Remembrance "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.