Participating in military drills in school in Japan during the war

Mother's immigration to U.S. as a treaty merchant Ransacking of family home by FBI following the bombing of Pearl Harbor Witnessing father's arrest through a child's eyes Memories of trip to Japan on the exchange ships Living in Japan during the war, preparing for U.S. bombings Witnessing the atomic bombing of Hiroshima Participating in military drills in school in Japan during the war Hearing anti-American war propaganda from a teacher The hardships of life in Japan during World War II

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In the mornings we would strip down, have a white top on with the monpe (female loose work pants) on and we'd have the teams, red, the hachimaki (headband) and it was a kind of a drill that we had. It was cold, it happened to be, I remember it was cold. We all had a bamboo stick and as the commands were called out we would go forward, forward, mae, mae. Meaning, and then we were told that when the shinchuu, Amerika-no shinchuugun (Ameircan Occupation Forces) comes, you know, dosuruka (what should we do?). So we would go forward, forward, and we were told, they didn't come out to say that we would be raped or whatever, but that's kind of the thing they were preparing us for.

Date: August 3 & 4, 2003
Location: Washington, US
Interviewer: Alice Ito
Contributed by: Denshō: The Japanese American Legacy Project.

japan military drills world war II