An article on Tatsunosuke Yamazaki, Japan's new head of Agriculture and Forestry, implies that Japan has a food problem. When I pointed that out to a friend, he told me that the reason why rice sells for P22.50 a sack (when you can find it) is that the Japanese stopped all entry of rice and palay to Manila pending an accumulation of 200,000 cavans for shipment to Japan. They hope the city won't notice.

Grand parade announced for the 29th — Tencho-Setsu [the Emperor's Birthday] plus the fall of Corregidor. May 7 will be "Peace and Order Day," now that we've finished with "Loyalty Day." The Japanese think Filipinos are children and get a kick out of the parades — we're fed up, actually.

Vargas' instructions on the parade are very detailed. Neighborhood Association boys will be on the march again, plus members of the Kalibapi, Constabulary Academy Cadets, Government officials and personnel including Malacañan, Department of the Interior ... all the way down to school principals and teachers leading formations of students. If all of them show up, we could have up to 250,000 there.