Evening star., 1936-08-23

caster. Pa, landed there with two
friends from the ketch Flying Dutch
man. They photographed the broad
expanse of the harbor. Immediately
the Flying Dutchman went flying from
the harbor, her crew minus 200-yen
fine. They were lucky. It cost an
other mariner 1000 yen, and his boat,
too. to seek refuge in that harbor from
typhoon.
Now, not the only foreigners arrested
as spy suspects in Japan are Amer
icans-but quite a few are. White
men in brown mans country stand
out like brown men in a white mans
country, and American tourists are not
noted for inconspicuousness.
There were causes enough for inter-
national friction. Recently the Jap
anese police announced that in six
months they had counted 152 Amer
ican Army officers visiting Japan-in
civilian clothes. Even though they
we're touring, on leave. the inference
was obvious. And then, the police ar
rested Lieut. Joe Sherr, attached quite
openly to the American Embassy in
Toxic.
He stopped in a park, to look at ami
mails. A policeman asked why and he
explained that he liked animals. Sc
he was arrested for spying on mu-
nitions factory"-an electrical works
in the background. There were also
"spy accusations" against DR.. Teusler.
director of st. Luke's. the leading for
eign hospital in Toxic, and against
the Anglican Bishop of Toxic.
Indefatigably, yet politely, the jap
anese police bring in foreigners fof
snapshotting everything from sea
waves to picturesque street scenes
especially if "in the background" is
some military secret" like a railroad
station. When an American branch
bank in Japan proposed sending home
photographs of prominent buildings,
the police objected that such pictures
would give valuable information to
American bombing airplanes!
Perhaps the Japanese are possessors
of q sense of humor that, like the
American sense Of humor. revels in
exaggeration. Take the recent episode
of the American oil tanker Elizabeth
Kellogg. She missed the entrance to
Toxic Bay and ran aground. Above,
fortresses frowned So did the jap
anese police, who swarmed aboard.
Demand Photographs.
"show us photographs you are TAX
ing of forts, please" they said
Photographs" queried the captain,
vaguely. To-day is February 22-
George washington's birthday can
not tell a lie. celebrated, and let
the mate navigate He ran the ship
aground. But-photographs-forts-
The japanese found the mate per-
spring over some United States Navy
charts. All! the Japanese sucked In
their breath, ama1edly-the maps
evidently were drawn with the aid of
American spies! But closer scrutiny
revealed that the charts did not show
the forts at all!
That began more spy-yakamashi of
a different sort, and the Japanese
Tourist Bureau in New York politely
asked Toxic how long it was expected
to keep on sending American tourists
to Japan, for the police to arrest as
spies!
The three Japanese cabinet minis
ters charged with solving such prob
lens held a conference and directed
that spies must not be arrested, un-
less they really were spies. In New
York the Japanese Consulate broad
cast words reassuring to prospective
American visitors, and 1t is distribut-
ing to American tourists this Summer
an attractive folder explaining how
they can avoid spy-yakamashi. 1t
might be called Emily Post on Forti-
fed Zones"
Our relieved State Department
thought:
Nov maybe American tourists will
realize that they may think fortified
zones and spies are baloney. but the
Japanese don'Nand it's their COUNT
try" .-
But the American tourist does moi
change so readily-nor does the
japanese policeman. He is polite, but
he has fixed ideas. At the height Of thr
tourist season he detected passenger
ON q round-the-world tourist ship
taking snapshots. He held up that
ship for half q day while he searched
from bridge to bilge for the films. He
boarded another American ship ant
took OF two vacationing students foi
photographing in fortified zone. The
ship was named Golden Mountain
which suggested puns about molehills
A short time later. they arrested
noted American globe-trotter for ex.
ercising his hobby Of photography
then courteously allowed his wife h
photograph him, 1ianked by smiling
policemen.
Whereat, American newspaper
photographers in st. Petersburg. Fla
did some photographing, too. They
fiashNshted Comdr. Matsuda, 1mperis.
japansss Nsvy. IA civilian clothes. BE-