Bunro Sakaino Concentration Camp Diary

Transcript

July 31 (Friday)

I am suffering from terrible health problems on top of the horrible heat in the afternoons. I would not talk about various hardships as we are in the middle of this wartime chaos, but I do believe that some sort of humanitarian measures should be taken to ease the suffering caused by the extreme heat.

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It is the right thing to do for the U.S. government to consider the old age of the internees while promoting their civil right protector image. We should be allowed to raise our voice against the high temperatures here.

I have not had anything but milk after breakfast for the last several days. I saw articles by American reporters who recently arrived at Lurenzo Margnes in newspapers. They are all generally bad mouthing about the treatment of American internees in Japan. What caught our attention among those articles is that 600 people were killed or injured by air raids over Tokyo by the U.S. Navy. Prime Minister Tojo immediately offered his apology to the imperial office about the enemy airplanes flying over the imperial castle, and two high ranking officers committed suicide. One threw a hammer at the prime minister and injured him. Tokyo is utterly defenseless against the enemy air raids, and the government is begging people to be engaged in fire fighting instead of seeking underground shelters. Second lieutenant Sakamaki does not own a watch or have a guard, and he is very late for meals as he is alway guessing what time they are served. That causes a lot of operational problems for the mess hall workers. We were told to accept the situation as it is an inconvenience for us as well as the second lieutenant. Our barrack members made a suggestion to purchase a dollar watch and give it to him. Fortunately Mr. Shinonome had a spare pocket watch, and we immediately offered it to the second lieutenant. He accepted it.

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A monk from Hawaii who is a Russo-Japanese War veteran held a talk about his experience of being a war prisoner titled war prisoner story. According to him, it was recognized that he was captured by the enemy by cause beyond his control, and he was awarded an imperial national flag for his distinguished service. The monk told us that about 600 Japanese war prisoners were held in Russia back then, and each of them was treated with respect by the Japanese government after they came back. Second class driver Shibata among us was also a war prisoner and sent away with Major Mizoguchi when Wasomaru was attacked and sank. His story reminded me of Shibata’s experience, but the monk’s tale is not impressive and lacks detailed observations. I think to myself that my memory of Shibata’s story is a more romantic [1] story and as secretly proud of myself. However, the monk’s story wiped my worries away about Second Lieutenant Sakamaki. This young officer finished ocean navigation after he graduated from a military school and was sent out to serve immediately after being appointed. Moreover, he was engaged in the brave fight as a submarine officer when Japan conducted the first fierce attack. He also encountered misfortune on the way back to the homeland, and I would say no one is more qualified to be honored. Not to mention general Japanese citizens, but we internees also should pay our highest respect and deepest sympathy to him. However, Second Lieutenant Sakamaki Seems to shut his mouth and avoid encountering others. I am sorry that I have not got a chance to directly let him know how we feel about him.

[1] This is the term used by the author

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August 1 (Saturday)

It has already been a half year since the war started, and it is August. It is regrettable that everyone seems to be rather relaxed and observing the situation, without any connection to the outside world under detention. It is also due to lack of stimulation in the circumstances. Just eating and doing nothing increasingly promotes unpleasant laziness among us. We should be careful.