as good, at the same time suggesting by waggles of head and hand that they are not entirely problem-free. At this point the President rose to close the interview and, as if reading the Ambassador’s mind, he laughingly commented that there is the matter of textiles which, it seems, will always be with us.

  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, POL JAPAN-US. Confidential. Drafted by Rice and approved by the White House on April 30. The meeting was held at the White House. Ryuji Takeuchi succeeded Koichiro Asakai as Japanese Ambassador to the United States.↩
  2. See footnote 1, Document 362.↩