A. Major General KASAHAR arrived back in Japan in August 1938, after having flown as far as Singapore and proceeded from there by ship. Upon his return he spoke to the General Staff, who in turn spoke of the matter to then Foreign Minister, UGAKI. The Foreign Minister in turn discussed the matter with the five Cabinet members committee. This was a committee among the Cabinet ministers which discussed particularly important matters. A telegram was then received by me from the General Staff stating that they were more or less in accord and that the five-man committee was also agreeable to the suggestion. Q. General, can you tell us what ministers these five were? A. This is simply from my memory and I am not absolutely certain, but I think the 5-man committee consisted of the Prime Minister, KONOYE, the Foreign Minister, UGAKI; the Finance Minister, IKEDA; the War Minister, ITAGAKI; and the Navy Minister, YONAI. * * * A. My reason for sending KASHARA to Japan was simply to get the views of the Army, but as I discovered later the Army at this time was particularly desirous of bringing to a close the China incident and they felt that this would be a step in that direction so that they took it upon themselves to speak to the Foreign Minister, who in turn spoke to the committee of five. * * * Q. If I understood you correctly, General, the reply that you received from Tokyo came to you from the Chief of Staff? A. It always comes from the Chief of Staff. Q. You may continue. A. While there were other telegrams and communications in general, what they said was that they would be willing to conclude a pact in which mutual aid was promised in case one of the signatories was a victim of unprovoked aggression. However, Japan wished to have the pact aimed at Russia primarily, and all other countries would be secondary to this. * * *