4 Feb. 1355-1600 hours. Q. Why do you distinguish between individuals and official capacity? A. Because they were not particular friends or acquaintances of mine and they must have picked me because they thought I was the right man for the job. Q. Why did they think you were the right man for the job? A. Because I believe they thought I knew more about Germany than any man at the time. I had been expecting to return to Japan in 1937, and upon orders had been held over. Q. At that time is it not true, that you had a feeling of admiration for Germany and the German Military system? A. I did have an admiration for the German Army as such, but I opposed certain of their political ideologies, such as their stand on the Jewish matter and the Nazi Party’s part in the Army set-up. Q. You were on friendly terms with the ranking military authorities in Germany at the time, were you not? A. Yes. As Military Attache I was. Q. You were probably closer to the Military authorities or more friendly with them than any other of your countrymen? A. Yes. Because of my position I naturally had more to do with them than anyone else; particularly, I would like to stress the fact that this was part of my job as Military Attache. Q. You had, therefore, demonstrated that as Military Attache you could accomplish the things for Japan in Germany that your superiors in Japan wanted you to accomplish. A. Yes. I believe that is correct, and while they did not give me specific orders they wished to better the understanding between the two military organizations, and as I knew Germany well from my long stay there I was able to accomplish this over-all mission. Q. By this time in Japan in so far as the affairs of Government were concerned, the Military was pretty much the dominating influence was it not? A. While I was outside the nation and did not know for certain I do not believe they had reached the peak of their power yet as shown by the Three-Power Pact, 5 for example, where we had difficulty in realizing it at first. Q. You indicated the other day that in the preliminary conversations relative to the Anti-Comintern Pact that Ribbentrop through your mutual friend, Hack started conversations with you as the Military Attache because, if I remember correctly he knew that in order for that pact to be brought into being the Military had to be sold on the idea, and you indicated then to me, I thought, that the power of the Military was growing, and I assumed by the time you were named Ambassador the power of the Military was still in its growing stage, but greater than when you were Military Attache. A. Yes, that is correct. However, it was simply becoming stronger all the time and had not reached its zenith yet. Q. It had, however, reached a sufficient place of prominence to be in a position to dictate to the Foreign Ministry that the Ambassador in Germany should be a military man? A. Yes. But even outside of the Military, I believe, there were those who wanted me as Ambassador. 5 This is the Tripartite Pact between Japan, Germany, and Italy signed on September 27, 1940. 35