We managed now and then, to obtain a copy of the Japanese (English Edition) newspaper "Osaka Mainichi", although this only proved to us the low mentality of the Japanese people. The ridiculous things published as facts, and believed, would have been reserved for our comic strips at home. One example of this, was a report which stated that when Singapore fell, the inhabitants were so grateful to see the Imperial Japanese Forces march in, that even the monkeys in the treetops were shouting "Banzai"! Another report was to the effect that when a Japanese fighter plane landed at an aerodrome, an ambulance with a doctor rushed to meet it, to find that the pilot had been dead for about two hours; it was announced that his spirit had brought the plane back safely!
It may also be interesting to recall that the newspapers printed, that every ship in the U.S. Navy was sunk at least three times in the first year of war. It was hard to understand at first, how the Japanese people could believe all this rubbish, or how the Government could dominate the very lives and minds of the people right from childhood, telling them what to do, where to live, where to work, how many children to have, etc. We realised that the Japanese were not even allowed to have a mind of their own, but that all thinking was done for them by the State.
Our work on the docks was hard, but it kept us healthy as it occupied our minds. At this time, many of the ships we· unloaded were bringing sugar and other commodities from Singapore and Malaya, and needless to say, we became quite adept at "acquiring" food, etc. Often a party of us would board a ship to unload it and at the end of the day the crew would find that the ship's galley had been emptied of all foodstuffs; this would result in a rigorous search, but by that time we had put the food where it would do us the most good.
We were surprised to find that a great many of the Japanese working class were not at all interested in the war. They could not express any feelings of their own, as they had been brought up to have no minds or opinions of their own. We found that many of them were inclined to be pro-British, although anti-American, and through them we were able to receive items of news, although they were terrified of the “Kempei Tai”. The “Kempei Tai” were actually Military Police, but these M.P.s had unusual power in Japan. They held the power of life and death over everyone, Services and civilians alike, and had a lar ge number of "undercover” men, who mixed with the rest of the population. As a result of this, everyone in Japan was afraid of their neighbour.
The Japanese women, we found, were very courteous, not only to their own people, but also to us; they lead a very narrow existence and are only concerned with childbearing and labour. They have no legal standing and can be cruelly beaten for the slightest mistake, while if a woman (whether aged 8 or 80) is sitting down in a tram, bus or train, and a man enters, she must immediately stand up and offer her seat. Modesty is non-existent, and during the hot weather, the women bathed in full public view and walk around as naked as on the day they were born. Every street in Japan has its own little communal bathhouse, where the population of the street proceeds each evening, men, women, and children together.
Some of our POWs were working in steel-mills and cement factories, and they were embarrassed at first, to be led at the end of the day, to the factory's communal bath, and told to undress and bathe themselves in full view of twenty or thirty girls who were already bathing! However, it was only another proof that the Englishman can adapt himself to any circumstances whatsoever!