On 30 November 1941, the Japanese Prime Minister, General Tojo, sat on his knees before the Emperor and asked via the president of the privy council for permission to go to war and for approval of a list of operations starting with the plan to bomb the American naval base at Pearl Harbour. As the Emperor was considered to be a living god, his voice was felt to be "too pure" to be heard by the prime minister, and instead when the Emperor nodded his head, it indicated approval. Every operation Tojo listed was approved by an imperial nod including the plan to take Hong Kong. Later the same day, General Sakai of the 23rd Army based in Canton gave the orders to Lieutenant-General Sano Tadayoshi of the 38th Division to start preparations for invading Hong Kong. On 3 December 1941, Maltby and Lawson toured the border. Lawson's diary simply states that he went to "see Japs" while Maltby reported that the Japanese soldiers he had seen were "scruffy, lazy and uninterested". On 4 December, Maltby dismissed intelligence reports that 20,000 Japanese troops had arrived in the town of Fanling, just five miles north of Hong Kong. Lawson seems to have expected no war in the near-future and saw no reason to accelerate the training of his men.