Word: tojo
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This was a showdown. The U.S. and Japan were nearer war than at any moment of their history. In a speech that was like a cry of pain and rage-and also of disappointment-Japanese Tojo called on his people to purge Asia of British and American exploitation...
When Kurusu, leaving the State Department, was asked whether talks would go on, he said, ''They have never been broken off." When asked about Premier Tojo's speech, he said that the Premier had been misquoted...
Said Premier General Hideki Tojo: "Britain and the United States desire to fish in troubled waters of East Asia...
Somchow Americans cannot take the Land of the Rising Sun seriously. Perhaps it is because the Empire has made such a bad showing in China, or because Japan is so far away; or simply because the Japanese premier is named Tojo. But undoubtedly the basic reason is a confidence in our invulnerability, a conviction that Japan can never sail all the way across the Pacific and strike at our coast. This is, to a certain extent, perfectly correct, but the trouble is that it applies just as much to our fleet attacking Japan...
This tough talk was underlined by the House of Representatives' approval of a 3,800,000,000 yen ($874,000,000) extraordinary military budget. Thus Japan's Tojo, Togo and Diet had thrust the Empire into a warlike posture which, if it were to be abandoned for any reason, would require a fearful loss of face and alibis which would have to be masterpieces of Japanese verbalism. The Japanese were still fooling themselves into believing that the U.S. could be made to back down...