The Akashi Operations Ë 17
again traveled to southern Russia and the Caucasus, where demonstrations and indus-
trial strikes frequently took place. According to Tanaka, he even dreamed of becoming
an industrial worker and a revolutionary himself. He also associated closely with some
leaders. Subsequently, in the 1920s, he confessed they had become so famous that he
could not reveal their names publicly.¹²His biographers further suspect that he met the
young Stalin in the Caucasus. Tanaka himself stated that he had met Stalin and helped
him with money, at least, this is what he told his emissary to Stalin in 1927 after becom-
ing prime minister.¹³He did not say, however, where and when. Although one account
mentions a meeting near Irkutsk in Siberia,¹⁴this cannot be correct, because in June
1902, having been promoted to major, Tanaka returned to Tokyo, whereas Stalin was
exiled to Siberia for the rst time in 1903. Although Tanaka’s meeting with Stalin can-
not be con rmed by other sources, it seems to be the case that Tanaka did cultivate
close ties with revolutionaries in the Caucasus and elsewhere.
Tanaka returned home convinced that Russia was so big and rich in resources
that merely winning war against it or capturing some territory from it would not help.
What was important, according to him, was to facilitate Russia’s own self-destruction
by supporting destructive forces from within.¹⁵This idea was almost certainly shared
by some strategists within and without the Japanese military.
In 1903, oddly in view of the growing tension between the two countries, Tanaka,
along with twenty other Japanese politicians and military commanders, was dec-
orated by the Russian government (in his case, with the Order of St. Ann Second
Rank).¹⁶Those Russians who hosted Tanaka’s tenure in the Novocherkassk regiment
were in turn recommended for decoration by the Japanese government.¹⁷
2.2 The Akashi Operations
Tanaka’s activities were followed by Motojir ̄o Akashi, who as an intelligence o cer
became much better known than Tanaka. Colonel Akashi was appointed a Japanese
military attaché in St. Petersburg in 1902 and stayed there until February 1904, when
the Russo-Japanese War broke out. Akashi then moved from St. Petersburg to Stock-
holm in Sweden. But because his o cial position as a military attaché in Stockholm
12 Tanaka Giichi denki, 165.
13 Quoted in Kaoru Furukawa,Yume harukanaru: kindai nihon no kyojin Kuhara Fusanosuke(Tokyo:
PHP Kenkyujo, 2009), 356–57. ̄
14 Furukawa,Yume harukanaru, 357.
15 Tanaka Giichi denki, p. 169.
16 The Japan Center for Asian Historical Records (National Archives of Japan; hereafter JACAR): http:
//www.jacar.go.jp (reference code: A10112576300).
17 JACAR, reference code: A10112549800.