A reader takes issue with my Japanese correspondent: “It was a long time

ago (72-75) but having served with the 500th MI Group in Japan I know most

certainly that the Japanese did a fair amount of spying, especially on North

Korea. (As you probably know there is a large Korean population in Japan

some of whom are underworld types – the police take an active interest in

them both for domestic and foreign purposes.)

“Years after I served in Japan, I met a Japanese police officer who was then

serving as a security officer at the Japanese Embassy and who had known me

in Japan. I was then a police officer researching the Japanese approach to

drunk driving. I let slip my military connection. He said he had always

suspected I was military but was never sure. We joked about spying on each

other. Young and naive as I was I knew that Japan and the US cooperate out

of mutual interest not out of love. We worked well with the Japanese but

neither side doubted where their loyalty lay.”