RESTRICTED
15 June 1950 George N. Kates
107, Radio Tokyo
Mr. Walter Nichols, Acting Chief, RCR Division
Mr. Ishida, Institute of Ethnology RCR
Mr. Fujikawa, Chief, Admin. Dept, National Museum
Mr. Ueno, President, Fine Arts University

Second meeting to Select Candidates for Museum Exchange Project
(Exchange of Persons Program for Japan)

1. Following interviews by the Fine Arts Advisor of the six candidates whose names were originally submitted by the above Japanese Committee, a second meeting was held to discuss results.
2. Mr. Nichols opened the discussion by pointing out the general purposes of the whole operation, stressing the fact that upon their return to Japan the successful candidates should be in a position to disseminate information as widely as possible and to become leaders in their respective field.
3. The language qualification, he stressed, was essential. Those who go to America must be capable of using the English Language for all practical purposes. There will be no interpreter with the party; and they will be seeing busy executives, who have not time to waste on interpreting.
4. The undersigned then reviewed the English qualifications of the six candidates he had interviewed. Of these, Mr. Atarashi (who had been to the United States previously) had good English, Mr. Yamanobe had a fair command, and Mr. Yawata, the single choice of Mr. Ishida, although reputed to be a very good scholar in his field, had almost no grasp of spoken English although he was able to read and write it to a limited extent. The other three candidates, Messrs. Okada, Kamon, and Maeda, not only had insufficient command of the language but also less to offer personally and less professional qualification. These facts seemed understood by all.
5. The members of the Committee were next asked what use they could make of the above men if these became their choices; and whether they thought the first three would make a representative team. To this they replied that this group made a well-balanced unit, that fields did not overlap; and thus also each member of the committee was represented by one candidate. The two members who had good language qualification might support the third who was deficient in this respect.
6. Both Mr. Nichols and the undersigned pointed out that on language grounds the project might be reduced from three to two men; and that in any case the third would have to travel with the first two and could not make up an independent program in archaeology, as opposed to fine arts etc. On this point Mr. Ishida stated that Mr. Yawata, in spite of his apparent language deficiency, was the only possible candidate from the fields of ethnology and anthropology.
7. A final questioning found al three committee members unanimous in selecting Mr. Atarashi, together with Messrs, Yamanobe and Yawata, as their choice for this project. They were then assured that the names of the three men selected by them would be submitted by RCR with favorable recommendations. They were advised further that RCR would recommend acceptance of Mr. Yawata in spite of his language handicap but that no assurance could be given that this requirement could be waived.