<Begin Segment 33>

[Translated from Japanese]

I1: So, you went home to make sure your mother and family were okay and went back to the Daiichi Seimei building one month later?

TY: Yes. I worked for the occupation army for four to five years. The occupation army started withdrawing. We had to start looking around for a civilian job like everyone else. People were leaving the army one by one. One thing is that the occupation army was a good employer for us. We were comfortable in the work environment. Our struggle with the Japanese way of living started when we left the army and went back to our hometown. We lived in the American way of living while we were working for the occupation army. Now, we had to live the Japanese lifestyle. We were supposed to follow all the customs. We just couldn't adjust ourselves. Right around then, the U.S. government contacted us and offered to reinstate our U.S. citizenship and send us back to the States. Most of us accepted the offer and went back. Some came to seek my advice, but I told them to make their own decision.

I1: That is when your elder sister went back, right?

TY: She went back much later. Maybe one year later. She came back to Japan about one year after we came back. She worked as a secretary for the director of the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission (ABCC) in Hiroshima. He was an American doctor. It was located on top of the Hijiyama Park. She was well treated there.

I1: But she decided to go back to the States?

TY: Yes. She thought that Japan at that time did not have a lot to offer for her children. She wanted to send them to the States for a better life. She contacted her friends in the States and sent all her children. Her children felt abandoned though, and it's still affecting their relationship.

I1: It seems like your elder sister thought she would be able to go back to the States sooner, right after she sent her children. She didn't expect it would take that long. She didn't know why but found out later on that she was on the watch list.

TY: Yes, she was blacklisted. She didn't have good luck.

I1: That's so hard. She didn't do anything wrong. She just tried to help you out. You said you were contacted by the U.S. government about reinstating your U.S. citizenship shortly after the war ended.

TY: It was early. Well, about four or five years after the end of the war. It wasn't offered while I was working for the occupation army. It was after I left the army and went back to Hiroshima. The U.S. embassy contacted me twice to find out if I wanted to go back.

I2: What year was it approximately?

TY: What year was it? Let me see...

I1: That was the year when you went back to Hiroshima, so...

TY: I went back to Japan when the war ended. What year was that?

I1: It was 1945. You went back to Japan at the end of the year.

TY: Then, I worked for the occupation army for five years and went back to Hiroshima.

I1: The war ended in 1945, and you worked for five years after that. It must have been around 1951 or 1952? It was around the same time that the juridical decision was made on the Goodman Trial.

TY: I went back to Japan in 1945, right?

I1: Yes, at the end of the year.

TY: The war was over.

I1: You probably started to work in early 1946.

TY: It was early 1946, so...

I1: Five years after that would be 1951.

TY: Five years and 1951. It was around that time.

I1: Around 1951 or 1952.

TY: They called me at home.

I1: From the U.S. embassy?

TY: Yes.

<End Segment 33> - Copyright (c) 2004 Densho. All Rights Reserved.