<Begin Segment 12>

TI: Muriel, the first part of the interview, we talked about your growing up in Hawaii. And then the war broke out, we talked a little bit about your mother and your brother. So let's now go back to Japan. You're now in Japan, been there for almost three years, and the war broke out. And you talked about the radio when you heard, and how people were proud, you were feeling terrible. Let's, tell me more. So what happened to you in those weeks right after the war? What happened next?

MO: Well, my uncle knew that they were looking for people who can speak English, who can monitor the English broadcasts and translate that into... in my case, I could translate also. So I was one of the three Niseis that were so-called conscripted. One, I was from Hawaii, from Sacramento, and the other person, third person, these are all three women, she was from Canada.

TI: And when you say conscripted, can you describe kind of how that process... did you have to go apply for this or did they come to you?

MO: No. In my case, they knew I spoke, my uncle knew that I... so he recommended me to the general of the General Headquarters. So I was, actually, I was the highest paid employee with English monitoring, for eighty-one yen a month.

TI: Now, so why were you the highest paid?

MO: Because I spoke English, and I could do translation. There were lots of typists in there, Japanese typists, but they just, regular typing there. But I was the only one that could do the translation. I could listen to the radio, so the general... I remember Reverend, Ando Tai was saying, "Shou nani itta ka? Nani itta ka?" They wanted to know what the broadcast is saying. Because we're monitoring our broadcasts from General Headquarters, MacArthur's headquarters, Chester Nimitz headquarters, BBC, ABC, all these broadcasting companies. News is coming in, 150 fighter planes just left Saipan, and they're headed for Korea or they're headed for Yokohama. They want to know exactly what's happening. And many times, when they say that, they left a certain port, that means they're headed for Tokyo or whatever. And we had firsthand information.

TI: Now, when you heard this information...

MO: We had to report it right away.

TI: Would you write it down in English or Japanese?

MO: English. English, and in my case, I could write it in Japanese also, because I wrote... so they valued me, so that's why I was the highest-paid, for eighty-one yen a month. But others, there were lots of, the others were men, graduates of UCLA, USC, and then they could just monitor, get the information, they could hear, get the information, write it down or type it down and then give it to the General Headquarters to pass it on right away. Because their information depended a lot, they depended, the, our information, because the General Headquarters had to have, how to go about... "Now, should we send our Japanese soldiers here or send them there?" But those little things seems very, nothing, but it was very important to those. So they kept on coming in. Our building was separate from everybody else because it was really secret.

TI: And when you think back, you mentioned there were three Nisei women.

MO: Yes.

TI: And there were Nisei men also. Do you know about how many Nisei men there were?

MO: There were about six or seven. In fact, I still communicate with one of the men that graduated from UCLA. And then he came from, he was working for, he has own business. So after the war, we have become very close friends, and he still calls me Chiko. "How are you doing?" [Laughs]

TI: And why would he call you Chiko?

MO: Well, my name is Chiyo. Instead of calling me Chiyo-chan -- he used to call me Chiyo-chan, but now, but now, then they shortened it, so Chiko. "What did they say?" [Laughs]

TI: So there were about ten Niseis working there.

MO: And three women.

TI: And you were conscripted, so I just wanted to get clear in terms of... during, I guess, when you were born, did you retain your Japanese citizenship also? Were you like a dual citizen?

MO: Yes, I was a dual citizen.

TI: Okay. And so by doing that, by being conscripted, then you were essentially being conscripted as a Japanese citizen.

MO: Japanese, right.

TI: And at that point, what happens to your U.S. citizenship? Does that disappear or what happened?

MO: Okay, so I had to, after the war, we got information from the U.S. government, all of us working for the government, Japanese government, we got information saying that anybody who left, who wanted to reestablish American citizenship should leave this country, Japan, by October 15 or something. They gave us a deadline. So we all got on the General Gordon ship to come home. I have pictures of that.

TI: Okay, so the U.S. government realized that there were some Niseis who were in Japan during the war.

MO: They know.

TI: And that they had, they were conscripted or they worked for the Japanese, but they gave them an opportunity to regain their U.S. citizenship.

MO: Exactly.

TI: If they came back by a certain date.

MO: That's right.

TI: Okay, that's good.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright ©2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.