<Begin Segment 5>

TI: Well, in thinking about Japan, when you first got there, can you remember some of the things that you saw that, that would describe what Japan was like during the occupation?

SK: Well, in what way? The damages?

TI: The damage, the people...

SK: Oh, yes.

TI: What was it like?

SK: The city of Tokyo was, was in shambles in many places. But when you go out into the countryside where no damage had occurred, it was just as if you were visiting the old Japan itself. When I visited my old home site outside Okayama prefecture, I recall some of the locations and where I used to walk -- work away at the garden, and also walked the kids to school every morning and through this path and so forth. It was -- it brought back a lot of memories because I spent almost six years in Japan, after I lost my father in Spokane, you see.

TI: What was it like when you came across people that you knew back then as a U.S. Army officer?

SK: Well, most of them were gone. I think most of them were of military age and had perished or were still elsewhere. And because -- I don't recall meeting up with any of the kids that I knew when I was a youngster. [Pauses] I can't recall any specific instances along those lines, because I spent most of my time working out of Tokyo. And very seldom did I get a chance to go out into the prefecture or other areas. Was there something else along those lines that...?

TI: How about other people that you didn't know when you were there? Were there other people that you were able to talk with on the street, and get a sense of their lives and what it was like?

SK: Not too much because, because of the nature of my work. See I'm on civilian status. And here I am, a commissioned officer. But because of the, the nature of my assignment on civilian status, you didn't go around out of your way to expose yourself unnecessarily because by associating with... for example, if I work next to a fellow at the desk and we both take off for lunch, and we both meet each other in a, say, a public Japanese restaurant, there would be no recognition between us because just in case he's under surveillance or I am. We would jeopardize the other person just by associating with each other -- basic procedure. So we didn't go out of our way to get next to the general public or to, to sample their opinions about anything concerning the war or after the war, or relationship with the Americans.

TI: Now, at this point were you married?

SK: Oh, yes.

TI: And with children?

SK: I had two sons. And I even hired a tutor to come to our place to teach them basic Japanese language. But they came up with some of the most novel excuses because they said, "The team is waiting, as you see, Daddy, out there. They're waiting for us to come out. We got a very important practice or game or something." So they would both take off. And so that's what -- that's the reason why my two sons don't speak Japanese. And my older son, who is now a principal (of Lynnwood Elementary School) near Seattle, has a daughter who majored in Spanish and lived with a Spanish family in Spain at one time. So here comes a good-looking gal, speaks perfect English and perfect Spanish, but not a word of Japanese because her father never learned, because of the excuses he came up with in Tokyo. [Laughs]

TI: How old were your sons during this period?

SK: They were, oh, I'd say senior high school, college age, I suppose.

TI: Oh, so they were quite old.

SK: They were quite old. Yes, that's right. Because my second son -- the one who's now buried in Minnesota -- on the basis of his high school achievement in Tokyo, got a scholarship to Johns Hopkins in Maryland while I was assigned to Fort Holabird, you see. And then from Johns Hopkins, he came home after his mother got ill -- he came home to the state of Washington and went to University of Washington and got his Ph.D. there. And from there, he got picked to be with the staff and faculty of the Saint Cloud State University (in Minnesota. When he died unexpectedly in 1989 from a massive heart attack, he left a wife and a baby daughter.)

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 1999 Densho. All Rights Reserved.