Asano Yoshinaga, second Marquess of Hiroshima, started to write a diary soon after his appointment as the Ambassador to Germany, and kept making entries until his death. This diary was found quite valuable by the historians of the future, for it gave a good portrayal of a mindset of a Japanese politician and aristocrat of the day.
The diary of Asano Yoshinaga (1893) ((Private))
Today, after a long and tiring voyage, I have finally arrived in Berlin. Dr Satake may roar within the halls of the Parliament as much as he wishes - as the Ambassador to the German Empire, I now have a real job to do. The change of water and new food made me suffer from indigestion - and yet the worst were the dreams. I again and again saw the great cannonballs slashing through the air, once again felt the sickening smell of the roasted human meat. I remembered the beggars moaning near the shrines in Chugoku, demonstrating us their empty eyesockets, stumps instead of arms or legs and boiled skin resembling the hide of some hideous dragon. They all have been asking for money or rice, singing prayers - and repeating one word. Khabarovsk.
Khabarovsk. It may be so that one day we would burn it to the ground. It may be so that one day the revenge would come and the barbarian populace of the Ruski Far East would be сhucked out or put to sword. Only the scions of our majestic race would inhabit these lands with Russian women serving as their concubines. One day... And maybe it would be the German military machine that would help us in the future years?
However, currently this military machine is not experiencing the best moments. Germany has over the years battled with other Nanban countries and conquered Bohemia from Austro-Hungary and Besancon from France. At the moment they are fighting the largest war since the invasions of Napoleon, for France and Russia united against them, while they are supported by Italy, Greece, Belgium and Switzerland.
Emperor Wilhelm II granted me the audience soon after my arrival. When I was a military attache within the embassy, I have sometimes seen the Crown Prince - but it was the first time the man met me in his new role. To be honest, he talked so much that I got a headache - how different are his ways from the dignified manners of our own divine Sovereign!
- Our enemies are also the enemies of the Japanese state, Marquess, and we must here stand together. For have not both French and Russians committed numerous misdeeds towards you? They wish to subjugate Germans as much as they wished to do that to the Japanese - but it is an impossible task. Prussian might, Prussian honor, Prussian sense of duty is not something that one of these chaotic realms can overcome and I would severely punish who dares to challenge me, for I have a mandate from God to work for the good of my nation...
The Kaiser has been going on for half an hour, and I felt slightly dizzy after the discussion. I must note he spoke quite well, with considerable swagger, though constantly tried to hide his disfigured left hand, covered by a white glove, under the table.
Soon after that I visited the new Chancellor of the Reich, Count Leo von Caprivi. I found this old General a loyal and honorable man, but insignificant in personality in comparison with Prince Bismarck whom I have seen during my last tenure in Berlin. However, I am told that the Kaiser is tired of the imperious manners of the Iron Chancellor, calling him "a boorish old killjoy", and has chosen somebody whom he could trust to fulfill his every order instead. Count Caprivi ensured me that he is free of ProRussian tendencies of Bismarck and talked about the "The New Course" he and his Kaiser devised, that would bring Germany to new levels of greatness.
I was informed that the position of the new Chancellor is quite shaky. He does not have the necessary support within the German Conservative Party that now dominates the Reichstag - and therefore only the authority of the Emperor keeps him in power. Having met one of the leaders of the German Conservative Party, Elard Kurt Maria Fürchtegott von Oldenburg-Januschau, I got the confirmation of my doubts. The good deputy told me the following:
- The Junkers are the backbone of the Empire, we are the guard of the Emperor - and yet Caprivi seeks to undermine the landowners, undermine the agrarians by his freetrader nonsense! Why should we have any love for him, if he puts his hands inside our wallets? He also tried to deal with the Social Democrats, this Schweineband, which is simply a blasphemy! However, while this war lasts and while the Kaiser is with him, we would not make any moves - for the will of our Sovereign is above any factional matters for us. As I always like to say, the King of Prussia and German Emperor must always be able to order to a lieutenant: take ten men and lock up the Reichstag. Is not it the same in Japan?
I solemnly agreed that the supreme authority of the Emperor is sacrosanct for us and the Constitution is His instrument of governance.
However, what is important - is that Germany now in the middle of a Great War and Franco-Russian alliance is more successful. If we form an alliance with the Reich before the conclusion of the war, we could be drawn into it.
I would timely provide His Majesty, the General and my Minister with the communique containing the information I gathered.