Her file (see below RG 0319) is held at the National Archive in College Park, MD.
I'm quickly posting the following samples from the file until there is time to weave them into the main narrative on other pages:
I'm quickly posting the following samples from the file until there is time to weave them into the main narrative on other pages:
Yoshiko Yamaguchi was under surveillance by occupation American military intelligence when she repatriated to Japan in 1946 (and thereafter for many years). The FBI took over surveillance when she came to America in 1950. Here are initial pages of the file:
Intelligence main concerns seems to have been: what were her political beliefs and whether she was engaged in espionage (or had sympathy with communism, etc). However, as the files reveal, intelligence was not only interested in this, but also encompassed all manner of personal data (such as marital status, financial support or lack thereof, anything illicit, immoral, perfidious, sexual, or derogatory, who were the partners, how often they came and went, who were her friends, her relatives, what were their political associations, etc etc). Regarding all these aspects, the files are not much revealing of perfidy as they are hinting at it. They are filled with hearsay, innuendo, rumors, conjecture, second-hand, unsubstantiated, and erroneous facts, and the like.
Here's a good summary of the American intelligence organization in occupied-Japan
The presumption of guilt conveyed by these intelligence files is also quite apparent (such as the comment "SUBJECT claims to be 26 years old", when in fact she merely (nay merrily) is 26 years old). Another example of this predisposition is "SUBJECT visited the Russian Embassy in Tokyo to attend Christmas Party", the implication of which is 'SUBJECT is a soviet espionage agent'. One gets the impression oftentimes when reading the files that 'agents' and 'informers' and 'sources' are all trying hard to make something out of nothing (perhaps to please the people who 'sign the checks').
a Counter Intelligence Corps Feb 1947 Report titled "Russian Christmas Party":
a very entertaining 1954 report by a Mr. Kawamoto of Civil Intelligence:
HCUA: House Committee on Un-American Activities:
"her time is now taken up with the study of music":
note the last paragraph: "she would have been subject to a jail sentence had she refused":
1950 Honolulu, Hawaii Report:
the following 10 page FBI report of June 1952 contains a lot of information on Isamu Noguchi. It turns out that many of Noguchi's associates, friends, acquaintances, etc, were on the political left-wing, providing a lot of ammunition for much of the derogatory information on both Isamu and Yoshiko "association with known communist sympathizers". This information had the effect of preventing Yamaguchi from obtaining a visa to re-enter the United States at a critical time in both their careers, affecting both their lives negatively.
FBI report of August 1951:
American Embassy, Paris, France Report of Oct 1953, recommends her visa be granted:
Intelligence main concerns seems to have been: what were her political beliefs and whether she was engaged in espionage (or had sympathy with communism, etc). However, as the files reveal, intelligence was not only interested in this, but also encompassed all manner of personal data (such as marital status, financial support or lack thereof, anything illicit, immoral, perfidious, sexual, or derogatory, who were the partners, how often they came and went, who were her friends, her relatives, what were their political associations, etc etc). Regarding all these aspects, the files are not much revealing of perfidy as they are hinting at it. They are filled with hearsay, innuendo, rumors, conjecture, second-hand, unsubstantiated, and erroneous facts, and the like.
Here's a good summary of the American intelligence organization in occupied-Japan
The presumption of guilt conveyed by these intelligence files is also quite apparent (such as the comment "SUBJECT claims to be 26 years old", when in fact she merely (nay merrily) is 26 years old). Another example of this predisposition is "SUBJECT visited the Russian Embassy in Tokyo to attend Christmas Party", the implication of which is 'SUBJECT is a soviet espionage agent'. One gets the impression oftentimes when reading the files that 'agents' and 'informers' and 'sources' are all trying hard to make something out of nothing (perhaps to please the people who 'sign the checks').
a Counter Intelligence Corps Feb 1947 Report titled "Russian Christmas Party":
In contrast to the above, the following 5 pages of juicy gossip were probably used to thwart Yoshiko's visa application during the 1953 period. This document was found in the Isamu Noguchi Archive.
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this item is particularly revealing of Yoshiko's state of mind regarding her "Chinese-ness"; it also confirms what she has stated in her memoirs:
"her time is now taken up with the study of music":
note the last paragraph: "she would have been subject to a jail sentence had she refused":
1950 Honolulu, Hawaii Report:
the following 10 page FBI report of June 1952 contains a lot of information on Isamu Noguchi. It turns out that many of Noguchi's associates, friends, acquaintances, etc, were on the political left-wing, providing a lot of ammunition for much of the derogatory information on both Isamu and Yoshiko "association with known communist sympathizers". This information had the effect of preventing Yamaguchi from obtaining a visa to re-enter the United States at a critical time in both their careers, affecting both their lives negatively.
FBI report of August 1951:
American Embassy, Paris, France Report of Oct 1953, recommends her visa be granted:
all below items are from the Noguchi Archive:
-- Fini --
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