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1 the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project AMBASSADOR DON CARROLL BLISS, JR. Copyright 2010 TABLE OF CONTENTS Tokyo, apan: Commercial Attach# 1923-1924 Arrival in Yokohama apan September 1, 1923 after earth,uake Destruction to Yokohama and Tokyo Arrival of Dollar -ine.s President Harrison Orders changed from Tokyo to /obe Customs procedure Consulate tent city 0etrieving baggage American 1mbassy after ,uake Destruction -iving arrangements 2mperial hotel 3S Navy relief vessel 15periences of personnel apanese death toll 6etting ac,uainted 7eekend outings Finding suitable living ,uarters Housing and apanese customs 3ni,ue plumbing Servants 0elations 8ith apanese 0oyal family Continued earth,uake shocks 2mperial hotel Dining during a ,uake House in 9inamicho :achelors in :ombay :ombay, 2ndia: Assistant Trade Officer 1924-1926 Hotel Taj 9ahal -iving conditions 9alabar Hill crime scene Social doings 1 Fashion The Denisha8n repertoire :ombay to Delhi via auto Cecil Hotel 9alaria Financial reporting 2ndia.s gold and silver hoard Crime and Punishment in Singapore Singapore: Commercial Attach# 1929-1932 Detective :ranch Superintendent -ang Climate Cro8n Colony Singapore Crime 6overnment control of opium 6ambling 6ang 7ar murder Singapore Club Night life The case of 9r. and 9rs. :egg A case of prostitution and racism :argain loot on the market Calcutta to -ondon -ondon, 1ngland: 1conomic Counselor 1941-1947 The 8orld at 8ar Travel from Calcutta Personnel effects Fello8 passenger 6eneral Auchinleck :asra stopover 7ar in 9esopotamia Cairo stopover 7artime Cairo /hartoum stopover Stanleyville stopover Douala stopover -agos stopover >Attached? to -agos Consulate Plane booking difficulties To -ondon on a Flying :oat 0oyalty aboard 6ibraltar stop /ing Peter unloaded Arrival Poole, /ent (3/A 2 :omb damage en route -ondon 3S 1mbassy, B1 6rosvenor S,uare Area bomb damage Henry Stebbins. narro8 escape -ondon black out Air raid Far From Foggy :ottom 0eports from the Field That Never 7ere Filed 3nder the :ed in Tokyo Yokohama had been destroyed, and part of Tokyo. 9any people had died and many 8ere homeless. Ne8s of the great earth,uake of September 1, 1923 had flashed around the 8orld but cold print conveyed no more than that. apan 8as far a8ay across the Pacific, a country of kimonos and ricksha8s and cherry blossoms. No8 the ugly reality lay e5posed, the stark scene illuminated by an October afternoon sun as passengers lined the rail 8hile the Dollar -ine.s >President Harrison? 8as tying up to a half-ruined pier. Here and there a roofless fire-blackened concrete skeleton 8ith gaping 8indo8s 8as still standing, as 8as the s,uat to8er of the deserted rail8ay station 8here clock stopped at just -past noon recorded the moment 8hen disaster struck. Other8ise a busy port and teeming city had been 8iped out of e5istence, every brick building reduced to rubble, every 8ooden structure and flimsy house consumed by fire. The earth,uake had shuddered many of those houses do8n 8hen people 8ere preparing their noon meal over hibachis glo8ing 8ith charcoal and fires had sprung up every8here, fanned by a stiff breeCe 8hich soon became the roaring fury of a firestorm, Thousands of men, 8omen, and children had been pinned under falling masonry and collapsing tile roof.s or trapped by Dlames as they fled, to make of the city a vast crematorium. The fires had long since burned out but a spiral of smoke still rose from a mound of smoldering cotton bales heaped to the roof of a vanished 8arehouse. The city had been reduced to ashes but its life 8as beginning to stir again. A small cro8d 8aited on the pier for the ship.s gang8ay to be lo8ered. Distant ant-like figures 8ere moving through the desolation. Tin-roofed shacks had been erected along road8ays cleared for a modest bustle of foot traffic and horse-dra8n vehicles, an occasional automobile. The aptly named Tent Hotel, pitched on the rubble and ashes of. the 6rand Hotel, displayed a. streak of 8hite canvas on the :und. On the semi-circle of bluffs above the city a fringe of buildings spared by the fire still stood on the skyline, some intact, sore in disarray and an American flag floated over the field hospital rushed up from 9anila by the 3.S. Army as part of its response to disaster. A fe8 passengers debarked 8ith their baggage to spend the night in the Tent Hotel, and a fe8 came aboard, including, a young man 8ho 8as looking for me. >2.m Eice Consul 9artin,? he said, >8ith a message for -you. Your orders have been changed and you.re 3 assigned to Tokyo instead of /obe. You.ll have to get off the ship here before it sails at midnight.? This 8as splendid ne8s F 2 8ould be at the center of things rather than far a8ay to the south, and, attached to the 1mbassy rather than a satellite Consulate. There 8as plenty of time to check out 8ith the purser, to have the 8ardrobe trunk brought up from the hold and put out on the pier, to pack the bags in the stateroom. Young 9artin 8as happy to have dinner on board and ans8er a flood of ,uestions. The Consulate had been obliterated and its site occupied by an Army detachment brought in from 9anila. oe :allantine had arrived from Shanghai to take chargeG t8o Eice Consuls and several apanese staffers rounded out the complement. They 8ere all camping out in Army tents, eating Army cho8, and not too unhappy, although 8ater 8as a problem and there 8as o electricity. The rail line had not been restored and 2 8ould have to go up to Tokyo in an Army truck. The 1mbassy had been installed in the 2mperial Hotel and efferson Caffery 8as Charg#. :eyond that 9artin didn.t kno8 much about 8hat 8ent on in HTokyo. As 8e climbed do8n 8ith the hand luggage the pier 8as completely deserted e5cept for the 8ardrobe trunk standing there on the rough planking in the glare of the ship.s lights. 2n 7ashington they had told me to provision myself as though headed for a desert in 8hich none of the amenities of civiliCed life could be found. Conse,uently the trunk 8as stuffed 8ith soap, toiletries, and a year.s supply of clothing, along 8ith all the formal attire prescribed for a budding diplomat. To move that trunk 8as obviously beyond our po8ers, there 8asn.t a soul in sight to help 8ith it, and 8e 8ould have to come back in the morning. A8ay from the ship all 8as black e5cept for a fe8 specks of light and a brighter glo8 from the Tent Hotel. On the sagging pier 8e stumbled to8ard a lantern hanging on a pole to mark an improvised pontoon bridge that crossed a short stretch of 8ater and brought us finally to land. 9artin led the 8ay into the customs shed 8here a doCing figure in rumpled uniform topped by a red face under a bristle of black hair sat at a desk lit by a kerosene lamp and adorned 8ith a bottle and an empty glass. Our loads spread on the counter, 9artin addressed authority: >7e.re going ashore no8G 8ould you like to see the baggageI? The figure stirred, coughed up phlegm, spat copiously on the floor. >6od damn,? it said, and relapsed into immobility. >Please clear this baggage, 8e 8ant to go ashore.? The figure spat again. Another >:6od damn.? >Thank you very much,? 9artin said, as 8e picked up the luggage and departed by the farther door. 2 8as in apan. A sentry shone a flashlight at us and opened a gate in the chain fence. The American Consulate 8as a cluster of tents dimly illuminated by kerosene lanterns. 9artin led the 8ay and lit his o8n lantern to reveal an Army cot on either side of a 8all tent floored 8ith packed rubble. 7e 8ere soon bet8een Army blankets, the lantern had been doused, but 2 continued to babble into the darkness, 8ildly e5cited as 2 8as by 8hat 8as for me a great adventure. 9artin.s replies got shorter and. 2 thought he 8as dropping off to sleep 8hen he suddenly slipped across the tent and tried to get into bed 8ith meJ Outraged, 2 gave him a knee in the belly and he retreated to his o8n cot, mumbling, >:ut you 4 shouldn.t talk that 8ay... To this day 2 don.t kno8 8hat 2 said or had done to make him e5pect a 8elcome on my side of the tent. 2t 8as some time before 2 fell asleep. 7hat an introduction to my first post abroadJ The first apanese 2 had encountered 8as a horrible drunken bruteG the first Foreign Service Officer 2 met 8as a revealed homose5ual. 7hat further disillusionments lay in store for an innocent abroadI 2n the morning 2 found out. At breakfast in the mess tent oe :allantine 8elcomed me to a apan he loved and turned me over to a sulky young Eice Consul 8ith instructions to retrieve my trunk. One of the apanese staff ,uickly recruited a couple of baggage coolies e,uipped 8ith rope and carrying pole and 8e trooped out on the pier to 8here he trunk still stood, but no longer in solitary state. A gang of stevedores lay in 8ait for us, four or five of them in the dingy rough cotton tights and short jackets of apanese laborers, s8eat-rags on their heads. As our men approached to pick up the trunk a great jabber of e5postulation arose and the apanese clerk stepped for8ard to interpret.
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