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TIME: Almanac 1993
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TIME Almanac 1993.iso
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120291
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1202997.000
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1992-08-28
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PEARL HARBOR, Page 51REMEMBRANCE"That Was Our Heyday"
By KIICHI MIYAZAWA
[Now 72, he became Prime Minister of Japan in November.]
In October 1942 I was chosen for a survey team of
Southeast Asia. That was our heyday. I remember army and navy
officers wanting to load Johnnie Walker out of the Hong Kong
depot onto our plane, but the strip was too short; it never did
get aboard. Those were the days when Japanese soldiers tried to
eat Camay soap as a cake.
In some countries I thought perhaps the people had been
liberated from colonial rule. We were able to serve for their
good. It was mostly fantasy, but we did have a kind of idealism.
The local people were not very unhappy.
In Singapore I asked a factory worker how she felt working
under Japanese occupation, how it compared with her previous
employer. She refused to say she was much happier. I was
impressed with her candor. She was not the least bit
subservient.