<Begin Segment 21>

TI: So let's go to your trip to Japan. I mean, this is the first time you've been to Japan?

AO: Yes.

TI: And so what were some of your impressions when you first got there?

AO: Well, our first station was in Tokyo before we got assigned to different duties and it's amazing that the few building which were more or less on the outskirts of the Imperial Palace, they were all intact, they were good buildings, intact and the Americans had taken over the buildings. So we were assigned, we slept in the buildings there and waiting for an assignment and of course we didn't have too much of a chance to go around to go sightseeing or anything like that but from our area we could, we were, like I say, we were right next to the Imperial Palace. So we could see anyway the Imperial Palace and there's no damage to the palace as such and the surrounding area. But the people, it's amazing, they accepted us even though we were Niseis, they seemed to accept us, we had no problem with them, and they were hard workers. Another thing that kind of caught our attention was the use of toilets, you know, it is a common toilet, men, women all together so it's very unusual. So we could go in and you could see women going in and women coming out and men going in and men coming, you know, it's all mixed in. But that was something very unusual for us because something we were not used to. But otherwise we stayed in Tokyo only for a few days until we got our assignment. And once we got our assignment, in my case I was sent over to Osaka.

TI: And what was your assignment in Osaka, what were you to do?

AO: Well, I was assigned to what they call CCD or Civil (Censorship) Detachment, not civil service but civil... anyway, had to do with communication, I forget.

TI: Civil Communications Detachments, CCD?

AO: CCD, yeah, Civil Detachment anyway, I can't recall exactly. So what our duty was, it was a postal mail censorship detachment and the detachment was supposed to censor every piece of mail going through the Japanese mail system. But the thing is because there were not enough Americans to censor the thousands of mail going through, they used the Japanese nationals who could understand Japanese as well as English. So these censors, the Japanese censors were the ones doing the actual censoring and we were in the review section. So that any time any of these Japanese censors found anything of interest to the Americans, whether it was the morale or spy or whatever that might be detrimental to the interest to the United States Army, they were sent over to our section, the review section and we would review to evaluate whether or not it meant anything and to what extent. And then if we found that there were really suspicious information included then they were sent to the counterintelligence or the watch list section where they were sent to specialists who investigated more seriously and to track the people that sent it to the people that the mail was supposed to go to.

TI: Now at this time, one of the issues that the United States government was concerned about was Communism or the spread of Communism.

AO: Correct, exactly, they were very much afraid of Communism so they were on the lookout for Communists, yes.

TI: And so that was one of the things that you were looking at in particular?

AO: That was one of the things we were looking out for?

TI: Okay and what kind of things would you look for for Communism, would people talk about it or I mean how would you look for Communism?

AO: Well, mainly... you see the thing is whenever it came to our attention, it was very roughly, fast routed over to the counterintelligence and watch list section and I had a friend, Dick Kosaki, I don't know have you interviewed Dick Kosaki?

TI: Kosaki?

AO: Kosaki.

TI: Yes, Richard Kosaki, yes.

AO: Yeah, Richard Kosaki, he was in the watch list section together with us but he was one of the smart boys in doing a lot of extra work over above us.

TI: So you were kind of like a filter, you'd try to find the interesting stuff and the important stuff he would --

AO: Yeah, in between, you know, the intermediary before it went to the bigger people.

TI: Okay, so it was kind of like this whole, it's like a pyramid where the Japanese nationals would find things and anything interesting, they would go to you first and then you would look at it and then maybe one or two things would then go up to the next level.

AO: Reroute it, yes, correct.

TI: And how long did you do this?

AO: I stayed in Osaka for six months and the reason I didn't stay any longer is that I felt I had been in the service for... ever since December 8th and it's about time, I just wanted to go home and call it quits. So when they said okay you had enough, you could, so I said, "Fine, I'll go home," you know.

<End Segment 21> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.