SURROUNDING THE PANAMA CANAL
67
call upon the captains of Japanese ships whenever
Panama, and are closeted with them for hours at a
time. Kubayama says he is trying to sell supplies to the captains.
Together they
they come
to
Japanese in the Canal Zone area change their names peri
for
odically or come with several passports all prepared. There is,
Shoichi Yokoi, who commutes between Japan and Pana
instance,
ma
On June 7, 1934, the Jap
issued passport No. 255,875 to
without any commercial reasons.
anese Foreign
him under the
Office in
name
Tokyo
Masakazu Yokoy with permission to Visit
all Central and South American countries. Though he had per
mission for all, he applied only for a Panamanian visa (Septem
ber 28, 1934), after which he settled down for a while among
the fishermen and barbers. On July 11, 1936, the Foreign Office
in Tokyo handed Yokoy another passport under the name of
Shoichi Yokoi, together with visas which filled the whole pass
or Masa
port and overflowed onto several extra pages. Shoichi
kazu is now traveling with both passports and a suitcase full of
of
film for his camera.
Several years ago a Japanese
named T. Tahara came
as the traveling represe