Big Shot-At

When things grow tense in Japan, somebody often takes a shot at a political big shot. Five of the 18 Premiers Japan has had since World War I were assassinated; a sixth, Admiral Keisuke Okada, saved his life in the Army revolt of 1936 by hiding in a steel vault till he nearly smothered, disguising himself and mourning at his own funeral (TIME, March 9, 1936). Last week things were tense in Japan and the big shot-at was horse-toothed Baron Kiichiro Hiranuma, 75, onetime Premier and currently Vice Premier and Minister without Portfolio in the Cabinet of Prince Fumimaro Konoye.

Descendant of a samurai (feudal military gentry) family, darling of the Army extremists, the old Baron was one of the first Japanese of high position to be labeled "Fascist." But during the last several years his views mellowed to the archconservatism of an elder statesman. He believes in friendship with the U.S. and Britain, favors a quick settlement of the four-year-old Sino-Japanese War, opposes a single totalitarian party, has balked against Axis alliances. So considerable is his influence on Prince Konoye that he has become known as the "Strong Man of the Cabinet."

When Baron Hiranuma was Premier in 1939, he lived in an "assassination-proof" house in Tokyo. Now he lives in a modest villa in the Tokyo suburbs. Early one morning last week there came to the modest villa a 33-year-old autograph hunter named Naohiko Nishiyama. While the kimonoed Baron obligingly painted his calligraph, Autograph Hunter Nishiyama whipped a revolver from a parchment scroll, fired thrice, missed once. Though wounded, the Baron gave chase, caught the visitor by the shirt, held him with the aid of a guard.

To the Baron's bedside swarmed big shots from Prince Konoye down. Emperor Hirohito sent a basket of fruit. In Japanese court etiquette this meant that the Son of Heaven held hope for his recovery. Had the gift been imperial wine, it would have implied that the Baron's sukiyaki was considered cooked. The Baron took the hint: at week's end he was reported to be rallying strongly.

Just who Autograph Hunter Nishiyama was, whom he represented, Minister for Home Affairs Harumichi Tanabe would not say. The United Press cabled darkly from Shanghai that diplomatic circles there understood that ten hours before the assault, an Axis newspaperman telephoned the Ministry for Home Affairs in Tokyo to inquire if Baron Hiranuma had been shot.

Things were even tenser by week's end. Some hundred U.S. citizens in Japan were refused permission by Japanese authorities to go home. Large numbers of Japanese civilians left China, the Philippines, Australia, Singapore. In Indo-China, where there are reported to be up to 100,000 Japanese troops, bubonic plague had broken out. Large Japanese troop concentrations were being made on Manchukuo's Russian border. Japanese Minister to Washington Kaname Wakasugi had telephoned an interview from Los Angeles to Tokyo's Nichi Nichi, explaining to his countrymen that the U.S. meant business, warned them to be mighty careful.

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