Densho Digital Archive
National Japanese American Historical Society Collection
Title: George Koshi Interview
Narrator: George Koshi
Interviewer: Marvin Uratsu
Location: Seattle, Washington
Date: December 10, 1997
Densho ID: denshovh-kgeorge-01-0017

<Begin Segment 17>

MU: Now, you have relatives in Kumamoto region?

GK: Yes, (...) we had no communication with Japan after we left (but I had uncles, aunts, cousins, and other relatives.)

MU: Did you have a chance to visit them while you were there?

GK: Yes, (...) in November of 1945, first thing I did was to go to Kumamoto. And on the way I stopped to see Hiroshima.

MU: Oh yeah, you said that.

GK: And then went on to Kumamoto and saw my cousins.

MU: I wanted to ask you what the reaction was on their part, when they saw you.

GK: They... it was very positive. I ran into my cousin, who was in the Japanese suicide airplane...

MU: Tokkotai? Tokkotai.

GK: Tokkotai, uh-huh. And he just came back. He was assigned to the defense of Tokyo and Yokohama, and when the B-24 came in, he engaged in combat with them and he got shot down. He claimed that he shot down one B-24, but he got shot down. And then when I went, he was just back home, still limping and with the bandage on his head. He said he was found unconscious by the local people and nursed back, and just got back to Kumamoto just before I went there. And then I saw my other cousins and my aunt. And my cousin said, "That was war." He... I asked him, "How do you feel, how do you feel seeing me in American uniform and we're the ones that shot you down?" He said, "Well, that's the war." Japan, Japan was full of warfare during the feudal age. And they fought family against family, and brother against brother in various provinces. So, that was nothing unusual. It's common in warfare. So, he had no antagonism. And he was glad that I was in the United States army, keeping up the samurai spirit.

MU: [Laughs] That's neat.

GK: So we had a pretty good relationship with them from (the start) and then even today. I was in Japan as a child. And I grew up with him. He was just born and I took care of him. But his father raised us while we were in Japan. And (...) when I went back, I took care of the family. I sent him to school, medical school, and college. So he became a doctor with my assistance. So we helped each other, through generations.

MU: And they're still in Kumamoto?

GK: Still in Kumamoto. He (however) moved to Osaka. He has a big hospital of his own in Osaka. He just came (...) -- first part of this year -- he comes in every now and then, and comes to stay with us.

MU: Is his last name Koshi?

GK: Koshi, uh-huh.

MU: Oh really, I'll look him up. [Laughs] Well, that's good.

<End Segment 17> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.