Cigarettes were rationed—one carton per month. I had an advantage as I didn’t smoke, so I could get 300 yen for them on the black market. That kept me in spending money for cameras, film, souvenirs – a bow and arrows and target, artificial flowers, a fish bowl, a mirror, etc. I could and did send most of my money home for Mom to put in the bank for me.
All Japanese people were searched before they could enter the visitor’s section at the trials. An American woman (civil service) searched the women, and they hired two Japanese women to help. These two native Japanese women were Police officers and the first female police officer in the history of Japan. They had our pictures in the St. Louis Globe Democrat, the Nippon Times and a newspaper in Kentucky, where the other soldier working with me lived.
Movies were free or twenty cents. The British theater was free also, so I saw lots of shows.
I saw a soccer game between the British Empire and the USSR in Yokahama. That was the first and last soccer game I ever saw.
Once I went to the lake near the W. M Building to go boat riding. There I met a Russian white boy about 10-12 years old. I bought him fishing equipment and we went out on the lake. He spoke perfect English. His parents fled Russia when the Communists took over.
One of the boys in my room met an American man who was very kind and generous with him. One day the man came along to our room and we found out why he was so generous and kind with our roommate. He was Gay. That was my first experience with Gay men.