E03U, Danielle Davison ‘94, Misako Barbu, Teacher, 1934, Yokohama: Naka-ku
Mrs Barbu has been my teacher since elementary school. In November 1992, I asked her about the years immediately following Japan’s surrender to the U.S. and the other Allied nations.
Danielle (= D): How old were you during the U.S. Occupation of Japan?
Misako (= M): I was eleven when the Occupation began, after Japan’s surrender.
D: Where did you live during that time?
M: I always lived in Yokohama.
D: What school did you attend?
M: I went to Ferris Girls’ School [Ferris Jogakuin, in Yamate-chō] at first, but later I contracted tuberculosis, so I was out of school for one year. After that, I attended Tōkyō Jissen Girls’ School.
D: How did it feel having a foreign country ruling over your own country?
M: It didn’t feel like anything strange to me. I was too young to really know or care about what was going on in my country.
D: What memories do you have of American soldiers in Yokohama?
M: I lived in a quiet suburban neighborhood, so I really didn’t see any Americans, other than the occasional Army Jeep.
D: Were you scared by seeing that?
M: No, I was too young to know who they were and why they were in Japan.
D: Did your family life continue as it had before the war?
M: For me it did, but there were many hardships for my parents. During the war, our house was burned down, the factory that my father owned also burned down, and my father and older brothers all died. After the war, my mother took over the factory and got it running again. She became the head of my family, which included only my little sister and me. I knew that there was a shortage of many foods and other things, but my family always had enough. I was well-disciplined, and my parents felt that my only worry should be studying in school.
D: Were there any differences between Japan during the war and during the U.S. Occupation?
M: During the war, the government would not let me play the piano music that I liked. But during the Occupation, I listened to jazz and other different types of American music.
D: So would you say that you became more free during the Occupation?
M: No, because my family was very strict, and they wanted to keep me out of trouble.
D: Did your schooling change at all?
M: I remember that in my middle school entrance examination, there was a question about democracy and what it meant to me. During the war, we had to learn everything through memorization, but we didn’t do that after the war.
D: As a result of the war, how did your feelings change?
M: I just hoped that there would never be another war, and that the future would be peaceful.