<Begin Segment 12>

HN: So it must have been about, probably the following year, 1946. But that was after we graduated from high school. And they were looking for interpreters at the train station. And our cousin was working there, and he said they were looking for an interpreter to work at the Yanai RTO, Railroad Transportation Office. And that's when he asked me if I wanted to become an interpreter. And I says, okay, 'cause they said they would pay. So we had to get a job to earn money because our mother, she was just doing farming, a little bit farming. And she didn't have that much income. And that's when I started working at the railroad station as an interpreter. And my sister, I think after, I don't think she went to the factory with us. I think she went to school, junior college or something. And she was in Iwakuni, which is another city north of Yanai. And she was teaching school there when the war started. Then after that she, I think she got a job at the Iwakuni railroad station, the RTO over there.

TL: What did RTO stand for?

HN: Railroad Transportation Office.

TL: Were the interpreter jobs considered kind of good jobs compared to perhaps other types of work?

HN: Uh-huh. I know because my cousin, he was saying the interpreters were making more money than the train -- the stationmaster or something.

TL: Wow.

HN: But, oh, we didn't know what the salary scale was or whatever. But we just wanted to help Mom.

TL: Who else was working in that office?

HN: Oh, we had, it was Esther and Tom. They were from California. And then there was another girl, Ruth Saiki. She was from Hawaii. And her, her younger sister went to high school with us, to the Yanai chuugakkou. And Ruth, she was older, but she was working with me, too. So there were, gee, about four, five, yeah. About four or five of us.

TL: Can you describe some of the work that you did as an interpreter?

HN: Oh, there was this occupation force. They were mostly New Zealanders and Australians that lived in Yanai. And if they wanted to go to, to a certain city or I guess on the train or things like that, then we would have to write out the tickets for them and tell them what train to ride on. And if they were sending goods or things like that we would have to write it out.

TL: So did you work in the railroad station office and these soldiers would come to the office, or did you accompany the soldiers someplace to help them communicate with other Japanese?

HN: No, they, they made an office for us with one of these empty train coach. That was our office. So they all came because they were in the Yanai outskirt, the soldiers. They were all over. And, well, that's how they, they had to come to the Yanai station. And I guess if they wanted to go on leave, they'd want to go to Tokyo or someplace, and they'd have to get tickets. So we used to write out the tickets for them and tell them where they were supposed to go, what station they were supposed to get off on.

TL: Did you or your co-workers get to know any of these soldiers a little bit more because they stay for a while and they probably come to recognize you?

HN: Uh-huh. Yeah, we had some -- like the head of the RTO, he was a, I think he was a New Zealander and one was a Scotchman. And we got to know them. And they used to give us candy and coffee and things like that. And there was one soldier, he was New Zealander, he used to come and visit our place. And then we would talk, and then he'd go back home. So they were very friendly. They were New Zealanders.

TL: Yeah.

HN: And then there was some Australians, too, around there, and the British. Because the Americans were occupying, I think, around Tokyo and northern part of Honshu. So that's how I was able to save some money, too, working as an interpreter.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 1999 Densho. All Rights Reserved.