Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi of Japan (1957)

I am very glad that the United States National Commission or UNESCO is meeting at San Francisco for its six national components to deliberate on the subject of Asia and the United States. What the American citizen can do to promote mutual understanding and cooperation. I wish to congratulate your national commission on the happy choice of the conference theme which is so appropriate as to both time and place in that the promotion of AsianAmerican friendship and cooperation is the pressing need of the day. While San Francisco happens to be the city which saw the signing of the Japanese peace treaty as well as the birth of the United Nations. It is impossible to overstress the importance of AsianAmerican relations to the future of the Pacific and of the entire world. Japan was the best of friends with the United States for nearly a hundred years. Though our two nations became mortal adversaries in the bitterest war, we are once more first friends and partners in peace. Japan and America know each other quite well. During my trip to the United States last summer, I was happy to note lovely flowerings of East West cultural cross fertilization through adoption and adaptation of Japanese architecture. landscape, gardening, drama and literature and arts and crafts in the present day life of America. Even so, there is no denying the fact that there remains yet considerable room for improvement in the friendly and cooperative relationship between the two countries. If such is the case with Japan and America, how great must be the mental and spiritual gap that needs to be filled between America and Asia as a whole. Here is a closer task for the accomplishment of which UNESCO has extensive and long range programs mapped out in spite of the many eminent scholars in oriental languages, history, art, and literature that the United States as I dare say Americans in general are suddenly uninformed or misinformed about the conditions and cultures of Asian nations. You may learn much by reading books, by attending lectures, by watching the excellent traalog motion pictures that are now being produced. But the best and quickest way is to do the traveling yourself. It is through direct personal contact with the people of Asia through first hand observations and studies on the spot of their ways of life that you can widen your knowledge and deepen your understanding and appreciation of Asia. As the prime minister of Japan, I invite you all to visit my country, see Japan, and meet Japanese people. As an Asian, my advice to you is come and see Asia and meet Asian peoples.