6 OCTOBER 1961, Page 17

THE YOSHIDA MEMOIRS

SIR,—May I respectfully submit that in reviewing The Yoshida Memoirs (Spectator, September 15), your book reviewer, Mr. Anthony Thwaite, was guilty of mistaken identification.

The Shigcru Yoshida who became the Minister of Munitions in the Japanese Cabinet in December, 1944, was a namesake of former Prime Minister Yoshida.

Therefore, there is no question as to 'who is one to believe—Shigemitsu (who was Foreign Minister at the time and, one would have thought, aware of his fellow Cabinet Ministers) or Yoshida, who was imprisoned as a political suspect during part of the war?'

TAMOTSU OGATA

Assistant Managing Editor The Japan Times, 1 I-Chome, Uchisaiwai-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo