"Che" in and on Japan

[On] July 15 (in 1959) he arrived in Tokyo. Once more the diplomatic routine dictated numerous, not profitable, visits. He was taken aback by Japan’s industrialization, but also by its loss of national pride, its indisputable kowtowing to American power. When his asthma improved, he made three personal requests to his hosts: to see Mount Fuji, to take in a sumo-wrestling match, and to visit Hiroshima to pay belated homage to the victims of the atomic bomb he had deplored as a teenager. (p. 284, “Guevara Also Known as Che” by Paco Ignacio Taibo II, bold by the author)

[Alfred] Menéndez (a sugar expert at the Instituto Cubano de Esbilizacion del Azúcar) recalled Che’s reaction when he was told by the Cuban ambassador in Tokyo that he was expected to go the next day to lay a wreath at Japan’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers, commemorating the men lost in World War II. Che reacted violently. “No way I’ll go! That was an imperialist army that killed millions of Asians…. And I won’t go. Where I will go is to Hiroshima, where the Americans killed one hundred thousand Japanese.” The diplomat spluttered and told him it was impossible, that it had already been arranged with the Japanese chancellor. Che was adamant, and told him: “It’s your problem, not mine. You made the arrangement without my authorization, and now you can go and undo it!”

Japan, an emerging economic power, was one of the most important stops on Che’s itinerary. He was excited about Japanese advances in the electronics field, and spent much of his time touring the highly mechanized factories of companies such as Mitsubishi and Toshiba. The Japanese bought a millown tons of sugar on the world market in foreign exchange, a third of it from Cuba, and Che hoped to raise the Cuban share.

His idea was to propose that the Japanese could pay for anything over their present quota in yen; the money would then remain in Japan and be spent by Cuba on Japanese products. Che asked for a meeting to be arranged with the Japanese foreign minister. The signs were bad even before the meeting took place, however, when the official suggested they meet at the landmark Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Imperial Hotel, instead of in his office. Menendez accompanied Che.

“Che made the proposal,” recalled Menéndez, “but the man said he couldn’t agree to it, that their economy was open and they couldn’t make that kind of agreement; they would continue to buy sugar, but without any obligations. Che asked him: ‘You’re under pressure from the fair-haired Northerners, aren’t you?’ and the Japanese said: “It’s true,’ at which Che told him there was no problem, that he understood the pressure they were under.”

... Once, in a traditional Japanese geisha house, where all the women in attendance were of a safe, advanced age, he enjoyed himself, drinking lots of sake and rising to mime the geisha’s dance steps… (pp. 431- 435, “Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life” by Jon Lee Anderson)