Viscount Ishii's Statement

My final departure from Washington affords a fit occasion for me to express once more to the American people my deep sense of gratitude for the cordial reception and hospitality accorded to the Special Mission of Japan. The spontaneous and enthusiastic manifestations of friendship and good will toward us on all hands have profoundly impressed not only the members of the Mission, but the whole Japanese people. The kindly feeling and fraternal spirit always existing between the two nations have never been more emphatically testified to.

Believing, as I do, in frank talking, I have tried as best I could in my public utterances in this country to tell the truth and the facts about my country, the aspirations and motives which spur my nation. For to my mind it is misrepresentation and the lack of information that allow discordance and distrust to creep in in the relationship between nations. I am happy to think that at a time when the true unity and cooperation between the Allied nations are dire necessities it has been given me to contribute in my small way to a better understanding and appreciation among the Americans with regard to Japan.

The new understanding in regard to the line of policy to be followed by Japan and America respecting the republic of China augurs well for the undisturbed maintenance of the harmonious accord and good neighborliness between our two countries. It certainly will do away with all doubts that have now and then shadowed the Japanese-American relationship. It can not fail to defeat for all time the pernicious efforts of German agents, to whom every new situation developing in China always furnished so, fruitful a field for black machinations. For the rest, this new understanding of ours substantiates the solidity of comradeship, which is daily gaining strength among the honorable and worthy nations of the civilized world.

It is a great pleasure for me to add that this declaration has been reached as an outcome of free exchange of frank views between the two governments. I can not pay too high a tribute to the sincerity and farsightedness of Secretary Lansing, with whom it was my privilege to associate in so pleasurable a way. It is my firm belief that so long as the two governments maintain a perfectly appreciative attitude toward each other, so long as there is no lack of statesmanship to guide public opinion, the reign of peace and tranquillity in our part of the world will remain unchallenged.