MINISTER TO THE VATICAN APPOINTED: STATEMENT OF THE FOREIGN OFFICE, MARCH 26, 1942
With a view to rendering still closer the existing amicable relations between Japan and the Holy See, the Jananese [sic] Government have decided to delegate Minister Ken Harada specially to the State of the City of Vatican. In view of the present world situation as well as the presence in greater East Asia of numerous adherents of the Roman Catholic faith, the significance of promoting friendly relations and mutual contacts between Japan and the Holy See hardly requires any explanation.
Transcription note
Printed "Jananese" [sic] for "Japanese" in the first sentence.
This site gathers the verbatim texts of treaties, laws, speeches and other official documents printed in two
English-language periodicals published in wartime Japan: the Tokyo Gazette (1937–1942), a monthly digest
of government reports issued under the supervision of the Cabinet Information Bureau, and Contemporary Japan: A Review
of Far Eastern Affairs (issues of 1941–1945), published by the Foreign Affairs Association of Japan, whose
“Documentary Material” section reprinted official texts.
It also includes the “Texts of Treaties, Agreements, Notes and Statutes of the Powers Concerning Manchuria”
(1895–1932) printed as Supplement III of the Japan-Manchoukuo Year Book 1934 (the first of a section of texts from year books), and, from the two periodicals,
selected government programmes, reports, statistical articles, chronologies and profiles of public figures.
Only texts printed in full in the journals are included; commentary, summaries and articles about them are not.
The issues covered are those indexed on the Tokyo Gazette table of contents and
Contemporary Japan pages at Frog in a Well,
and scanned on the Internet Archive.
These are official translations and statements of the wartime Japanese state and its allies, and should be read as such.
Transcription. The texts were transcribed from the page scans by AI models (Claude Opus 5.5, Claude Sonnet 5.5 and, for the Japan Year Books, Claude Haiku 5.5;
the model used is named at the foot of each text) reading the page images, and have not been proofread by a person. Original spelling and romanisation are kept. Page numbers in the margin link to the page
of the scan on the Internet Archive: check the scan before quoting.