TO WIN THE PEACE by

Richard Hawkins It is over. The date is September 2nd, 1945. The place is Tokyo Bay. Not since Kublai Khan’s failed

Mongol invasions has such a show of power and force been seen off the shores of Japan. But this time, an intervention of the “Divine Wind” to save the Japanese Islands from foreign occupation only delays the

inevitable. When the typhoon passes the Allies fly eight hundred and eighty five B-29 bombers and carrier planes above two hundred and fifty six of their war ships at anchor in Tokyo Bay. The sight is overwhelming. The sound, deafening. But the message is clear. Radio broadcasts, print reporters and

newsreel footage capture this dramatic scene then relay the message throughout the world. September 2nd, 1945, Japan is thoroughly defeated and the War, the second Great War, is finally over.

It is over, but, even with the Japanese surrender and the Allied conquerors’ show of supremacy, winning the peace in Japan is far from decided.

Winning the peace begins eight days before the surrender ceremony when a small U.S. expeditionary force lands 36 kilometers southwest of Tokyo at Atsugi Airbase. They are the first “sinchu gun” (“shinchu gun”),

or occupation soldiers, to set foot on sacred Japanese soil in 1500 years. They set up communications and prepare the Airbase for the arrival of Allied troops who begin flying in three days later.

When the larger force lands, there are amongst their numbers, several U.S soldiers who are translators. Their faces’ look just like the enemies’. And while they translate for their fellow Allied troops, more who look just like them, come in on transport ships and planes. They are interpreters, some of whom are

dispersed into the city of Yokohama. Like town criers, their mission is to announce the arrival of the Allied Occupation Forces to the civilian population before those forces are seen, even before the surrender ceremony takes place.

These translators and interpreters were there at the beginning. And throughout the next seven years, thousands of them came to serve in the Occupation. Their contribution was necessary to win the peace

because they provided understanding where Occupation plans met practical implementation; because they lived, worked and breathed where the rubber meets the road.

Fast forward more than six decades to September 2008. The Center of Military History (CMH) contracted The Go For Broke National Education Center (GFBNEC) to conduct 90 interviews from these former

translators and interpreters, to put their contributions on the record. They were unique, not only for their linguistic and cultural skills, but because their ancestry set them apart from every other G.I. who was there. The veterans CMH wanted to interview were Americans of Japanese ancestry…of Japanese ancestry

wearing the U.S. Army uniform in a defeated and exhausted Japan. We call these veterans Nisei (Nee-say). “Ni” means two or second and in this case, “sei” means

generation. But they are also known as the “Quiet Americans”. The first generation, their Japanese immigrant parents, taught them “no monku”, no complaining; “shikata ga nai”, it can’t be helped so let it go;

“gaman”, knocked down seven times, get up eight; “gambatte”, do your best. They were taught to always be honest and work hard; always be humble and polite; do not bring shame to the family or community; and

the nail that sticks out the furthest gets pounded first. The Nisei were born into a world of institutionalized racism. Talk is not cheap to them. It is better to be quiet.

To further understand the veterans CMH wanted to interview, it is fundamental to know two dates that mark each Nisei’s life whether they were male or female, whether they were from Hawaii or the mainland and

whether they served in the U.S. Army or not: December 7, 1941 and February 19, 1942. For all Nise i and their parents, the Japanese navy’s attack against the United States on December 7 th threw everything they

had known and trusted into cavernous uncertainty. Those who lived in Hawaii were immediately placed under martial law and a small number interned. And on February 19th, barely two months later, all 110,000 who lived on the mainland were condemned by executive order to leave their homes and businesses and

accept incarceration in one of ten internment prison camps on American soil. War hysteria and fear had fueled suspicion about them. They lost their identity and citizenship when their own country classified them 4-C, enemy alien, and they were imprisoned behind barbed wire guilty of Japanese ancestry. They lived

with infamy. They lived in infamy. Despite their loss and deprivation, the veterans CMH wanted to interview had volunteered or were drafted,

largely from the 10 prison camps, to serve our country during the war and later to serve throughout the Occupation. With rare exceptions, they did so in the enlisted ranks.

For most Nisei veterans these interviews were one of the few times they had talked about their lives as Americans of Japanese ancestry, as U.S. soldiers in Occupied Japan. In their interviews they spoke

frankly, at times bluntly, giving an honest, gritty, humanistic, sometimes humorous, often disturbing account of their experiences in the Occupation. Contrary to their reputation as the “Quiet Americans”, the Nisei veterans spoke with a disarming openness. They did not shy away from revealing their self-perceived

shortcomings nor did they shy away from the unseemly. And as each veteran told his story, explained his duty, the Nisei presence across the vast organizational chart of General Headquarters, Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers is noteworthy.

Their story is remarkable because they did much to bridge the linguistic and cultural chasm between the victorious Allied Occupation Forces and the defeated citizens of Japan. But, from an American

perspective, it is most remarkable because the Nisei veterans, who suffered immeasurably from suspicion and distrust cast on them by their fellow citizens and government, did not reject their country, responsibility,

and duty. The CMH directive was to identify these veterans then interview them for usable data with emphasis on

their linguistic and cultural experiences to assist CMH in publishing a book about their service in Occupied Japan. CMH was likened to a chef preparing a meal without the benefit of a menu. GFBNEC was to go out and gather ingredients and then CMH could either create a signature dish or be forced to microwave

whatever was delivered. GFBNEC worked for a signature dish. The interview team was mostly staffed by the same three people, Lisa Sueki, S teven Itano Wasserman and

Richard Hawkins. Sueki, a PhD. and Vice President of Programs at GFBNEC, project managed. Itano Wasserman, a graduate of U.S.C. Film School directed setup and ran camera. Hawkins asked questions. But the team was what Nisei veteran Joe Sako said in his interview when addressing the subject of

understanding, “Well, the three people…three heads are better than one”. Both Sueki and Itano Wasserman contributed during the interviews with follow-up questions emphasizing culture, tactics and

procedure.

Hawkins concentrated on the five senses; what they saw, heard, tasted, smelled and touched. The

veterans rewarded the team with interesting stories that ranged beyond the language and cultural challenges they had faced. Often they would talk around a subject before they answered (you can take the boy out of the culture, but you cannot take the culture out of the man). And some veterans had their fun

with the interviewer as only a Nisei knows how to have fun playing verbal tug of war. Overall, Hawkins strove to understand the Nisei; who they are, where they had come from, how they used their knowledge

and skill of the Japanese language and culture, and what it meant to them to be an American soldier of Japanese ancestry in Occupied Japan.

Little work has been done in mainstream scholarship about the Nisei linguists’ service during the Occupation. In part, as an effort to perpetuate their story they gathered together in Military Intelligence Service Clubs of their own creation. But sixty-odd years after the War, after the Occupation of Japan, their

ranks in these Clubs are now as thin as an historic accounting of their service. In 1977, Masaharu Ano, a student, who later became the director of the Center for Japanese -American

Language and Culture in Ogori, Japan, wrote in his article “Loyal Linguists”, “Their role in the demilitarization and reconstruction was no less important than their distinguished accomplishment in warfare. Their contribution to win the peace in Japan should be remembered as much as that to win the

war for the United States”.

In 2007, Kayoko Takeda, professor at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, Graduate School of Middlebury College, wrote in her paper, “The Making of an Interpreter User”, “Another important aspect of interpreting…was that none of the linguists received professional interpreter training. They were what

interpreting researchers call ‘chance interpreters’: i.e. “more or less bilingual individuals who happen to be on hand”.

In 2009, Eiichiro Azuma, associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania, wrote in his paper, “Brokering Race, Culture and Citizenship”, “My undertaking here constituted an attempt at scholarly intervention into the government’s hijacking and exploitation of ethnic history writing to serve its current

military agenda…Under the U.S. led military occupation, the position of Nisei linguists in Japan resembled that of colonial middleman- the ‘enlightened’ class of the conquered race that assumed the position of mid -

level cultural managers for white governors”. Let the scholars duke it out.

Hawkins wants the reader to get to know these “Quiet Americans” in concrete ways, by sharing what the veterans saw, heard, tasted, smelled and touched; to walk with the Nisei linguists as they lived, worked and

breathed where the rubber meets the road. Each quote you will read relates directly to the subject of the category under which it is included. Whether

it is a comment, observation, opinion, statement or a simple retelling of an experience, each quote was

chosen to give information about, insight into and understanding of the topic of that category.

©Richard Hawkins