<Begin Segment 22>

TI: And when you went to Japan, this is your first time, wasn't it, to Japan? Or had you been there before?

KY: I think it was my first time, yeah. First time.

TI: Do you recall what your thoughts were the first time you saw Japan?

KY: Yeah, I realized how small the country was, in a sense, that you can go the length of the thing by railroad in two days, you've covered north and south. And it was so narrow in the sense that there was no land mass, the continent. And how devastated the country was because of the bombing, fires. So all the urban areas that the railroads passed through would be bombed because they were rail centers. And then to get to inaka, Amakusa, Kyushu, from Tokyo, entire way, that's the central line running the north-south. So these cities that the railroad went through, you could see how devastated it was.

TI: And when you got to Japan, when you saw your mother and your sisters, tell me about that. What was that reunion like when you found them?

KY: Well, we were both overjoyed to see each other, and that we're still surviving, that is. Because two died in Japan. They were happy to see me, very happy. I can't remember any special thing we did or anything, but I had made purchases of things I thought would, they would enjoy. We had privileges with the U.S. military, so we had the post exchanges and we can go and buy some goodies that they thought we'd enjoy, that kind of thing. I remember that. But other than that, I don't remember anything special. I said, "Well, okay, I can see how you are, and this is not the place to stay. So somehow, gotta get you back to the States." So the first chance we got, I bought them ship passages back to the States, and they went to join my brothers in Idaho. So that's the way it was that I was able to help.

TI: And so this was your mother and your two younger sisters.

KY: Yeah.

TI: Your older sister stayed in Japan?

KY: The oldest one got married to a Japanese national, she stayed in Japan, in Yokohama, and the other one died during the war.

TI: Okay. So they returned to the United States, to Idaho.

KY: To Idaho, yeah.

TI: With your older brother. You know, when you first saw them, what changes did you notice in them, like in your mother or your sisters? Was there anything that you noticed that had changed?

KY: Not that I recall. Not that I recall. For one thing, they did not go through the bombing of urban areas, so physically and so on, I don't think they changed.

TI: Earlier we had talked about when you were at Harvard, and probably even Boulder, you were training people who were in leadership positions for the occupation. When you made it to Japan, did you come across any of your former students?

KY: Japan former students? No. Of course, my circle of people that I would meet during travel... of course, I was in, yeah, I was with the occupation forces for a number of years, but surprisingly, no, I don't remember a single student type.

TI: Did you ever hear about former students of the program and what they were doing either in the press or something in terms of their work in Japan?

KY: There were a few, but I don't quite recall the names. There were culturally inclined people that were writers, novelists, journalists, especially those that were either born in Japan or really knew the Japanese. There were a few, but I don't recall the names. And there were some, I'm sure, in the academia. I'm sorry, but I can't give any names.

TI: No, that's okay. I was just...

KY: I'm sure there are... I mean, at the time, yeah, I recognized names that were...

<End Segment 22> - Copyright (c) 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.