<Begin Segment 17>

MU: Well, we'll get to the Occupation a little later, but John Aiso,now, was his family with him?

MM: Is this at Fort Snelling?

MU: Yes.

MM: Yes, yes, he was housed in the quarters next to where I lived, with Major Dowd. Yes. But as I say, he got orders to go to Japan, I think in the fall of '45 or so. So, he went to -- I understand -- work under General Willoughby, G-2 SCAP.

MU: That's in Tokyo?

MM: Yeah, that's Tokyo as...

MU: Well, before we get to Tokyo, I wanted to ask you what some of the major concerns were as far as John Aiso was involved in running that school. Or did we pretty well cover that?

MM: Well, as I say, certain goals had to be met and he really did his level best --

MU: To do that?

MM: -- to meet the goal and I admire him for his effort in all...

MU: Now, you'd been working right under John Aiso and that relationship between he and the teachers -- did that work out pretty well?

MM: Yeah, I said, yeah, that he had a good rapport with the instructors.

MU: What do you think of the student body in the main?

MM: Oh, that was real interesting. It was somewhat of a mixed group -- a lot of them came from Hawaii -- and in order to approach John Aiso they had to pass my desk. [Laughs] But if there were problems and if I felt that they needed Major Aiso's attention, I would send them on. But in the process, with all these boys from Hawaii -- I have nothing against them -- I took on their Hawaiian lingo or whatever and started talking just like them. And I caught myself and (saying), "What am I doing?" It was kind of funny, yeah, they were really nice boys. Their speech may be such but their written language was just beautiful. They're really good.

MU: They were pretty well-educated in Japan, Japanese...

MM: That's right. And those from Hawaii attended Japanese school, I believe every day. And their Japanese was pretty strong.

MU: What were some of the problems that these students faced?

MM: Problems?

MU: Personal problems.

MM: Personal problems. It could be within the family. But for instance, one of the students came in and said, "My wife is expecting, and I need to be" -- it's towards the end, you see -- "I need to be with her and you think I could get leave?" Well, I couldn't determine, I sent him on to Mr. Aiso, but Major Aiso, at that time, and he says that was not an emergency, and he just wouldn't grant the leave. And I felt really sorry for this student, 'cause it's probably his first baby. [Laughs] But that's how it was. He was quite strict about that, that that was not an emergency that...

MU: Well, I understand he had to be that way to keep order.

MM: He had to be that way. Yeah, but he had his good human side, too, but...

MU: Can you tell us a little bit about his human side?

MM: Human side? Maybe... in his good mood, he approached me one day and he says, "Miss Kono" -- he always addressed me as Miss Kono, I addressed him as Major Aiso or Mr. Aiso -- he said, "I've had many secretaries -- " and I guess they were more legal secretaries, which I wasn't. He says, "You're one of the best secretaries I have." And I thought he was just flattering me. I thought, "Gee, am I living up to his expectations?" That was, that was the human side you might say. But he was a real nice person, I respected him through and through.

MU: You must have done well for him.

MM: Well, I tried, I tried to please him.

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