--- title: Yosuke Matsuoka url: https://propagandaarchive.org/quotes/yosuke-matsuoka/ description: 4 verified quotes from Yosuke Matsuoka, Foreign Minister of Japan (1940-41), with sources. section: FRAME --- ![Illustration: an interwar radio-and-newsreel intelligence collage with a 1930s map of Europe and propaganda poster proofs.](https://propagandaarchive.org/static/generated/detail/hero-interwar.jpg) [Quotes](https://propagandaarchive.org/quotes/) · Japan # Yosuke Matsuoka ![Yōsuke Matsuoka](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/images/showa-japan/yosuke-matsuoka.jpg) [Photo](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Y%C5%8Dsuke_Matsuoka.jpg): Unknown, Public domain (PD-Japan-oldphoto) Foreign Minister of Japan (1940-41) · Japan On the regime page: [Empire of Japan, 1937 to 1945](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/showa-japan/#yosuke-matsuoka) 4 quotes, oldest first. [Filter with other speakers](https://propagandaarchive.org/quotes/#speaker=yosuke-matsuoka). 1. > “Humanity crucified Jesus of Nazareth two thousand years ago. And to-day? Can any of you assure me that the so-called world opinion can make no mistake ? We Japanese feel that we are now put on trial. Some of the people in Europe and America may wish even to crucify Japan in the twentieth century. Gentlemen, Japan stands ready to be crucified! But we do believe, and firmly believe, that, in a very few years, world opinion will be changed and that we also shall be understood by the world as Jesus of Nazareth was.” — February 24, 1933 · Speech · Geneva, Special Assembly of the League of Nations — Delivered before the Assembly voted on the report of the Committee of Nineteen on the Manchurian dispute. Matsuoka and the Japanese delegation walked out after the vote, and Japan gave notice of withdrawal from the League the following month. — Address by Yosuke Matsuoka, Chief Japanese Delegate, at the Seventeenth Plenary Meeting of the Special Assembly of the League of Nations, 24 February 1933, in Japan's Case in the Sino-Japanese Dispute as Presented before the Special Session of the Assembly of the League of Nations (Japanese Delegation to the League of Nations, 1933) [Source](https://archive.org/details/japanscaseinsino00leag) 2. > “The United States has evinced no adequate understanding of the fact that the establishment of a sphere of common prosperity throughout greater East Asia is truly a matter of vital concern to Japan. She apparently entertains an idea that her own first line of national defence lies along the mid-Atlantic to the East, but westward not only along the eastern Pacific-but even as far as China and the South Seas. If the United States assumes such an attitude, it would be, to say the least, a very one-sided contention on her part, to cast reflections on our superiority in the Western Pacific, by suggesting that it betokens ambitious designs. I, for one, believe that such a position assumed on the part of the United States would not be calculated to contribute toward the promotion of world peace. Speaking frankly, I should extremely regret such an attitude of the United States for the sake of Japanese-American friendship, for the sake of peace in the Pacific and, also, for the sake of the peace of the world in general.” — English: Contemporary Japan, February 1941 (English text of the address), as reproduced on ibiblio.org (Hyperwar). Original-language text not found. — January 21, 1941 · Speech · Tokyo, 76th Imperial Diet — Foreign-policy address at the reopening of the Diet, four months after the Tripartite Pact. It describes the 'sphere of common prosperity' in greater East Asia and Japanese-American relations. — Address by Foreign Minister Yosuke Matsuoka at the 76th session of the Imperial Diet, Tokyo, 21 January 1941, Contemporary Japan, February 1941, as reproduced on ibiblio.org (Hyperwar) [Source](https://www.ibiblio.org/pha/policy/1941/410121b.html) 3. **Content note:** Describes a plan to deceive Britain before a surprise attack. The words are shown as they were said or written. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) — > “In this connection, Matsuoka pointed out, that he was doing everything to reassure the English about Singapore. He acted as if Japan had no intention at all regarding this key position of England in the East. Therefore it might be possible, that his attitude toward the British would appear to be friendly in words and in acts. However, Germany should not be deceived by that. He assumed this attitude not only in order to reassure the British, but also in order to fool the pro-British and pro-American elements so long, until one day he would suddenly open the attack on Singapore.” — English: English translation of the German memorandum, as printed in Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, vol. 4 (US Government Printing Office, 1946), and reproduced by the Avalon Project, Yale Law School (translation of the German interpreter's report, Document 1877-PS). Original-language text not found. — March 29, 1941 · Private-remark · Berlin, conversation with Joachim von Ribbentrop — Private talks during Matsuoka's visit to Berlin, recorded by the German side, on a possible Japanese attack on Singapore. The memorandum is a German record in reported speech, not a stenographic transcript of Matsuoka's own words. — Report on the conversation between the Reich Foreign Minister and Japanese Foreign Minister Matsuoka in Berlin on 29 March 1941 (Berlin, 31 March 1941), Document 1877-PS, Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, vol. 4 [Source](https://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/1877-ps.asp) 4. **Content note:** Argues for striking the United States first. The words are shown as they were said or written. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) — > “As regards Japanese-American relationship, Matsuoka explained further that he has always declared in his country, that sooner or later a war with the United States would be unavoidable, if Japan continued to drift along as at present. In his opinion this conflict would happen rather sooner than later. His argument went on, why should Japan, therefore, not decisively strike at the right moment and take the risk upon herself of a fight against America? Just thus would she perhaps avoid a war for generations, particularly if she gained predominance in the South Seas. There are, to be sure, in Japan many who hesitate to follow those trends of thought. Matsuoka was considered in those circles a dangerous man with dangerous thoughts. He, however, stated that, if Japan continued to walk along her present path, one day she would have to fight anyway and that this would then be under less favorable circumstances than at present.” — English: English translation of the German memorandum, as printed in Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, vol. 4 (US Government Printing Office, 1946), and reproduced by the Avalon Project, Yale Law School (translation of Schmidt's memorandum, Document 1881-PS). Original-language text not found. — April 4, 1941 · Private-remark · Berlin, conversation with Adolf Hitler — Matsuoka's account to Hitler, with Ribbentrop and Meissner present, of his view of the likely course of Japanese-American relations. The memorandum is a German record in reported speech. — Memorandum on the discussion between the Fuehrer and Japanese Foreign Minister Matsuoka, Berlin, 4 April 1941, Document 1881-PS, Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, vol. 4 [Source](https://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/1881-ps.asp) ## Often attributed, not verified These words circulate under Yosuke Matsuoka’s name but could not be traced to a source. They are listed so readers can check them, not as Yosuke Matsuoka’s words. - > “Manchuria and Mongolia are Japan's lifeline.” — Unverifiable Usually said to come from: Matsuoka, Diet speeches, January 1931 — The slogan (Japanese seimeisen, 'lifeline') is widely attributed to Matsuoka from January 1931, and scholarly works cite Mori Kiyondo, Matsuoka Yosuke o kataru (1936), p. 227. The Diet record or Japanese original with exact wording was not seen, and the English wording varies between books, so no English text is published.