10 Questions: Lawyer's memoir recalls growing up Jewish in Japan during WWII
What was it like to be in Tokyo when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor?
It was a total surprise. I was almost 11, and I remember going to school and seeing people listening to the radio and hearing the announcement. The average Japanese who lived in our neighborhood were very sad about it. They did not welcome the war at all.
I realize that your family was not American, but as non-Japanese, did things change following Pearl Harbor? Did your family ever experience any discrimination?
No, the Japanese divided foreigners into three categories: There were allies and there were enemies, and the enemies were arrested and sent back or exchanged. Then there was the category of people who were stateless. There were a lot of Russians in this category. They had come from Russia after the revolution and had lost their nationality, becoming stateless. All of our official paperwork listed us as stateless, and the Japanese respected that.
How did your family survive the war?
We survived thanks to food rationing and working with our neighbors. When the B-29s began to bomb the cities, things became very rough, especially with the fire bombings of Tokyo during early 1945. The fire engines had no gasoline, so we would put out the fires using water pumps operated by two people. In March 1945, almost our entire neighborhood was wiped out.
How did you connect with the U.S. military?
It was late August 1945, and I knew the American troops were landing. I wanted to see it, so I literally ran away from home. I told my parents I was going out to buy some food, and I went down to Yokohama. As I was going home, American naval officers picked me up off the street and took me to their ship. I became acquainted with a Marine colonel, and he took an interest in me and hired me to be a translator and a driver in Yokosuka at the naval air base, which he commanded. When he was leaving in 1946, he asked if I wanted to come to the United States. He and his wife didn’t have any children, so I went to live with them in Hawaii.
You had the opportunity to visit Hiroshima with a group of Navy officers. What was that like?
It was horrifying. I’ve been there since the city was rebuilt, and you wouldn’t know what happened, but in 1945, it was an absolute graveyard.
You became an American citizen in 1951. As someone who had been stateless, what did that mean to you?
It meant an awful lot. I was in the Army, and I went in my uniform to the court in Alexandria, Virginia, and stood in line and applied. I delayed being sent to Korea until I could become a citizen. I was in Korea for the first half of 1952, before I went to law school. I was in the Army Corps of Engineers in the intelligence unit, looking for enemy mines and booby traps, and we removed them when we found them.
Did your experiences living in a war zone prepare you for the dangers you faced in Korea?
Yes, I was 21, so I didn’t realize how dangerous it was, but I was much more used to being physically at risk than the average kid.
You’ve built a distinguished career in international litigation and arbitration, specializing in privatization and international arbitration between business interests in the former Soviet Union and in Eastern and Central Europe. You’ve practiced law in Tokyo and spent a decade in practice in Paris. How did you keep up with so many different laws and languages, and did you enjoy the challenge?
I just learned as I went along! I liked what I was doing—being a lawyer has been a very satisfying profession. I worked for two really wonderful law firms and spent 30 years at each place. I couldn’t think of a better life.
This article was published in the May 2018 issue of the ABA Journal with the title "War and Remembrance: Lawyer’s memoir of growing up Jewish in Japan during WWII may be headed for the big screen."
