Bunro Sakaino Concentration Camp Diary

August 5 (Wednesday)

For the last several days, the breeze in the morning has been making the heat a little more bearable. but high temperatures after dinner time is horrible. I have been suffering from constipation for a week. I got a sponge from Mr. Horagami and gave myself an enema, but it did not work and I am extremely uncomfortable.

Consul-General of Spain (New Orleans) and State Department officer Mr. Young visited as previously reported. About 20 representatives from our side met with them, but it just looked like a big deal with a tiny result. It is the result of spineless negotiation done by the representatives and also largely due to insufficient preparation made by then.

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Following was reported after the meeting:

Returning to the family. The first discussion regarding reuniting the internees with the family was held among the Department of State, Justice and the Army on July 21st, and they have been giving it consideration to determine if the arrangement should take place.

A total of 2,800 people wish to go back to Japan so far, and the next exchange boat is scheduled to transfer 1,500 passengers. The selection is generally on a first-come-first-served basis, but the three departments will discuss how it will be done. They will not take any requests with certain conditions into consideration such as requests to go back after they sell their personal properties or to travel with the family. The Japanese government requested a very low number of people to be selected this time. An exchange boat is scheduled to arrive on the 24th or 25th and to depart at the beginning of September. Personal properties owned by the internees are frozen, and the final arrangements are to be made after the war ends.

The above is what was mainly reported, and the rest of it is some small details. What is interesting is that the ingredients of our meals have been hugely increased, and a large volume of food has been delivered before the representative of Spain and the Departments today. Drinking water facility was set up at the same time as the supervising general pointed out the poor condition when he visited. What is more about drinking water is that new ash cans with a spout filled with ice and water were placed on a table under a pine tree. It is truly absurd.

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Everything is rather interesting if we simply view them as what happens during a war, but drinking water in garbage cans does not meet the standard of a great nation. It is obvious that this simply ended up revealing that the administration officers have been negligent until now. I cannot help smirking when I see how the officers are hastily trying to cover up.

I went to the hospital for an enema with the agreement given by Dr. Tanaka. I gave the treatment to myself, but I only had breakfast and not anything else. It did not work right away, and I lied in the hospital bed and waited for my muscles to tense up until noon. I talked about this and that with Mr. Okazaki, Mr. Ono and Mr. Tsuboi while I was there. It sounds like the hospital’s condition is generally good, but I felt very uncomfortable when I saw soldiers with a gun walking around among the patients rooms. Mr. Okazaki complained about the poor quality of meals. It is not possible to stay in such a dismaying facility for ao long time unless you are seriously ill.