<Begin Segment 9>

LD: How do you see their role, how do you see the role of Nisei in the occupation postwar period in Japan? What do you think of the kinds of things they did? What was their role there? Also, especially because the Japanese people actually didn't see them as Japanese, and they thought that their Japanese for the most part was rather poor or not as good as it could be because they were Kibei. What about their role there and how they were seen by the Japanese public as well as...

SM: I've always maintained that a common language is the strongest single bond of unity. And when our Americans of Japanese ancestry went over to Japan and occupied Japan, and could relate to them and overcome the difficulty of communication which the Japanese would have had normally with Americans, I think that helped tremendously in bringing about an understanding among the Japanese that while the Americans were there in force to occupy Japan, that we were there to bring about a situation where peace would be brought about to the country, and that America was in fact bent upon helping Japan to get back on its feet again. And had it not been for these interpreters, many of whom had relatives in Japan, and who were trusted by them, to the point where the Japanese people began to believe that, in fact, America was now there to help them, I think the occupation forces would have had tremendous difficulty. But I think the interpreters of Japanese ancestry served a purpose not only in combat, but in peace which was won. And I think prior to the war, the Nisei were looked upon as second class Japanese when they'd go to Japan, because their Japanese was not altogether fluent. But after the war, they helped so much in the transition from war to peace, that the Japanese changed their attitude towards the Nisei. Now here they were Americans who were really bridging the gap between the two nations.

LD: Besides language, do you think there was something else the Nisei brought to that situation? What do you think they... besides technical language, which they certainly had more than any other American soldier I think would have.

SM: I think the fact that we knew the customs and the habits, the basic beliefs of the Japanese, helped a lot. Even today we find that in the area of commerce between the United States and Japan, for example, we suffer a great trade deficit with Japan. And we complain about the Japanese setting up barriers against the American goods and not buying American goods, when in many instances American goods are superior to Japanese goods. But you take the case, the simple case of golf balls. The American manufacturers of golf balls are saying Japanese just refuse to buy American golf balls. And it was discovered that the Japanese were refusing to buy American golf balls because they were packaged in fours. And in the Japanese superstition, four is bad luck. Ichi, ni, san, shi, shi means "death." And heavens, no golfer is going to take balls to the golf course which would mean death on the golf course. And then they began packaging golf balls in threes, and then American golf balls started selling. So these are the things which can come about only through those who understand the cultures, the beliefs, and the superstitions of the people. And I think in this respect, the Nisei, the Japanese Americans, had help in bringing about understanding. And I find now that many American firms are hiring Japanese American lawyers, for example, because they understand the practices, the beliefs, the superstitions of the Japanese, and can be much, much more helpful than one of European ancestry.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 1987 The Center for Educational Telecommunications and Densho. All Rights Reserved.