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Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs (Johnson) of a Conversation With the Counselor of the Japanese Embassy (Sawada)
Mr. Sawada, Counselor of the Japanese Embassy, came to see me this morning and referred to my conversation with him on August 2 when I told him that the American authorities were very much interested in the Japanese statement that some 370,000 out of 400,000 seals now visiting Japanese waters were from the American Herds of the Pribilof Islands, and that we desired to know the data upon which the Japanese authorities based this statement. Mr. Sawada stated that he had lost no time in communicating this inquiry to Tokyo and had received a reply by telegraph which he orally paraphrased as follows:
“The Japanese authorities appreciate the sympathetic interest evidenced by this inquiry of the American authorities, but feel that they would prefer to await the time of a conference before revealing the data upon which they based their conclusions as to the seals now visiting Japanese waters.”