<Begin Segment 15>

KL: So your friend had told you about an opportunity to work for the occupying forces, or how did you...

SS: Uh-huh. So we went down to Washington, D.C., and they gave us tests for federal government, and we passed, got a job.

KL: What were your thoughts on... I assume you went by boat to go over there?

SS: Yes, terrible. It was a small boat. [Laughs] Not a luxury liner.

KL: Were you sick?

SS: And there were troops on the... and they were stacked up about three high, people getting sick.

KL: What were your expectations for what it would be like in Japan?

SS: I wasn't expecting anything. I just thought, well, Tokyo was bombed. It was. And people were poor. They give you things, too, because they want money or they want something from you, goods, you know, which we... you know, we would give them things.

KL: Were you working outside of Hiroshima? Or were you in Tokyo?

SS: I was in Tokyo.

KL: But you went to Hiroshima and visited family or friends?

SS: We could take vacation time to go places.

KL: So Tokyo, was it hard living for you?

SS: It wasn't hard for us, no, because we were billeted in the, you know, buildings. Buildings that were changed into accommodations for workers. They had a (dining room), it was very nice for us.

KL: Were you still with your friend that you had decided to go with?

SS: We all got different jobs, different places, but we saw each other frequently.

KL: Were there memorable people that you worked with, that you met who were part of the occupation?

SS: You mean...

KL: Does anybody stand out, either a coworker or a supervisor?

SS: Oh, yeah. I had one... he was a major at the time that I was working for, he used to, his father was a missionary in Japan, so he grew up in Japan, (spoke) very good Japanese. He was very fluent. He was there as a young man, too. So he used to hang around, he was a newspaper person, too. He used to hang around with this so-called spy during the war, German spy Sorge. They used to go drink, and he knew him, which I thought was interesting.

KL: Where were they during the war, in the U.S.?

SS: (Yes). (Narr. note: The major and his family were back in the U.S. prior to World War II. I was in Japan after the war.)

KL: In Tokyo. You were doing secretarial work?

SS: Uh-huh. And then eventually they started a school for army officers who went to school in the state's, in California, the Defense Language School, I think it's called. Maybe it was called something (else), then they took lessons there. They studied Japanese there, and after a few years, they were sent to Japan, Tokyo, for further language and area studies. And the school (eventually) went under the embassy, but first it was for, under the army, and I went along with them to work in their office as their office manager or whatever.

KL: Were the linguists Japanese Americans, were they Nisei people?

SS: No, they're all army officers, Caucasian. And all the teachers were Japanese. And they would go on trips in addition to studying at school, they would go on trips for the field study.

KL: What was your work with that group?

SS: I sort of managed the office, did everything that needs to be done administratively and secretarily. And kind of... I didn't really supervise, but we had some Japanese workers, kind of more or less supervised them.

KL: What was their, what was their reaction to you as a U.S. citizen, as a Japanese American?

SS: They were very nice. It was a job for them. They didn't resent me because I was s Nisei from the U.S.

<End Segment 15> - Copyright © 2012 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.