<Begin Segment 3>

AW: And what was it like when you found out that Japan had been defeated in the war?

KS: Oh, it was miserable. It was miserable. First, we went, we came back to Nagoya Bay, Nagoya port we came back. And when I saw Nagoya port on the deck, there was nothing, whole, the city wiped out. And there is one tall, tall, skinny tube. It was stand among them and pointed the sky and some steel, some steel from the building just like twisted like wire, and they stood here and there, and I could not believe what a ruin it was. Then suddenly, at that time suddenly I remember I had potassium cyanide which is sewed in my collar of uniform during the wartime. And I thought, oh, "I am in Japan, I never take this home. I shouldn't have be able to take this home." So I went back to my room and ripped off seam and threw out potassium cyanide to the Nagoya Bay. Then next days, we were, took train, very crowded, very, very crowded train, standing, to my hometown. It was, we were all way to the hometown was standing, no seats available at all, and we were hungry. We are tired, and I was thinking my family, my hometown during the time, and that's how I went home. And when I arrived in my hometown, Kagoshima City, it was totally wiped out again, and there was nothing. There was nothing, just ruin, and I thought, "Why?" And later on, I find out that my hometown, Kagoshima City, was next Okinawa, next to the Okinawa. They were going to land it there. Therefore, they had bombed my hometown.

AW: All your brothers and sisters survived the war?

KS: Yes. Luckily, everybody survived, even the brother, a brother in Northern China. He came home safely.

AW: Is it all right to ask about, a little bit more about Jakarta? You had told a story previously about when you got word about the Americans surrendering or that the Japanese surrendering that half of the crew in Jakarta were sent back home. Can you tell us that story?

KS: Oh, yes. There was many, much confusion. At first, we could not believe Japan was, ended the war. And then we were heard about Emperor's radio announcement, and then we know that was true. But however, many army officers, army men was, could not accept end of the war. Some of them wanted fight again themselves. And some of them, the officers, they're suicide. So many, they're suicide. And the day was, town was so quiet, there was nothing noise. Everything was stopped just like clock was stopped at that point. It was so quiet, everything, was nothing going on for a few days. But we have to do something, so we were ordered to move to the mountaintop barracks where Japanese army reserve, constructed the, reserved them some emergency. So we moved top of the mountain, and there we saw Japanese soldiers every day. They were going with guns to the bay, to the Tanjung Priok Bay, and I, we were wondering why they're supposed to be, go to the war now. There seems to have ammunition with them. And, "What's going on?" we were asking to the army people. Then they said, it's, that's request. Dutch try to coming back to Indonesia again, and Indonesian soldiers, people were really fighting for them. And so the Dutch wanted the Japanese soldiers to come to the scene and fight with Indonesians. Therefore, they took Japanese soldiers after the war.

AW: The Dutch had taken the Japanese soldiers?

KS: Yes.

AW: Were the Japanese fighting with the Indonesians against the Dutch also or --

KS: They wanted to, but I don't know what, how it's happened. We were top of the mountain. So finally, I think Dutch was give up. Finally, Dutch give up to enter the Indonesia again, and that was end of the Dutch occupation in the Indonesia.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2003 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.