WAR 425

sent off my report to the Department, but it probably did not get
through. Shortly afterwards we heard that Imperial Headquarters
had announced that Japan was in armed conflict with the United
States and Great Britain. This was contained in a Tomiuri statement
issued early this morning. At first it was difficult to believe, although
it had all the earmarks of officialdom, and later in the morning
Ohno, of the Foreign Office, called on Crocker and read to him, his
hands trembling, the official announcement that armed conflict had
commenced.

Soon afterwards the Embassy's gates were closed and we were told
that no one could go in or out. Masuo, a clerk in the Foreign Office,
was assigned as a liaison officer and to act as a channel between us
and the Foreign Office. We were told that no cipher telegrams could
be sent and all telegrams must be submitted to the Foreign Office
for approval. Sir Robert Craigie came to see me and was stopped
by the police at the gate ; he dismounted from his car and said who
he was, but the police grabbed him by the arms; he shook them off,
however, and found an officer to let him in. We had a last talk with
mutual expressions of appreciation of our co-operation, which, he
said, had been one of the few bright spots during his years in Japan.
Mrs. Tillitse, wife of the Danish Minister, also came to see Alice
and had difficulty in getting home but finally was able to do so with
the aid of a plain-clothes detective. Our last callers early in the
morning were Politis, the Greek Minister, and Mrs. de Vigo, wife
of the Spanish Minister, who saw Alice.

A group of Japanese radio experts came and went through the
chancery and the apartment houses with a fine-tooth comb, taking
away all short-wave radio sets. They were very polite but very
thorough, but when they came to the residence they took my word for
the fact that I had only two radio sets and removed them without
searching the other rooms. They were all exceedingly courteous and
apologized for the trouble caused, especially Ohno of the Foreign
Office, who accompanied them.

The moment we knew that the news of war had been confirmed
I gave orders to burn all our codes and confidential correspondence.

Word had meanwhile been passed around that everyone should
stay on the compound for his own protection. A telegram en clair
was prepared for the Department stating that the entire Embassy
staff was safe and well, but it was held as it was discovered on check-
ing up that Randall Jones was not accounted for. It developed that,
it being his day off, he had gone to Yokohama and had not yet
returned. After some anxious moments we were greatly relieved and
somewhat surprised to see Jones walking across the compound. It
seems that, having heard the news at Yokohama, he took the first
train back, without incident, and took a taxi in a perfectly normal
manner from Shimbashi Station to the Embassy. Upon arrival he
found the Embassy gates locked and ingress and egress both barred.
As he was standing uncertain, trying to decide what to do, he was ,
14*