For the purpose of concluding an agreement concerning commercial relations between Japan and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and an agreement concerning exchange of goods and payments between Japan and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, coversations [sic] have taken place at Moscow since February 17 between Lieutenant-General Yoshitsugu Tatekawa, the Japanese Ambassador, and M. A.I. Mikoyan, the People's Commissar for Foreign Trade. Owing to the conciliatory spirit on both sides, the negotiations had a favourable progress, and on June 11 the necessary steps were taken for fixing upon the texts of the two Agreements.
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.