Tokyo, Mar. 8.
The main purpose of Mr. Matsuoka's trip would be to make very strong efforts toward the conclusion of a Russo-Japanese non-aggression pact, reliable quarters said today.
Clarification of Japan's relationship with the Axis, especially in regard to the Far East, was believed to be another reason behind the Foreign Minister's trip. But, informed quarter believed, his main efforts would be concentrated on Russo-Japanese relations with all emphasis on the possibility of signing a non-aggression pact.
Mr. Yosuke Matsuoka has een considering such a trip for some time, it was understood, and was only prevented' from carrying out his intentions earlier because of the delay in the conclusion of,.the Thai-French border dispute. 4 Mr, Matsuoka, according to reliable quarters, was catching the same trans-Siberian train on which Major-General Eugen Ott, German Ambassador to Tokyo, would travel to Berlin.
General Ott left Tokyo this afternoon to make connections with the trans-Siberian train.
Observers also attached significance to the Foreign Office's announcement that the former Finance Minister. Mr. Kazuo Aoki, had been appointed an economic adviser of the Foreign Office.
Mr. Aoki, together with two other advisers. Mr. Toshio Shiratori, former Ambassador to Italy, and Dr. Yoshio Saito, former official of the South Manchuria Railway Company, would be responsible for Foreign Office Affairs during Mr. Matsuoka's absence, it was believed.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.