894.00/1121: Telegram
The Ambassador in Japan (Grew) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 22—6:34 a.m.]
1673. The appointment of Haruhiko Nishi as Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, whose last post was Counselor with rank of Minister in Moscow, was announced in the press this morning. Mr. Nishi has been occupied during recent years, both in the Japanese Embassy in Moscow and in the Foreign Office at Tokyo, with Soviet-Japanese relations. He has the reputation both here and in Moscow of being an honest and trustworthy man without, however, any outstanding ability or intellectual attainments.
With the appointment of Nishi, both the Minister and the Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs are professional Japanese diplomats who have had first-hand experience in the Soviet Union and are both regarded as at least not unfriendly toward the Soviet Government.