Bunro Sakaino Concentration Camp Diary

Transcript

497

February 8 (Monday)

• Numbered and photographed, surrounded by barbed wire

• Carrying coal with a shovel in our hand, in a blue uniform

• Kiosk will be closed if you do not work, soldier in military uniform threatening us

• 100 degrees high enough to boil water, bald heads and gray hair at the age of grandparents

• With a sign of justice and humanity taken down, the Geneva Conventions is farting

• We are all birds trapped in a cage, will get rid of dogs after the war

• It counts to keep alive, in a war among nations

The above is composed to be sung in the melody of “Decansho-bushi [1]” song. There needs to be some corrections.

Young prisoners of war walking on fallen leaves, smoking a cigarette and surrounded by rifles

• to see three Japanese prisoners of war going to the clinic in the hospital

[1] Japanese folk song

Transcript

498

There is a plan to cultivate two-acre land within the canvas of this Livingston military camp to make the internees grow vegetables. The military administration and our representatives came to an agreement, and four people from each area are required to work on the land preparation. The first group was deployed today. Mr. Okamoto is the one from our K-1 unit. He told us that the above-mentioned land is located in a forest area, and about 40 U.S. soldiers joined them to cultivate the land. Produce from the land will of course be for the internees to consume, and they say professional farmers among us will be leading the project.