Difficult to believe and difficult to understand, the REAL Daisaku Ikeda

Reischauer Dairies

From the diary of Edwin O. Reischauer, US Ambassador to Japan, 1961-1966

November 13, 1965

In my ongoing efforts to dialogue with the Japanese, I spoke for about two hours with Soka Gakkai president Daisaku Ikeda. My hope was to build good relations and influence his thoughts positively; Ikeda received me very warmly, and the conversation carried on smoothly. However, both he and his organization were astonishingly lacking in their understanding of global affairs & politics.

February 12, 1966

Two and a half hours of conversation with the Soka Gakkai's President Ikeda. This time (we met three and a half months ago), I visited their luxurious headquarters. Ikeda cleared the room, and we discussed extensively. Unlike our previous meeting, he strongly supported America's Vietnam policy and passionately advocated the re-militarization of Japan. In complete contrast to his earlier ambiguous stance, I sensed tendencies that were quite racist and authoritarian. It is of vital interest to see how the beliefs of this potentially influential organization will take shape. I intend to work to influence him, to move in a positive direction - opposition to nuclear weapons, for instance.

posthumously published as "Reischauer Taishi Nichiroku"