ABSTRACT
Japan was not pleased with the first exchange. On 27 October 1942, the Japanese
government sent a lengthy protest through the Spanish Embassy accusing the
U.S. government of mistreating many of the Japanese officials involved in the
exchanges. The Japanese government stated that it was “astonished at the most
inhuman cruelty and insult inflicted upon them” during the “course of their
arrest, examination, internment and transport.” In particular, the Japanese protest
noted that the “United States Government have thereby violated their solemn
declaration to apply, as far as possible, to interned non-combatants the provisions
of the Convention relating to the Treatment of Prisoners of War signed in Geneva
On 12 December 1942, the U.S. State Department sent the first of several
memoranda answering this Japanese protest. It assured the Japanese government
that it had “instructed all of its officers concerned with the handling of Japanese
subjects to exercise the most scrupulous care that their actions with relation to
Japanese under their control shall be governed by the humanitarian principles of
the Geneva Prisoners of War Convention and the generally recognized principle
of international law with a view to the maintenance of the highest possible
standards of humanitarian treatment.” Therefore, as in the past when it had
investigated all complaints of “alleged mistreatment,” the “American
Government is now making a thorough investigation of every complaint … with
a view to removing the causes of the legitimate complaints and taking
As for the detention, transport, and treatment of all evacuees, Washington
noted that “upon the outbreak of hostilities the American Government proceeded
to the construction at expense of detention and internment camps prepared in
accordance with the provisions of the Geneva Prisoners of war convention.” All
evacuees were transferred “with the utmost rapidity possible,” using “standard
trains,” and with the “greatest possible comfort.” Contrary to Tokyo’s criticism,
evacuees were not like convicts, but were “placed in special detention stations
and camps.” Even clothing was provided “in most cases” from “American army
stores” in “accordance with the provisions of the Geneva Convention for the
ultimately delayed the second exchange. The divergence of views between the
Japanese and U.S. governments over the future of the exchange program was
large, and growing. The Japanese government, in particular, appeared eager to
seize every opportunity to criticize the U.S. for not fulfilling the terms of the 1929
Geneva Convention, even though Japan had never ratified that particular
agreement. Meanwhile, in Japan’s own detention camps, thousands of American
citizens were being denied even the most basic food allotments, proper clothing,
and medical care.
