Details

In some reports out of Washington yesterday there was a story that the FBI was unaware the Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the elder Boston Bomber, traveled to Russia because his name was misspelled on a flight list. The result was that no security agency in America was aware that he spent some time there and that he went to the Chechnya region.

One name misspelled.

There was another incident many years ago that resulted in a major action. This time it was one word misinterpreted.

According to author Stewart Chase, the Japanese have a word "Mokusatsu." It is comprised of two characters. Moku, meaning, "to kill" and Satsu, meaning, "with silence". Mokusatsu has two meanings depending on how it is used. It can mean to "refrain from comment" or it can mean, "to ignore."

Toward the end of World War II, after months of intensive bombing of sixty other cities, the allies issued the Potsdam ultimatum to Japan. It said, "surrender or be crushed."

The Showa regime apparently was ready to capitulate but wanted more time to discuss it internally.

The Japanese issued a policy of "mokusatsu," in response to the Potsdam ultimatum with the refrain from comment meaning. That meaning, however, was mistranslated somewhere in the sending or receiving of it and it read to the allies, "the Japanese government ignores the Potsdam ultimatum." To recall the inaccurate translation would be an unthinkable loss of face for the Japanese.

A few days later the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.

One word misinterpreted.