I have the honour to inform Your Excellency that, in view of the very friendly attitude shown by the Italian Government and people toward Japan since the outset of the present Sino-Japanese Affair, it is a particular matter of regret for the Japanese Government that Mr. Sandro Sandri, an Italian press correspondent who
happened to be on board the American gunboat Panay on December 12th at the time the Japanese naval aircraft bombed her by mistake, passed away as the result of that bombing.
I hereby tender, on behalf of the Japanese Government, the expression of its most sincere condolence, which I request Your Excellency to transmit to your Government. I wish to add, Your Excellency, that the Japanese Government is prepared to bear full responsibilities in making the necessary indemnification for the losses involved in this unfortunate incident.
Transcription note
Addressed to Giacinto Auriti, Italian Ambassador in Tokyo. Printed without salutation or signature.
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.