MR. AND MRS. AMERICA VISIT JAPAN 143

in the course of which he told me of a conversation he had just had
with Dubosc, editor of the Paris Temps, who has been travelling in
Japan, Dubosc apparently told Count Makino that he considered
the political situation in Japan as " dangerous," owing to the strife
and corruption among the political parties and the risk of military
Fascism on the one hand and of Communism on the other.

Makino said to Dubosc (as the former repeated the conversation
to me), " When you return to Paris and make your report or write
your editorials on the domestic situation in Japan, cut out the word
6 danger ' from your vocabulary. We have a safeguard in Japan
which other countries do not possess in the same degree, namely, the
Imperial Household. There will never be ' danger' from military
Fascism or Communism or from any other kind of c ism' simply
because the Emperor is supreme and will always have the last word."

I have never heard the old man speak so emphatically or exhibit
so much patriotic emotion ; his eyes filled with tears and he had to
wipe his glasses. The manner in which he talked to-night—his
emphasis and emotion—gave a momentary revelation of the intensity
of their devotion to the Throne, and I think that the force of that
devotion throughout the nation—in spite of all the bickerings and
political agitations and even the assassinations, or perhaps because
of them—is stronger, much stronger, than foreigners generally
appreciate. At any rate, I was greatly impressed to-night by this
momentary glimpse into the mind of the usually suave, courteous,
and eminently gentle Count Makino, whom I shall always regard
as one of the world's greatest gentlemen.

MR. AND MRS. AMERICA VISIT JAPAN

June 20, 1935

Mr. and Mrs. America called at the Embassy this morning in the
course of their round of official visits. They are two life-size American
dolls, sent over to Japan on a " goodwill mission " by the Mayor
of New York. They are not only life-size but amazingly life-like.
After looking into the young lady's lovely eyes, Alice said it was
astonishing not to find a soul behind them. The visit has stirred up
quite a lot of controversy, which has taken the form of open letters
to the Advertiser, one correspondent asserting that the whole thing
is silly and undignified and that the reception of the dolls by the
Prime Minister and the American Ambassador—who allegedly
served the dolls with iced tea—was absurd and placed both Japanese
and Americans in a ridiculous light. Other correspondents dis-
agreed with that view.

What happened is that the Board of Tourist Industry of the
Japanese Railways suggested to the Mayor of New York that a
" goodwill mission " of two American dolls would be warmly wel-
comed in Japan, and Mayor LaGuardia took it up and the dolls
were dispatched after appropriate ceremonies in New York. They