Security Concerns Trumping Korenizatsiia 131empire. Yet at the same time the USSR continued to portray Japan as the
most likely country to (re)invade the RFE. The 1925 Convention allowed
Japa nese citizens to reside in the USSR as citizens of a most- favored nation.
In return, Japan paid for coal, oil, gas, and fishing rights (the joint- venture
concessions in the RFE). In the 1930s, Manchukuo also exported a large
quantity of vegetables and general produce to Vladivostok via the CER.^75
Japa nese commercial enterprises were also widespread in the Ussuri region
near Lake Khanka.^76 Japa nese concessions were involved in businesses such
as farming (rice, silk, soy) and vari ous commercial enterprises dealing with
fishing, crabbing, and the packaging of these goods.^77 Japan also supplied
the RFE with cans, crates, and nets.^78 There was also a Japa nese school in
Vladivostok for primary and middle school. It offered Japanese- language
courses at night for the city’s adults.^79
The Narkomfin report focused on ten Japa nese working in Vladivo-
stok and noted their occupations and profiles/characteristics. Officially, these
men were tailors, barbers, shoe makers, dentists, cooks, and candy makers.
Unofficially, in the “profiles” section of the report compiled by the OGPU,
a few of the same men were involved in currency counterfeiting, prostitution,
and contraband. Of the ten men profiled, Genikichi Simoda (Shimoda) was a
confirmed spy, whose listed profession was barber. In 1931 Simoda earned
6,500 rubles in Vladivostok and paid 786 rubles in taxes. However, the
most impor tant section of this report followed the profiles of the ten Japa-
nese workmen. The Special Section of the OGPU compiled a short note on
four ringleaders of the Japa nese espionage network in Vladivostok. These
men were: Terundo Anan, Ikumatsu Siroiama, Atamatsu Imura, and Manzoo
Ebino. All four were former military personnel. It appears that they financed
their espionage operations (in part or whole) with currency counterfeiting.
These men also made trips from Vladivostok to Manchuria and Japan.^80 There
is no mention of Chinese or Koreans working within this Vladivostok Japa-
nese spy network.^81 Regardless, it appears that the five Japa nese spies in this
case were collecting raw intelligence that needed to be interpreted. This was
why four of the men were known to be former military men and officers.
Their travel in all likelihood coincided with their giving reports in Japan
and Manchuria about the military significance of what they saw and inter-
preted. They did not recruit, because in a highly xenophobic society such as
the Soviet Union during the Terror, this almost certainly would have caused
the repression of valuable, militarily trained spies. The MacArthur Archives
give a very detailed report of the “direct observation” method of espionage
conducted by Japa nese military attaché officers. From 1932 to 1945, Japa-
nese military officers disguised as embassy couriers made the rounds from
Vladivostok to Moscow, travelling on the Trans- Siberian. The MacArthur