Thursday, 1 April
Twenty-seventh day of the second lunar month

The Swedish Minister visited me in the afternoon. I asked him about the rumour that the Japanese Ambassador to Germany, Ōshima Hiroshi (大島浩) , had already arrived at Kuibyshev. He said this was incorrect and Ōshima was still in Berlin. According to the news from the Swedish Embassy in Berlin recently Germany has been exceptionally cold towards Japan. Ōshima was one of the signatories of the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact, so there is a possibility he may pass here before returning to Japan to report. As to the Japan-Soviet neutrality agreement to be widened to include a mutual non-aggression agreement, he thought it was impossible. Firstly it was because Satō Naotake (佐藤尚武) did not go to Moscow. Secondly, Satō told him that the Japanese Government wanted the Soviet Government to make an announcement on the second anniversary of the signing of the Agreement, but Satō didn’t dare to propose this to the Soviet Union, because he was afraid it would feel Japan was eager for this. From this it was enough to indicate that Japan feared the Soviet Union. It was also rumoured that trade between Japan and the Soviet Union had increased. He also thought this was incorrect. As the Soviet Union needed rubber from Japan, and because of the relationship between Japan and Germany, Japan didn’t dare supply the Soviet Union with rubber. He also said that the relationship between the Soviet Union and Poland was not harmonious. The psychology of the Soviet public, especially Stalin, although deeply hating Germany, admired their cultural achievement and organisational wisdom, and the discipline among the people. They admired Germany more than Britain. Therefore they thought that even though they could defeat Germany this time, they could never subjugate the Germans. Germany could, in the future, recover to be one of the strong powers of Europe. Therefore, in order to prepare for their next invasion, the Soviet Union had to make buffer countries to its West, such as Poland and the countries of the Balkans, to cultivate close relationships with the Soviet Union. Although the Soviet Union didn’t make these countries Communist states, these states would take Moscow as their centre, only until then could the Soviet defence be stable. So when Poland demanded reclaiming their territory before 1939, the Soviet Union was unwilling to accept.
In the afternoon, I paid a return visit to the Canadian Minister Wilgress.