<Begin Segment 31>

AI: And I think the place that you stopped in India was called Goa. Is that right?

MK: Goa. Uh-huh.

AI: And so, tell me what happened there.

MK: Okay, we knew (...) the exchange was gonna take place, well, this is something that, of course, we knew was gonna happen. So we obediently packed again, from the room, and I remember we all got off and stayed on the dockside. They gave us a little time, maybe a couple hours on the, on land. They said, "Don't go too far away," but they gave us that little freedom. And then as we were removed, I guess the Gripsholm was getting ready to receive the Americans. And then, then we saw the Americans coming from the Teiya maru and they were walking in a file. And the Americans were real happy and you know, waving. There was a weak moment that my hand went up and waving. And then I had to catch myself, thinking, my gosh. I mean, I did catch myself thinking that this is really happening; one-for-one so they're in single file. Then, when they all left the ship, Teiya maru, well, then almost immediately after, we got in line and marched onto Teiya maru. And then as soon as we entered (Teiya maru) you sensed that this is no luxury liner. It was a freight or troop ship. And so it was a dingy, drab (dark gray outside) color.

And then it was already noontime. So it was soon after we had got on that it was already lunchtime. And that was the time we sat down as a family and, it was rice, just one bowl of rice and some tsukudani, some relish. And being that I had two younger brothers who were curious, they, we looked at it. And, there were little, maybe two or three little brown specks in it. And so, when we looked at it carefully, well, we identified that they were little rice worms, you know, that had been infested in it. And of course, once we knew what it was, well, we would look at each other's bowl to look for more. There were some more -- I think one, or two or three at the most. Then it just turns your appetite. We weren't quite really hungry at that time. So I remember I couldn't even eat it. And then we were settling into our room. I don't even remember what the room looked like, because it was a troop ship and I -- couldn't have been anything fancy. But then dinnertime we were served a little bun and I'm sure Teiya maru baked it on ship, on board. So again, curiously, we would break the bread and also -- [laughs] -- in the bread were little black spots, again, two or three in each little roll. And we identified it, they were beetles, you know, or whatever. So, as kids, (...) I think that maybe the first day we didn't eat much. We, I don't think we even ate, because the Gripsholm food was keeping us alive the first day anyway. [Laughs] But I mean, that's something you never forget. And we already decided, "Wow, this is really gonna be a trip," because we knew we would be on it for over a month, about five weeks. So, the food was sparse, it's not something we remember, except for the worms.

And then again, I remember we had the classes, Japanese classes. And I think the Japanese government had in mind for us. And so, as we approached Singapore they really were encouraging the men, and this, this group of, these group of men were supposedly leaders and senseis, ministers, so they encouraged us to get off, because Singapore was a conquered land by Japan, they wanted us to get off and be the community leaders there. They encouraged us, but my father was, held steadfast that he wasn't going to get off. He was going to go to Japan. But I know, one of my closest friends, who was a Canadian (Ruth Ariga), she had three, there were three girls in that family, and her father was a minister, a language teach-, Japanese language teacher (Mr. Ariga). And he got off and I corresponded with (Ruth) until she died. But they -- and then Japan lost Singapore and so within about a month they lost, the few things that they had, they came back with only the shirt on their backs to Japan. So, these are sad, sad stories. And then when we went to Manila, the same thing happened. But then (...), from the ship (...) you could see these Japanese soldiers -- you can see I'm American. These Japanese soldiers were strutting away on the port, I mean, on the wharf. And there were papayas on (deck), well, that looked kind of festive and nice. I think they were gonna give it to us, you know, as a treat. But they didn't let us off. But again, they encouraged -- whoever they had -- (...) by the time we had landed there to get off. I think there were very few people who got off. But again, Manila was also another (country) occupied by Japan. So, this is what happened.

AI: So they, in some ways, the Japanese were encouraging people, like your father, to become a colonist and to --

MK: Right.

AI: -- to become a leader in the occupying community --

MK: Right, right.

AI: -- the Japanese occupation, then.

MK: Exactly. And then, when we found out in Japan, they really didn't want us. They were struggling. They didn't want more mouths to feed. So we were not welcome at all.

<End Segment 31> - Copyright © 2003 Densho. All Rights Reserved.