Meeting Japanese Americans from the mainland in MIS

The Kona Island community Going to Japanese school Starting work at five years old Traveling the world seven times Remembering December 7, 1941 Being an American soldier and an "enemy alien" Volunteering to serve for the U.S. military in Japan Meeting Japanese Americans from the mainland in MIS Awareness of concentration camps as a Japanese American Not relating to Japan Americans' experiences on the mainland Visiting family in Japan Being stationed in Japan during the American occupation Rebuilding Japan Investigating labor movements in Japan Feeling closer to Japan as a Japanese American Serving as a lawyer to Americans in Japan To serve as a lawyer Defining the term Nikkei

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This is the first time that I’ve met many Japanese Americans from the mainland [in Military Intelligence Service]. They had an acronym for them, but I won’t use it here. But anyway, we would call them that name of course. Anyway, many of them were very, very good and we could get along very well with them. Because having come from Kona, we felt very confident in that we were, we felt that we were just as good as anyone else wherever they came from. They’re different, but the difference is interesting because we were all the same. It was just awful. Because of that, we got along with the mainland Japanese Americans very well. Like John Aiso, who was a Commandant, the executive officer, we highly respected him because of his polish.

Date: May 29, 2006
Location: Hawai`i, US
Interviewer: Akemi Kikumura Yano
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

hawaii identity John Aiso MIS World War II