I was sent to Sta. Cruz in (Laguna) southern Luzon, where I trained further to become a radio operator. After this training I was sent to Naga, in the province of Camarines, where I was assigned to the Radio Operators Unit of the 9th Regiment, 16th Infantry Division (of the Japanese Imperial Army). The headquarters of my unit had been based in Naga for one-and-a-half years when I joined it.

In Naga, I received an order, together with two other colleagues, to go to Leyte Island as "exchange soldiers." The three of us, all young soldiers, were to join the radio unit of the 3rd Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment.

I left Naga on January 12, 1944, two days after receiving my order. I went to Legazpi by train, from where I traveled to Leyte by boat.

Up to the day I was ordered to go to Leyte, nobody in my company knew about that island. The three of us who were being dispatched to Leyte really wished to stay in Luzon Island. For us, Luzon was a place where we could enjoy city life. About the Visayas, we heard it was very rural, where we would have nothing to enjoy.

The ship I rode on left Legazpi port in the afternoon. It docked at some port in Samar Island - I was not sure if it was Catbalogan - very early the next morning. After breakfast the boat left again and arrived at Tacloban in the afternoon.

After taking a shower (in the bathroom) behind the building, I dressed up and went out to the plaza fronting the wharf. There were many small vendors and stalls in this area, selling various food items. It was around sunset and many men, women and children were strolling around. The people I saw wore colorful clothing.

I was interested in observing the new city. But I noticed that the people were staring at me very coldly with watchful and hostile eyes.

I knew that Tacloban was the headquarters of the 20th Regiment, 16th Infantry Division. This regiment came to Leyte only in late October 1943.

Leyte was one of the last places the Japanese invaded in the Visayas. This meant that the USAFFE (United States Army Forces in the Far East) still had a stronghold here, and that the guerrillas, like those under (Col. Ruperto) Kangleon, were active in this area. This might be the reason why the people in the plaza stared at me with cold and unfriendly eyes. Perhaps they did not like the invasion of the Japanese. Anyway, I did not feel good about their attitude towards me.

The next morning I traveled to Ormoc, riding on a (military transport) truck. The trip took almost seven hours from Tacloban, because the truck had to cross many rivers without bridges. Along the road I saw many coconut trees and rice fields (there are no coconut trees in mainland Japan). Far to the left, I could see the mountain ranges (of central Leyte). We passed by many small villages, all of them very poor. And I saw many naked small children.

I already knew about the poverty in the Philippines. But I had a strong impression that Leyte was much poorer compared to what I had seen in Luzon.

We reached Jaro after two hours travel from Tacloban and turned right from here. Beyond the town, on the left, the mountains were nearer. On the right there were many coconut trees. And the road was very rough.

After one hour travel from Jaro, we reached Carigara. At that time, this town was the headquarters of the 11th Company, 9th Infantry Regiment. I saw many fish vendors here.

We ate our lunch in Carigara, after which we proceeded on our way to Ormoc.

There was a very old church at the exit of Carigara. Outside the town, the road was very rough again and the mountains loomed on the left. On the right, we could see the sea along with the coconut trees.

There were many small villages along the road, which became steeper and steeper.

A fellow soldier in the truck called out, telling us to watch out for the guerrillas. His reminder made us very tense, because the road was becoming very narrow and leafy branches of many trees along both sides were arching over it.

We were almost coming to Lemon.

I had learned that the situation in Leyte was very bad in terms of guerrilla activities. So it was really scary. I also felt very scared because the truck was traveling on winding mountain road, which was so narrow only one truck could pass through at a time. And the road was totally covered by the arching branches of many trees.

We arrived in Lemon. A squad of Japanese soldiers was stationed here, in the confiscated school building. We took a rest here for a while. I observed that there were about 50 houses in this village.

After Lemon, we went through the same road situation I had just described, with many branches arching over from the western side. I held on to my gun tightly, so I could prepare (for any guerrilla ambush).

Luckily, there was no encounter (with the guerrillas). We passed by Kananga and Valencia, and arrived at Ormoc in the afternoon.
 

Among the three of us "exchange soldiers," Tsubokawa and I were ordered to proceed to Biliran Island, to be attached to the 4th Squad of the Radio Unit under the 10th Company of the 3rd Battalion. Higuchi, the other colleague, was retained in Ormoc as member of the radio unit at the battalion headquarters.

The 3rd Battalion of the 9th Infantry Regiment had three infantry companies, each of which had an artillery platoon, and a machine gun company. All of these units were dispatched to areas like Carigara and the towns down west of Leyte.

The 10th Company was assigned to cover an area that included Leyte-Leyte, Calubian and Biliran Island. The company headquarters was in Biliran town in Biliran Island. I was assigned in this place.

I was really disappointed and initially depressed by my assignment. I had already thought and seen that Leyte was a rural island. Yet I still had to go to some really small island, more rural and very far away from the center. Anyway, I had to go there.

The next day, I went back to Carigara, from where I rode on a banca (passenger sailboat) that sailed for Biliran Island.

In Biliran town, I saw a government building with red roof, a small school building that had three classrooms, and an old wooden church. These were the only public buildings in this town which, I was told, had a population of about 500 (perhaps in the poblacion, but certainly not of the whole municipality).

About 80 Japanese soldiers and officers under the 10th Company, including the radio squad, had their base in Biliran Island. Their headquarters was the confiscated government building of Biliran town, a two-storey wooden structure. About 40 soldiers and officers, including the radio soldiers, were also billeted here.

A squad each of Japanese soldiers under our company were stationed in the towns of Naval, Kawayan and Caibiran (and Maripipi?). Each town in the island therefore had a military outpost. (Almeria was then part of Kawayan, Culaba was part of Caibiran, and Cabucgayan was part of Biliran town. They lost their respective town status after the American occupation early this century and regained their townships long after the war.)

Our company also covered two (mainland Leyte) towns: Leyte-Leyte with a platoon and soldiers, and Calubian with a squad of soldiers.

All in all, the 3rd Battalion had 1,000 men who had to watch over the whole northern part of Leyte and Biliran Island.

I understood that the 40 Japanese stationed in Biliran town were quite a small force. But they seemed adequate, considering that the 1,000 members of our company were spread over such a big territory.

The government building of Biliran town had red-colored (perhaps due to salt-induced rust) galvanized iron roof. It looked newer than the other buildings in this town. In the second floor, one room served as officers’ quarters. The ground floor was used by the soldiers.

The radio squad, composed of six members including myself, was billeted in the second floor. We occupied two small rooms: one for the radio equipment, the other for our quarters.

We the soldiers of the radio squad were directly under the company commander. We did not have to perform guard duties or be used by the other officers. But we had to communicate with the battalion headquarters in Ormoc five times a day.

The ordinary soldiers had to do the guard duties, the cooking, the cleaning, and the purchasing of food items from the people. They were very busy.

Our duty as radio soldiers allowed us therefore to have much time to play around. I must admit that my leisurely routine was the main reason why I later had such a good experience in Biliran Island.

The beach of the Biliran Channel was at the back of the government building. There was also a long pier here, made of concrete (actually, of coral stone blocks) and stretching out to the sea.

In front of the government building was a road, across from which was the town plaza. Also facing the plaza on the opposite side was the (Catholic) church, which was one of the biggest buildings in this town.

The arrangement of Biliran was such that the town proper (poblacion) was the center and the pier was the front gate.

Since the government building had been confiscated by the Japanese, the town plaza was not used by the people. I noticed that many tall grasses were growing in it.

Most of the people here were farmers. However, they did not have wide paddy fields to till and plant rice on. Instead, they planted upland rice, which did not require irrigation. Corn was also one of the major crops.

I observed that, in general, the Filipinos did not work very hard. During the day, they would be lazing inside their houses. I could not understand whether this was due to the hot climate or to nationality (race). We Japanese found it hard to understand this attitude.

Yet, even if they did not work very hard, the seven or eight members of an average family could live on the product of their short-time work. This was wonderful to me.

On Sundays, even in the dark early morning hours, they rang the church bells. This was a big surprise to the Japanese soldiers.

Most of the people seemed very religious. In the early morning after dawn, many people would go to church. The men usually did not wear anything under their feet. But on Sundays, they would wear their shoes to church. The women wore very beautiful dresses and covered their heads with black veils. They would kneel and make the sign of the cross during the service. They would return to their homes after the religious service.

But in the afternoon, the men would hurry out of their houses and go to the cockpit. They were very crazy about cock-fighting because of some money (the bets).

I observed that most of the men were naive ("simple" in another tape; "naive," which seems condescending as an English word, was intended as a compliment). Their biggest excitement was cock-fighting. Each man had his own strong cock, of which he was very proud. If you saw two or three Filipinos together, you would find them telling stories about their cocks.

There was no market in this town. There were several small stores, selling (small quantities of) handmade washing soap or some crops or vegetables from their own fields. It looked like these stores were open and closed at the same time ("closed" means no regular transactions that befit a business activity).

The people claimed that, because of the war, they did not have any more things to sell that would earn them profit.

But in Biliran, there was no use for money. The place was not interesting for the young soldiers to stay.

There was no electricity in Biliran Island. So during the night, we lived under the light of the coconut oil lamp. At that time in Leyte Island, only the big cities like Tacloban and Ormoc had small generators for their electricity.

We ate three meals a day. The headquarters of the battalion (in Ormoc) used to send us rice, miso (soybean paste), and shoyu (soy sauce) - the basic food items - along with soaps and cigarettes. These were delivered by boat only once a month.

In the Japanese military, it was the policy to "get your own food in your area of assignment" and not to depend much on the army for subsistence. Thus we secured items such as meat, eggs and vegetables by ourselves.
 

I spent my free time by going to the civilians’ houses. There I learned how to slaughter a pig and to divide (cut up) its meat, and how to make lard from the fatty tissues of the pig. I also learned how to make coconut oil. I was very much impressed with the way the people were providing for all their needs by the use of their own hands.

It was very easy to make coconut oil. You cut (break) the (de-husked) mature coconut into two parts. Then you scrape (grate) the copra (coconut meat), add (a little) water and then squeeze it (the grated coconut). You get the white water (coconut milk) and then boil it. Then you can make the oil.

I was full of curiosity. With this attitude, I came to learn many things about the Filipino people’s way of life. I did all this because it was very boring in Biliran Island, because I did not have much to do aside from my radio duty, which involved very little amount of work.

Whatever (survival) skills I learned from the people of Biliran really helped me later in the war.
 

In Leyte-Leyte town, there was stationed a platoon of soldiers under the 10th Company based in Biliran town. Its leader was Lt. Nakajima (different from the author). They had sought some help from the company headquarters because there was so much guerrilla activity in their area, and there were only a few of them to conduct the anti-guerrilla patrols.

The situation in Leyte-Leyte contrasted with the situation in Biliran Island. The latter was very peaceful, where there was no rumor of any guerrilla activity.

Lt. Shirai, the company commander, decided to send some of his soldiers to Leyte-Leyte and to Calubian (also under the 10th Company) to help "hit the guerrillas" in these places. He himself led a squad of soldiers, plus some members of the radio squad including me, that went to Leyte-Leyte in the middle of February 1944.

We departed from the Biliran pier, riding on three bancas. I could see very clearly Calubian (poblacion) soon after our departure.

In a banca on the (Leyte-Leyte) bay, I felt like I was going into the deep Amazon (river and jungle in Brazil, South America). At the same time, I felt very afraid that some guerrillas would see us. It would have been easy for them to shoot at us.

The bay was connected to Leyte River and Naga River. Along these rivers were marshes. I heard that big crocodiles could be found in these marshes. I knew that the crocodiles in Leyte-Leyte were not that big. But they were still scary, because we Japanese never knew anything about crocodiles in our country.

We reached Leyte-Leyte after a three-hour voyage.

In the center of Leyte-Leyte, there was also a government building, a plaza, and the church and parish house. But there was such a big difference between this town and Biliran town. Here the townspeople were so unfriendly. Nobody came up to greet the soldiers.

I thought the hostile attitude of the residents was perhaps due to the fact that their area was under guerrilla command, or that the people themselves might be guerrilla sympathizers.

The government building of this town served as the headquarters of the soldiers. Lt. Nakajima and his platoon were stationed here. A two-storey building with a big garden, it was slightly bigger than Biliran’s government building.

The officers stayed in a beautiful two-storey civilian house confiscated from some prominent family of this town (next to the government building). Lt. Nakajima stayed in the second floor of this house. Lt. Shirai also stayed in the second floor of the house, while the radio soldiers stayed downstairs.

While we were in Leyte-Leyte, the anti-guerrilla patrols were conducted by two groups, each composed of squad members based in this town and mixed with soldiers from the company headquarters. One tobatsu squad was led by Lt. Shirai himself.

The two tobatsu squads worked on rotation. When one group went out on patrol, the other remained in the station. After the first group had returned, the second group went out for their patrol duties. The two groups worked without rest.

For purposes of secrecy, the assigned tobatsu squad went out in the middle of the night. We had to go out without being known or seen by the townspeople, because there were so many possibilities that the sympathizers, or even the guerrillas themselves, were residents of the town (poblacion).

It was a common perception in the Japanese camp that the guerrillas were monitoring our movements through their sympathizers. We were aware that there were so many guerrilla sympathizers in Leyte-Leyte, that the Japanese occupied and controlled only a small area here (i.e., the poblacion), and that the guerrillas were moving about freely outside our area of control.

I heard from Akagane, a colleague in the radio squad who had been in Leyte-Leyte once before, that there was no single person in this town whom the Japanese soldier could rely on or believe in. Most of them (poblacion residents) were believed to be sympathizers of the guerrillas.

Of course, if you stepped out of the town proper, it was totally under guerrilla command. The Japanese soldier could not walk alone there.

I noticed that there was no Japanese soldier who went out to chat with the townspeople (like in Biliran). Also, there were no townspeople who came up to talk with the soldiers.

So the Japanese soldiers stationed here had to go to just two or three civilians to buy their supply of meat (i.e., pork) and vegetables. But everyone in camp believed that these traders must also be sympathizers of, or watchers for, the guerrillas.

My whole impression was that the Japanese soldiers in Leyte-Leyte were completely surrounded and watched by the townspeople; that all their movements were known to the guerrillas.

The daily work of the radio soldiers in Leyte-Leyte was similar to that in Biliran, making communications with the battalion headquarters in Ormoc. Most of the telegrams were about tobatsu. At that time (February 1944), all companies under the 3rd Battalion were conducting anti-guerrilla patrols in their respective areas of assignment.

In Leyte-Leyte, it was very difficult to catch the guerrillas. The area was very mountainous. And because the guerrillas looked just like the civilians, it was hard to differentiate one from the other. The townspeople also never told who the guerrillas were.

So the tobatsu units were very much helpless about the situation. But, at the same time, there were so many attacks and ambushes of Japanese troops by the guerrillas in many parts of Leyte. I got this information regularly through the radio.

During late evenings, we could see exploding fireworks with blue or red colors (kwitis or baby missiles) in the mountains. We suspected these were used as signals by the guerrillas to communicate among themselves. We could also hear gunfire from the mountains.

There was no electricity in this town. After sunset, it was very dark. You could only hear the barking of dogs.

The radio soldiers were slightly busier here than in Biliran. Most of the telegrams were about tobatsu. On some days, there were so many communications from the battalion headquarters in Ormoc.

All the telegrams were coded. There were three sets of codes, which involved much effort in coding and decoding the messages. Among the telegrams, there were some information that even the members of the radio squad, like myself, could not understand nor interpret. The interpretations were made by the high-ranking officers.

The Japanese soldiers always wanted more news about the progress of the war. There were so many telegrams from the general headquarters in Japan, but nobody was interested in them. Everybody knew that something else was going on, that the real information was being covered up. So each Japanese soldier did not know the real situation (on the progress of the war). At the same time, we had some vague feeling that we were facing some kind of difficulties.

In Leyte-Leyte, there was a source of free water in front of the house where the officers were staying. The water was taken from a nearby mountain and piped to this single outlet. So it was not your real water system (i.e., piped water in every house in present-day Japan). The townspeople and the Japanese soldiers used the water from this source for drinking, washing the laundry and other purposes.

During the day, many women would bring their laundry to wash and chat near the water outlet. But they never paid attention to the Japanese soldiers. They would only answer if spoken to.

When I had the time, I also went to the houses of the townspeople (like he did in Biliran). I tried to talk to them, but they did not like to talk to me.

One day, I went to the home of a woman who I always met in the water outlet. Of course, I had nothing to do with her. I just wanted to talk to somebody (Filipino, as in Biliran). Her house had nipa roofing, but it was a big house. She was above 30 years old, and one of the beautiful women in this town.

When I visited her, she was sitting in front of a sewing machine, trying to fix some clothes. She looked like she did not really like me to come up. She asked me to sit down on a chair and said, "I am very busy, so excuse me for a while." But she never left the sewing machine nor talked to me until I left.

I told my experience to my colleague, Akagane. It was then that he told me to be careful. He told me everybody here was a sympathizer of the guerrillas. After that experience, the woman never talked to me again. Not even a word.

Like in Biliran, there was no market nor stores in Leyte-Leyte. But sometimes children would come up to us to sell biko, which is a mixture of coconut milk and sugar and sticky rice. It was placed on banana leaf, (roundly) cut like a dish. Each item cost five centavos.

Eating biko was one big pleasure for the Japanese soldiers. It was the only sweet (food) they could get (from this town). The Japanese also have a kind of sweet like biko. It is called ohagi, made out of sticky rice and some beans.

In Biliran, the company headquarters was preparing rooms to receive the new young soldiers after my batch (one year younger than Nakajima’s age). Because of this, the radio squad was ordered to move to another building, located almost in front of the government building where we used to stay.

Our new place looked like a school building. A two-storey structure, it must have been used as a school before the war. My colleagues and I in the radio squad were assigned to occupy the second floor of this building. The new quarters were not as good as the previous one. But the room was full of sunshine and there was much sea breeze. It was really pleasant to be in, although it did not look so nice.

The width of the Biliran Channel was very narrow in front of Biliran town. There were so many big rocks along the seashore. But then there were also coconut trees. So, from the window of our room, the sight was very beautiful. It looked like a picture in some old-style Chinese painting.
 

On clear days, you could see the sunset, the beautiful sunset on Biliran sea.

As I mentioned earlier, we the radio soldiers were so free, we did not have much things to do. We usually spent our free time swimming in the sea or trying to catch some fish with our bare hands. After lunch, we took two-hour naps. We were really having a nice time.

In the radio squad, three of us including myself were called the "soldiers of 1942," the year we were listed before joining the army. The three others were members of the "soldiers of 1940"; they were two years older than us. After we returned from Leyte-Leyte, we prepared for the coming of the "soldiers of 1943."

Let me introduce my two colleagues in the radio squad who belonged to the "soldiers of 1942." One was Tsubokawa, the other was Akagane.

Tsubokawa was born to a farmer’s family in Fukui Prefecture. He was very calm and very diligent. He finished only elementary school, but he was very diligent. In his heart, he really wanted to join the air force. During free time, he was always studying and preparing for an air force job.

Akagane was also from a farmer’s family in Fukui Prefecture. The second boy in the family, he was also very calm and diligent, but very fast in action.

Compared to Tsubokawa and Akagane, I was not that diligent at all. But I was very good in the Morse Code.

The three of us received the same training as radio soldiers in Japan after we were called up for military service. It was our duty to study the Morse Code during the first stage of training.

Since I had worked as an electronics mechanic before I joined the army, I already had some sense of the Morse Code, although I was not yet in a position to know everything about the radio. Thus I ranked No. 1 among the 40 colleagues in the radio training course for the "soldiers of 1942."

It was commonly observed that when you topped your training course in the military, your rise from the ranks would be faster. However, when I came to the Philippines, I was hated by my training master. This bad relation affected my training performance, until I dropped down the rankings and gave up.

Thus, after the training, I had become some sort of a "dropout" in the military ranking game. (Mr. Nakajima was the youngest and lowest-ranking soldier in Biliran before the arrival of the "soldiers of 1943.") I became more relaxed and began to just enjoy my life in the military.

Tsubokawa, however, was more diligent. He dreamed about having a higher rank and becoming an air force pilot. Even at night, he studied under the light of the coconut oil lamp.

Akagane also had a low rank. But he was keeping his diligent way. Of course, he did not care about his rank. He just wanted to work very hard.

The three of us - Tsubokawa, Akagane and I - joined the army on January 10, 1943 in the town of Tsuruga in Fukui Prefecture. We were very good friends.

Around the end of March (1944), Tsubokawa was promoted to the rank of hei-cho or chief of soldiers (maybe corporal, but without direct English equivalent). He was called back to the headquarters of the battalion in Ormoc. He was happy to go to Ormoc, thinking that this was a step towards fulfilling his dream of joining the air force.

We bade each other good-bye. Tsubokawa said he would surely write to me as he sailed away from the Biliran Channel.

That was the last time I saw Tsubokawa. I learned later that he died during a battle in Samar Island.

The replacement for Tsubokawa was Wakizaka. He also belonged to the "soldiers of 1942." He came from Shiga Prefecture, near Fukui Prefecture where Tsubokawa, Akagane and I came from. He was soft and silent, but he was very good in his job.

There were no specific holidays for the Japanese soldiers. But if they were free from work, this basically meant that they could go out to town as they pleased. So the soldiers became very nice friends of the townspeople. Whenever there was some wedding or celebration or some national holiday, they were invited to the dance party.

If a soldier got some invitation from a local resident, it was usual for him to bring some cigarettes or sweets or soap as gift for the host. The cigarettes might have been made in the Philippines, but wrapped in a Japanese way and marked with Japanese characters. The sweets were sugarcoated peanuts. We called them sen-sho-mame. Sen means "battle," sho means "victory," and mame means "peanuts" (thus, "victory in battle is peanuts").

From my observations, the friendship between the townspeople (of Biliran) and the Japanese soldiers was in very good condition. It was very nice.

In the radio squad, when there was no particular special job or additional assignment to do, only the soldier on duty would be left. The others usually went out; I went to the townspeople’s houses.

On the eastern side of the church, there was the biggest well in town. This well was the source of water for the local residents and the Japanese soldiers washing their laundry. During sunny days, both townspeople and Japanese soldiers would crowd around this well to do their washing.
 

The house of the priest (the convent) was located east of the church. The main house had galvanized iron roof while the kitchen was a nipa hut.

The priest was about 50 years old, a very nice and warm person who was always wearing the black clothing (the habit) that priests wore. He was very intelligent and had a very religious feel about him.

Of course, the priest was not married. But he was living with three nephews and a niece. Among the nephews, the eldest was already married. His name was Pacifico Corbete (actually, this was the name of the priest). He was the athletic type, a nice guy. He had a very young wife and a baby.

I already forgot the name of the two younger nephews. But I remembered the niece. Her name was Salucia. She was sixteen years old, very white, shy, naive (simple), lovely and cute little girl.

I had made arrangements for the wife of the priest’s nephew and Salucia to do the washing of the (radio) soldiers’ clothes. In exchange, I gave them soaps and sweets. The people loved to get some soap, as there was a shortage of this item in Philippine towns. Soap therefore was a very welcome exchange item. Both my colleagues and the two ladies were happy about my coordination effort.

In the priest’s house (convent), I used to be served lemonade, made of calamansi (lemon juice) and sugar. This was refreshing and loved by many soldiers.
 

The town mayor was known as a friend of the Japanese. He had a wife, one son, two daughters, and also three girls who were their relatives. All the three girls were mestiza or had Spanish blood.

(A female informant, who was a teenager living in Biliran during the period described by Mr. Nakajima, told the editor that the three mestizas were not relatives of the mayor. They were daughters of the Garamindi family, former owners of the nearby Busali Farm. This Spanish family felt it was safer for their daughters to stay at the mayor’s house rather than in the farm with the parents. The same informant also said the mayor already had more than two daughters during the war. One of them was married to Cresencio Corpin, the mayor’s son-in-law who was a guerrilla leader in mainland Leyte. It seems the Japanese did not know about this family network.)

The older daughter of the town mayor was more than 20 years old. The younger one was nearing 20. Both of them were very beautiful. Many soldiers had a crush on them.

It was common knowledge among the soldiers of one squad that their former squad officer used to bring many presents to the mayor’s daughters.

The three mestiza girls were about the same age as the daughters of the mayor. During late afternoons, the three would stroll together along the road in front of the building used by the radio squad. But they were very typical white women. They were not so popular among the Japanese soldiers because they reminded us of white people, who we felt were very proud of themselves and tended to be snobbish.

The three girls were also snobbish. They pretended they did not notice the young Japanese soldiers that they met along the road.

The mayor’s house had a very wide hall on the second floor. Beside the hall, there was a small counter for the drinking. From the terrace, you could see the big garden with tropical plants. So beautiful.

During the Catholic religious holidays, or some special occasions like birthdays, the town mayor would invite guests for the dance party in his house. On such occasions, it was the officers (from squad officer up to the company commander) who were invited.

The ordinary soldiers went to the ordinary houses, where it was more relaxing, and where they could meet young girls. They did not dare go to the mayor’s house.

Even though I was a young soldier, I was becoming very happy with my life in Biliran Island.

The townspeople called me "radio operator." In the Philippines, this title seemed to be some sort of a badge of recognition. They perhaps thought of my job as intelligent work.

As I lived in Biliran, I came to be a very nice friend of many people.

Elsa’s father was a farmer. He was almost always out to work in his farm. I usually went to their house on the pretext of learning the Visayan language from their daughter.

Elsa did the housework together with her mother. Sometimes she would be reading a book by the window.

In general, Filipino young people liked to play music. Elsa really liked to sing. She could sing some Spanish songs. Her voice was very beautiful. I did not know anything about Elsa’s songs. But I really liked to see her singing.

Elsa’s father was a calm, middle-aged farmer. He loved to receive the cigarettes that I gave him when he was home during my visits. When I asked him if he liked the cigarettes, he usually smelt it first and would say, "This is nice cigarettes." Then he would start smoking.

It was from Elsa’s father that I first learned how to make fire from (rubbing) bamboo sticks. This was one survival skill I used when I was wandering in the mountains of Leyte (south of Lake Danao) after the American landing.

Of course, my Visayan language did not improve very much. I must admit that the real reason for my visits to Elsa’s house was my good feeling towards this young girl.

This (Biliran Channel) was the sea where you could see so many jellyfishes, big ones. I used to bring a bamboo stick with me to pick those huge jellyfishes out of the water. I would remove the umbrella-like portion (the body, from the tentacles), cut it into pieces, mixed it with some vinegar and shoyu (soy sauce), and then ate it. It was very delicious.

At the same time, I was becoming very bored with the "nothing happening" situation in Biliran Island. It was too peaceful. Aside from the boredom, I began to dislike the same meals we were eating everyday.

So I started to use my energy (creativity) by experimenting with new types of cooking. I made pickles out of papaya, mixing the sliced fruit with miso (soybean paste). Or I would go out early in the morning to buy some crabs from fishermen who caught them during the night. I made some special dishes out of these crabs. I thereafter became popular in the company headquarters for my cooking.
 

In the Philippines, lechon (roast pig) was one of the best cuisine. The Japanese soldiers liked it as well. But it was difficult to cook. So we used to ask some townspeople to roast the slaughtered pig for us, in exchange for which we gave them the intestines. Then we would get some beer from the headquarters, and had some nice party.

Compared to the Japanese, I noticed that the Filipinos did not eat as much vegetables.

Kangkong (a leafy vegetable) was a readily available item for the Japanese soldiers. But it was not popular among them because it was just like the vine of the sweet potato (i.e., camote tops, which perhaps they also did not like).

Pork was the main meat item that the Japanese soldiers bought from the townspeople. Pork was much better than carabao meat. But my impression was that the pork in the Philippines was more greasy (fatty) than the Japanese pork.

About the rice, the species of rice (in Biliran) was very different from the Japanese rice. It was not so sticky compared to our rice.

Without electricity, there were no refrigerators (to keep the food items) and no (electric) light.

So life in Biliran was very simple, too simple.

After putting out the main (coconut oil lamp) light for the night, some soldiers started to play mahjong in their squad room. This was not prohibited, since there was nothing else to do.

The members of both houses invited me to stay forever (permanently) in the Philippines. This invitation sometimes left me speechless. I really had no idea what to answer them, for their friendship.

The invitation was especially strong in the house of the priest. I guessed the family members were trying to match me with Salucia, the niece of the priest. But I really had no idea about how to react to this development. Because I was not so sure how long I could stay in Biliran Island.

In response to the invitations (to stay permanently in the Philippines), I said I would think about that when I get out of the army. That was the only answer I could give them. Of course, my Visayan language was not good enough to express those thoughts (adequately).

I was therefore worried that the family of the priest might have thought I had accepted the match to marry Salucia. They were already treating me like a member of their family. When the chief of the radio squad learned about the situation, he also started to recommend to me that the girl (Salucia) was good.

During the afternoons, Salucia would come to the (radio squad) building to bring the laundered clothes. These used to be just folded. Later, they were brought in already flat-ironed. The (radio) soldiers were very happy about this (the flat-ironed clothes). But I felt very nervous about the service because of the related condition (the dilemma Nakajima was facing in relation to Salucia).

To this day, I still feel very bad and so ashamed of that family (of the priest), because I did not accept the marriage (to Salucia).

Anyway, the town of Biliran was very peaceful. The Japanese soldiers who were assigned there had a very good relationship with the townspeople. Perhaps, it was not only me who had some special relationship with the townspeople’s families.