<Begin Segment 21>

TI: So what was it like sort of guarding the surrender team? I mean, did you have any conversations with any of the Japanese?

KT: Oh yeah. Yeah, in fact, at the Roserio they were on the second floor and we looked out the window, and I says, this other, Takamura, Takamura says, "How does Tokyo look, Japan look?" And he said, "Worse than this." And I looked out there, that area's flat, everything's destroyed. And he says it's worse than that. I thought, wow, that was really... and that, that person spoke, like, Oxford English. He must've been trained in Europe or something. And later, as the team was leaving, one guy came up to, it was Ray Katayama, Sojiro Takamura and myself. We were standing there along with the other people, Harvey Watanabe, and one guy, one officer, Japanese officer comes up to where three, we three, he says, "Anybody from Honolulu?" And Takamura says, "Yeah, I am." He said, "Anybody know Takamura?" And he says, "I'm Takamura." And he said, "You from Honolulu?" He said, "Yeah." And he said, and then about that time General Willoughby started walking towards us, and then that, a lieutenant said, "Michiko's alright," or something, Michi or something. He mentioned a Japanese girl's name and he spun off and he left. And later on Takamura said he has a sister by that name, and this lieutenant came to meet the Sturgis, the ship that we were on when we came in, to meet Takamura. I never did talk to Takamura about that, but apparently his sister married, maybe that was his brother in law, I don't know.

TI: Interesting, so it sounds like Takamura's sister was in Japan and he, and this Japanese officer --

KT: Officer, yeah.

TI: -- let him know --

KT: He's from Hawaii, this officer, because he spoke that Hawaiian type English.

TI: Interesting, okay. So he let him know, even though he was on the Japanese side.

KT: Yeah. And another thing is, about this Takamura, is that, I was reading a Nisei Vets newspaper and it mentioned his name, that a brick was purchased for his, the memorial wall brick with Sojiro Takamura. And then later on I read another article where his, must be his grandson, is UW ROTC, Takamura.

TI: Interesting. But this Japanese officer who was --

KT: Otake.

TI: Otake is his name?

KT: Yeah.

TI: Did you ever see him again after that?

KT: No, I didn't.

TI: When you saw the Japanese officer, this is days after the Japanese surrendered, what was their feelings or demeanor? I mean, what were they like after losing the war?

KT: I don't know. They were just ramrod straight and they come, they didn't even look sideways or nothing, they just come marching right in. They were told their quarters would be on the second floor, and then they go, just march right up. I don't remember anything other than that, except one time we were gonna, for meal, or suppertime, they came and said their dinner, supper's ready, so I went upstairs and told 'em that, "Shokuji no yoi ga dekimashita." Then the lieutenant came after me and he said, "Please bring everything to me, not directly to the general."

TI: So he was kind of like supposed to be the go-between?

KT: He was probably like aide de camp to that general. 'Course, I walked upstairs and I don't see anybody but the general, and he's sitting in the chair looking at me, so what the heck?

TI: Now, how high level were the Japanese officers? So it was, were they like top, top generals?

KT: I think he was a lieutenant general.

TI: Okay, so pretty high, yeah.

KT: Yeah, there was a general Amano, and there was General Kawabe, I think.

TI: And what kind of negotiations or discussions went on? I mean, you mentioned General Willoughby, Willoughby was a very high...

KT: He was a G2, two star general, major general.

TI: Right, so he's a major general. What kind of discussions did they have? Do you know?

KT: I wasn't at, I wasn't at the conference at all, but I'm sure they talked about what facilities were available and how we, our side probably told 'em how many troops are gonna come in and where they're gonna go and so on, so forth. And it was up to them to go back and arrange this. That's my guess. But, because as soon as we went there... they wouldn't let us off the ship until after the thing was signed on the Missouri. That was on September the 2nd.

TI: Okay, this is in --

KT: And as soon as it was signed they let us off, and I remember getting off and walking into Yokohama and around there.

<End Segment 21> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.