<Begin Segment 26>

TI: But before we go there, in Tokyo, what was your job in the army? What did you do?

NM: I worked in the mail office, APO-500, they called it post office, APO-500. That was in Yokohama.

TI: No, but before that, when you were in Tokyo, what did you do? Did you have a job in Tokyo?

NM: Oh, I was MIS. I got a job as a clerk there. I was getting all the mail. Yeah, that's right, I got the post office of ATIS, so I sorted the mail there. That's all I did, I didn't do any interpreting at all. So I went to the post office and pick up the mail, bring it in, put it in each guys'... package, and something come up, lipstick, sometimes the box, somebody send in lipsticks, all, it's not smashed, it's good yet, but it came out of there, you put it back in there, they get it broken. Not, the box is broken. And then we give it to them. Those people that get that, they're happy anyway, because nothing is taken, it's all in there.

TI: When you got to Japan, so 1946, when you got to Japan, what was Japan like? I mean, this is right after the war, can you describe what Japan looked like?

NM: You know, I didn't have a, I didn't know what Tokyo looked like. Never been there. We came in Japan, you can hear shamisen. You know, somebody's putting on the ship, we're on the ship. We hear the shamisen, somebody put it loud enough on the ship, we hear Japanese music, oh, we're near island now, Tokyo, and we're going into the bay, and then there's a ship sunk, half out in the bay. And we avoid that, go in, keep going in, and we landed in Yokohama. And then that's where we nani. Then I saw some GIs there, some girls there, fooling around. [Laughs] This is in Yokohama already. You know, at the pier, all some women and the GIs are all around there. We got off there, then checked in the Zama. And there we stayed about two weeks.

TI: And was this your first time in Japan?

NM: First time in Japan, I didn't know what to look forward to. I thought it must be hit by Japan, Japan hit by Americans. I heard that, you know, but when I saw Japan, we went to Zama, that's the recruiting for the jobs again, too, where they were going to send us. And then somebody get sent to Tokyo, some to Yokohama, some to maybe Sendai. So we stayed there two weeks, and each time, somebody going out. We didn't get our rating at all. You know, they... corporal, they didn't give to us. So I just let it go. Then I got a job already, I reported, I reported Yokohama post office. And I was working at post office, there was about ten Japanese girls, and then there's a... I talked Japanese there. They were surprised. They were so happy to hear somebody talk Japanese. [Laughs] I was pretty good. There was about ten girls there, see. It was the first time they hear Japanese talk. Then they were happy, anyway. Said, "This is the first time we saw a Nisei in a long time." I didn't stay there long. I stayed there about six months. Then I got another job in Tokyo, at PX, I went to PX. Then I got raise there, so forth. So I was pretty lucky to get Tokyo PX.

TI: And what was your, what was your job at the PX? What did you do?

NM: Oh, I was managing a certain floor. I was, say, second floor, okay, it's all Japanese. No, third floor, all Japanese. They come in and they sell their product, like, kimono, silk kimono, watch repair, shoe repair, barber shop. I was in charge of all that, yeah. Hiring Japanese, third floor. So I had a pretty good job. I stayed there 'til about '54, then I came back.

TI: In that time after the war, there was an active, like, black market, lot of people trying to get, like, American, like cigarettes and things like that.

NM: Yeah, there was a lot of black market.

TI: So can you talk about that? What was that like?

NM: Well, black market, there's nobody, you don't see nothing, but there's lot of black market going on. Even the PX merchandise you buy, cigarette, like that. Like me, I smoked. No, I don't smoke. So I got my two carton a week, I give it to my friends. Not give, but I sell it to my friends, and they'll just give me the yen. That's how I got my yen, yeah. But I'm not in the big black market.

TI: But just little things, like a couple cartons of cigarettes could --

NM: Well, one carton was one dollar. One carton. Today, it's about how much? Ten dollar? One carton. I think. Those days, a dollar and a quarter or something. And then there was a lot of... but PX, I work in PX, I could get anything I want. But when we go out, there's a watchman, too. So they could check me out if they want to. I don't want to get caught, and get sent home. So I just take my two carton limit, that's it. Then I take it to my friend's place, and he can do what he wants now. I don't smoke.

<End Segment 26> - Copyright © 2010 Densho and Preserving California's Japantowns. All Rights Reserved.