Partial Transcript: Tom and George Aratani travel on the same ship to Japan. Tom explains why George travels to Japan. George brought his father's ashes back to Hiroshima, Japan.

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Keywords: Issei parents; Nisei; travel

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Partial Transcript: When Tom arrived in Japan, he was greeted by his college friend's family member. Tom's college friend's sister was married to a Nisei, and they lived in Tokyo. The sister's husband met Tom at the Yokohama train station and showed him around. Tom got a debriefing on how to act as a Nisei in Tokyo. Tom already has a place to stay in Kanda through his mother. Tom's traveled with the son of a local store owner. The son's mother and sister lived in Kanda, and Tom stayed with them.

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Keywords: Issei parents; Nisei; travel

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Partial Transcript: Before traveling to Japan, Tom was debriefed about the Mitsubishi Company by the company's representative. When Tom was getting his visa to travel to Japan, he learned about the current situation between Japan and the United States. Tom recalls questioning the Mitsubishi representative about the news.

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Keywords: employment; Nisei; travel

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Partial Transcript: Getting world news through the newspaper or radio is not easy. You only heard the news through word of mouth. In the interview with Mitsubishi asked technical questions, and Tom was able to answer all of them. Moreover, Tom said they did not mention anything about world affairs between Japan and the United States. Tom was not allowed to speak English, only Japanese. Aircraft engineering was new to Mitsubishi at the time. Tom specifically wanted to work on aircraft design.

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Keywords: employment; Nisei

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Partial Transcript: Tom traveled around Tokyo on his own. He recalls getting lost and buying a map. Tom mentioned knowing what to look for and what to ask helped him navigate around Japan. Tom contacted his high school classmate in Japan and he showed him around Ginza. They go to Olympic Restaurant to eat Western food. Tom learned general information about Tokyo from his high school classmate.

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Keywords: Nisei; social activities

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Partial Transcript: Tom's high school classmate recently graduated from college. He does not know too much about Mitsubishi other than it was a big company. However, Tom's friend shared his experience in Yamaguchi, which was helpful to Tom. After two weeks, Tom heard back from Mitsubishi and hired him. Mitsubishi has many departments and subsidies. Tom majored in design engineering, and he was assigned to work on aircraft body design.

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Keywords: employment; Nisei

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Partial Transcript: Mitsubishi's aircraft department was divided into two divisions Army and Navy. Tom worked in the Navy Department. He mentions Germany was very advanced in aircraft design (bombers and single aircraft). Before, Tom was not allowed to talk about his work because it was confidential. However, he shares now that he was under the design department creating bombers and single aircraft. Tom was assigned to the bomber section, specifically G4 bombers. Tom worked with an engineer designing the tail of the bomber. The G4 was not a successful bomber.

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Keywords: employment; Nisei

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Partial Transcript: Tom discusses Darling, Australia, and the United States Navy finding out about the Japanese bomber. He recalls seeing a bomber flying above his design department and wanting to wave. However, his colleague told him it was an enemy bomber. When Tom was assigned to the Navy section, he understood the situation between Japan and the other countries. In Japan, radio was censored by the government. The Navy always knew the news first. Tom explains how the Navy received the information first hand.

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Keywords: Nisei

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Partial Transcript: Mitsubishi received information from the Navy. Tom recalls talking to a Navy man who fought in a famous battle. In Tom's field of work, he learned more about the Japanese Navy versus United States Navy, particularly on airplanes. The United States Navy fighters were famous for their Lockheed fighter (two-wing type). Early 1941, Tom was transferred to the fighter section at Mitsubishi. Before Pearl Harbor, Tom worked in the Navy section on zero fighters. Tom was working on the 6th and 7th versions.

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Keywords: Nisei

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Partial Transcript: Tom worked in the Navy section on zero fighters. Tom worked on the 6th and 7th versions focusing on the landing gear. Tom describes creating and getting approval of the landing gear design.

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Keywords: Nisei

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Partial Transcript: Tom was assigned to work on the landing gear for the zero fighters. After a month, his supervisors gave Tom design plans of the Navy submarine landing gears to review. Tom does not want to replicate the design of the German submarine landing gear because what might work for the Germans might not work for the Japanese. After working hard day and night on the landing gear design, Tom showed his results to his supervisor for the Navy to test.

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Keywords: Nisei

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Partial Transcript: Tom recalls the deadline to complete the calculations of the landing gear in three months. He designed the landing gear with the philosophy of not using a dead weight. Tom describes the operations and the mechanics of the landing gear. His goal was to make the landing gear as strong and light as possible. Tom succeeded with his calculations. After designing the landing gear, the draft went to aircraft manufacture. Mitsubishi does not do the manufacturing.

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Keywords: Nisei

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Partial Transcript: Tom succeeded in his calculations for the landing gear. He discovered the weak point in the German's designed and enhanced it for the Japanese. The philosophy of creating something durable and light worked. Tom instructed the aircraft manufacture to produce the landing gear light and unbreakable. Afterward, the finished product was tested on a Navy airplane, and the inspection officer was not convinced. Tom wrote a report in Japanese and English.

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Keywords: Nisei

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Partial Transcript: After the trial test of the landing gear with the Navy, Tom wrote a report. He met with 20 other people within the Mitsubishi Company and the Navy to explain the results. Tom mentions he can tell if he meets an Army or Navy personnel by their punctuality. In the meeting, Tom gave an example of a pencil to demonstrate his philosophy and design of his landing gear. The new version of the landing gear for the zero fighters was A7. Tom explains there many versions.

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Keywords: Nisei

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Partial Transcript: The test was a success. Tom discusses the results of the landing gear test with the Navy Colonel. Tom explained the philosophy he followed and the example design of the German submarine landing gear picture. He also demonstrated dropping the pencil for an example of the landing gear design. After the meet, the design was adopted. However, the war ended.

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Keywords: Nisei; World War Two

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Partial Transcript: Tom thinks the zero fighters were a good plane. Tom recalls talking to the man who created the aircraft department at Mitsubishi. Tom learned that Mitsubishi sent him to the United States to Curtis Wright Airfield. He watched and monitored the airplanes as they flew and landed for a week. Later, he returned to Japan, and after several months he developed the zero fighters.

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Keywords: Nisei

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Partial Transcript: Tom heard how the United States aircraft could not follow the zero fighters from another engineer. The first zero fighter can fly with a minimum radius of the horizontal and vertical circle. As a result, the United States created better aircraft. The manufacturing in the United States was fast. The war ended, and Tom's design did not make it in time. Tom also discusses the aluminum body of the aircraft. The source of aluminum was not available in Japan. He shares a story in the bomber section manager inviting him to his house to talk about the bomber tank.

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Keywords: Nisei; World War Two

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Partial Transcript: Tom went to the bomber section manager's house, and he asked Tom about the Japanese bomber tank protection. The bomber manager said they did not have the rubber to protect the tank because the rubber was in Malaysia. Therefore, the bomber tanks could not work in the front lines. Working at Mitsubishi, there was six other Nisei working there besides Tom. Tom and three other Nisei were from Southern California, one from Sacramento, one from Seattle, one from New York who graduated from MIT with a Master's, and one from Washington University. Tom says the Nisei decided to work from Mitsubishi because they wanted to use their engineering experiences since they could not find an engineering job in the United States.

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Keywords: education; employment; World War Two

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Partial Transcript: Tom discusses the Nisei from Sacramento, CA, had difficulties getting along with his colleagues and speaking Japanese. Later, the Nisei from Sacramento was drafted. Tom recalls hearing the announcement from the Emperor that the war ended and the atomic bomb dropped. When the war was over, the design people from Mitsubishi had to evacuate to be close to the Navy airplanes.

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Keywords: family; World War Two

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