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SF: Was that sort of a, an occurrence that happened, that changed the attitude of both the Japanese government obviously had some impact, but how strong was the impact on the Japanese government based on the '24 Act and how did...?

FM: I think it was a critical factor. It contributed very substantially it seems to me to the change of Japanese foreign policy and we're no longer talking about Japanese Americans of course. We're talking about Japan -- Japanese in Japan. And for them, I think the Immigration Act of 1924 was perhaps the worst thing that could have happened to international relations. It was a sign to the Japanese people that the American people really, western society really did not accept the Japanese as equals or as respectable people, and that the only way in which the society was going to go ahead was not by seeking the kind of international relations that the liberal governments before that had done, but of turning increasingly toward a nationalistic orientation. An attitude that we beat the Russians in 1905, this is the way we can push our way into acceptance as a nation if we show our capabilities as a military nation. I think, Japan is a nation that is schizophrenic in its nationalist/internationalist orientation. At one state it may be internationalist, but deeply laid is a strong nationalist bent as well and so there's kind of a cyclical back and forth flow of display of nationalism or display of internationalism in the Japanese tendency.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.