Ambassador James D.
Hodgson, U.S. Ambassador to Japan
Lt. General Brent Scowcroft, Deputy Assistant to the President for
National security Affairs
DATE AND TIME: Saturday, March 29, 1975 11:00 a.m. (5 minutes)
PLACE: The Oval Office
Ambassador Hodgson: I
am coming from one area that is not giving you trouble.
The President: I am glad to see you, in the aftermath of my warm welcome
there last fall.
Ambassador Hodgson:
That is what I wanted to talk about. It is amazing what your trip did.
They have come of age from your trip. The things which were edgy are now
relaxed. It is really something.
The President: I get the impression that the political situation has
calmed.
Ambassador Hodgson: Yes
it has. Miki will want to
come here in July, then the Emperor will come in October.
The President: I see he [the Emperor] is going to a lot of oceanographic
places.
Ambassador Hodgson:
Yes. He has to be strictly non-political. Even when he goes to the
UN—probably there will be a picture of
him when no one is there. He is very frail, and we have to consider
that.
The President: Who is coming with him?
Ambassador Hodgson:
Just the two of them. None of the rest of the family. We will keep the
visit non-political and low-key in activity. They watch for you to come
to a return dinner.
The President: That's no problem. Where will they stay?
Ambassador Hodgson: The
Blair House. Then they will travel for two weeks. We have to stage it so
TV will play the right aura back to Japan.
The President: He was very nice to me. He's kind of hard to talk to!
Ambassador Hodgson: You
did, though. That is what counted with the Japanese. There was no idle
looking into the distance.
When Miki comes, it requires
only a lunch or dinner. Protocol requires the head of government to
precede the Emperor.
[Ambassador Hodgson
told a story about a Japanese Stone Lantern that was given to the
embassy. The conversation then ended].
1 Source: Ford Library, National
Security Adviser, Memoranda of Conversation, Box 10. Top Secret. The
conversation took place in the Oval Office. The talking points that
Ford received
from Kissinger
are ibid., Presidential Country Files for East Asia and the Pacific,
Box 7, Country File, Japan [5].