JAPAN: On the Alert

New York Times's Tokyo Correspondent Hugh Byas is genial, red-faced, slow-moving, and his Scottish burr is thick as haggis. He is besides generally considered the most reliable foreign correspondent in Japan. Last week he cabled home an extraordinary dispatch. His subject was Japanese alertness with regard to The Netherlands East Indies. He concluded the cable with the following words, which he said Foreign Minister Hachiro Arita had probably sent to Japanese envoys everywhere, had certainly addressed to the Foreign Office staff in Tokyo:

"There is a possibility that the European war will terminate soon. Even assuming that Japanese relations with...

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