JAPAN UNEASY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 72, 26 March 1941, Page 9

JAPAN UNEASY

Minister's Axis Visits

MUCH SPECULATION

LONDON, March 25. The visit of Mr. Matsuoka, the Japanese Foreign Minister, to Berlin and Rome continues to arouse a certain uneasiness in some political circles in Japan. , ■Reports reaching London tonight say it is believed that a considerable section of: Japanese Parliamentarians are warning- ihc'w 'colleagues against the danger of collaborating too closely with Berlin. The implications of Mr. Matsuoka's visit arc giving rise to much speculation and the reports say it is by no means clear that his trip was universally .supported by authoritative Japanese quarters. It has been noted that certain influential newspapers in Japan are again minimising .the importance of Mr. Matsuoka's tour. It is regarded by some people in Japan that Mr. Matsuoka's statement at Moscow that he had no particular end in view in visiting the Axis leaders was meant to reassure Japanese critics who appreciate the chronic hostility of the Japanese people towards foreign domination.

Some significance is also altachcd lo the statement made by the secretary of the Japanese Cabinet in the Diet this morning. Replying to questions whether closer relations with Germany were unlikely to have an influence on the political life of the people he is reported to have told the Diet that the Japanese Government was determined to reject every attempt to impose the single party system in Japan. "To serve the Emperor is the privilege of all Japanese, and that privilege should not be the monopoly of certain persons or of a single party," he said. Japanese military circles, it is stated, are reticent about Mr. Matsuoka's visit, and for some days have refused to make any comment.