<Begin Segment 22>

TI: And so tell me about that, because you're one of the first Americans to walk in Japan after the war.

KT: Yeah, well, there was others there, and I said, I asked a guard -- there was a soldier there, sentry at the, one of the hotels there -- and I says, "What's going on?" Says, "General MacArthur's coming out." So three of us, I think there were three of us, we stood on the curb waiting and waiting and waiting. I think we must've been there five, ten, fifteen minutes, and the general came out and got in his car, and away he went. And I said, "Jeez, that was General MacArthur." [Laughs]

TI: What was the reaction of Japanese to Americans in these early days? I mean, how would you...

KT: I don't know, we talked to 'em and they'd talk to us, talk back to us. I didn't see anything.

TI: I've heard stories that the Japanese, or at least some Japanese, were afraid of Americans when they first came into Tokyo because --

KT: Yeah, that's true.

TI: -- because they were told that the Americans would hurt them, rape them, do all these bad things. I mean, did you hear about any of that, or see any evidence of that?

KT: Well -- [coughs] excuse me -- they said to go out and sample the public, Japanese, and we see some Japanese and we walk towards 'em and they'd run. We'd call --

TI: And you were with other Nisei?

KT: Yeah.

TI: Okay.

KT: Yeah, they all ran away. We couldn't talk to any of 'em. Except, I don't know, we had, they set up the mess deal at the... and then they came around, some of 'em, because they wanted food. They were digging in garbage and all that.

TI: But earlier, when you said they would walk away or run away, why would they run away?

KT: Well, they were, I guess the propaganda was that the Americans would kill them or rape 'em or, you know.

TI: So they were afraid of the uniform you were in more than anything.

KT: Yeah.

TI: 'Cause you were Nisei, you probably looked not that different than other Japanese, and then...

KT: They're just looking at the uniform and just run away. I think that was the reason why, is that because they were told that the Americans would...

TI: Yeah, so when you go back, like those early days, so I'm curious, sort of the, I guess the occupation of Japan, like an example would be on September 7th, the kind of, the first days. I mean, were there any ceremonies or anything to indicate that the United States was going to occupy Japan?

KT: There were, us people, we were, got off the Sturgis, we were quartered at the, what they called the silk conditioning mill, and that was our quarters. And they alerted us and said on the 6th, night of the 6th, evening of the 6th, "We're gonna go into Tokyo, and you people will be the advance echelon." And they selected ninety of us, and we got on the truck and left Yokohama and went to Tokyo. We wanted to get there because on the 7th the 1st Cavalry Division was gonna come, and that was gonna be the flag raising ceremony at the American embassy.

TI: So the 1st Cavalry is like an infantry battalion?

KT: Division, yeah.

TI: Division that would come in.

KT: Yeah, all, I don't know where they, must've been Yokohama or someplace, or Zama or someplace they were, and they all trucked in and they were all lined on the road, and General MacArthur came to the embassy and he raised the flag. Or, he didn't raise, but they raised the flag and then he made a little speech. I was, I don't know what I was doing. I was bummin' around and I said, "What's going on in there?" Says, "Oh, the General's gonna raise the flag." And I said, "Oh, okay." So I walk in there and I look, and god, everybody's all lined up. So I sneak around there, looking, and I saw that.

TI: So that's kind of a piece of history that you witnessed then.

KT: [Laughs] Yeah.

<End Segment 22> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.