International: You Can Imagine–

The trials of Japanese war criminals were scheduled to open in January. Bluff, tough ex-Gangbuster Joseph Berry Keenan had arrived in Tokyo as U.S. chief prosecutor. Warrants for the arrests of more & more suspects (286 to date) poured from U.S. Army desks. Japan’s entire ruling class—diplomats, businessmen, journalists, educators—had the jitters. But when anyone mentioned the words senso hanzaisha (war criminal), they kept their faces straight and bland.

Most prominent innocents last week:

¶Prince Fumimaro Konoye, thrice Premier of Japan, and Tojo’s predecessor. He had been working ostentatiously on a new, liberal constitution for Japan. Last week, friends reported him “lost in meditation” at his villa in fashionable Karuizawa.

¶ Marquis Koichi Kido, Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal and Emperor Hirohito’s closest adviser. Also waiting at his villa, he said: “I mean only to read books in my leisure. I have nothing else in my mind.”

¶ Prince Morimasa Nashimoto, 71, Supreme War Councilor (since 1923), Field Marshal, and Lord Custodian of the Shinto Shrines. Standing in the bomb-charred ruins of his mansion, he told newsmen: “I had nothing whatsoever to do with the war. … I didn’t actively oppose it, but you can imagine how I felt. … I was only an honorary chairman [of military societies]. . . . Let’s see what else I have done.” He paused, looked up solemnly, added: “Nothing.”