Japanese Language

[Lou Barron]

Although i know a fair number of the words and there meaning of the Japanese Language i just dont know how to spell them it was a good to pick up because it save me from getting a few hidings here some of them .
Shoko means Speedo,Yasume means a spell ,Takusan Byoki means very sick ,Benjo means Toilet,Kiotsuke means Attention ,Keirei means Salute ,Horyo means pow ,and to number off at Tenko the numbers were Ichi,ni ,san,shi ,go ,ruoku,shichi, hachi,ju .also matago Means bring to me some of these words are not spelt properly but it was very handy to know

[j.sabourn]

Lou, how about arigato do tushi musta. Where you were would not have had the pleasure of participating in the guards comforts. Did you ever in the past after the POW camp ever have the fortune or misfortune to meet any of them again. Cheers all the best John S

[Dennis McGuckin]

Although i know a fair number of the words and there meaning of the Japanese Language i just dont know how to spell them it was a good to pick up because it save me from getting a few hidings here some of them .
Shoko means Speedo,Yasume means a spell ,Takusan Byoki means very sick ,Benjo means Toilet,Kiotsuke means Attention ,Keirei means Salute ,Horyo means pow ,and to number off at Tenko the numbers were Ichi,ni ,san,shi ,go ,ruoku,shichi, hachi,ju .also matago Means bring to me some of these words are not spelt properly but it was very handy to know

Lou, the rest of us who never had the misfortune of having to go through what you went through.
Have NO idea.
Thank you for sharing.
It should never be forgotten.
Den.

[Lou Barron]

John No i never met up with any of the Japs not that would have liked to .
Arigato gos imus(not spelt properly mens thank you very much.
Sayornara goodbye but one of the Jap words we did learn was when we was on the ex Chinese river boat the TUNG WO the Japs made us bow (Kobawa not spelt properly while the Jap Ensign was raised and if we did not you got a wallop

[happy daze john in oz]

It is hard to comprehend how a nation that goes in so much for manners could act in such despicable way to prisoners.

[Jacyn Wade]

Lou, did they expect you to learn the language too? Or at least the phrases they wanted you to say?

[Lou Barron]

No Jacyn I was able to learn some of the main things of of the language by one of the Japanese Sailors who was one of the guards on the Tung Wo he was a guy i suppose in his forties his name was Nonaka (we had a nick name for him noballs )he was the only Jap who was not to bad .
He wanted to learn the English Language and he picked on me why i dont know but i did get a lot of the Jap language from him and also on working parties

[Rodney Mills]

Happy daze John, re. #5

Please don't shoot the messenger.

An acquaintance of mine, way back when, was captured after the fall of the Philippines and I asked him how could the Japs do such inhumane things to people. He told me that at that time the Jap Military believed in the military law of Bushido (sp.?) kind of their version of the rules of the chivalry of knighthood. Surrender to the enemy was an act of supreme cowardice under Bushido and death in battle or suicide was the only honorable thing to do. The Japs at that time felt that their prisoners of war were dishonorable and cowards and were not worthy of respect.

A few years back a Jap company that manufactured components for Honda opened a small assembly factory here in my town. The company purchased the house next door as a residence for the plants general manager. The guy was the perfect neighbor, kept the place clean, was quiet, no trouble at all. He had lived next door for about a year and all we did was wave good morning to each other. One Sunday morning I'm fishing on my dock and he comes out on his dock to fish, but he didn't have a clue what to do. I helped him get started and he caught his very first fish. A couple of days later a thank you card and a bottle of scotch is delivered. I asked him to help me out in drinking it, he agreed and we struck up something close to a friendship. One day I asked if the Bushido story was true. Somewhat hesitantly he told me it was. His generation was the last to hear anything about it, as most of the survivors of WW ll were either dead or no longer wanted to talk about the war. In fact the Jap children of today barely know there was a war. Anyway, he confirmed the fact that the military in WW ll trained their service men to win or die, never to surrender, or be captured and that the enemy that did were subhuman and without honor.

Cheers, Rodney

[Jacyn Wade]

That's interesting, Lou. Do you think maybe there were a few Japs like this guy who maybe wasn't completely on side with what his superiors were doing? I know it's no excuse at all, but I wonder if some of them thought treatment of prisoners was too harsh. Their thinking was so backwards, wasn't it?

[happy daze john in oz]

Jaycyn, in all prisons around the world including camps in WW2 for both the Germans and Japs there will always be one or two officers who do not agree with the rules but have to abide by them. Many years ago a good friend of mine worked as a prison officer for 35 years he was one of the more pacifist type but he told me some of the officers got great pleasure at belittling the prisoners even to the extent of hitting them.