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i entered bandung on march 10, the day after the dutch surrender. on march 11, i instructed deputy chief of staff harada and colonel nakayama yasuto, the director of military and political affairs, on necessary military and political matters. on march 12, i moved the headquarters to the capital batavia (jakarta), instructed that necessary measures should be taken to restore social order, and i toured the divisions with chief of staff okazaki and staff officer takashima.

on the morning of the 12th, i flew out of bandung and visited the sano division that occupied the palembang oilfield in sumatra. on the 13th, i inspected the damage to the oilfield facilities and studied how to repair them. from the 14th to the 15th, i visited the troops of the tsuchihashi division in surabaya and marang. it had been less than a week since the occupation of the area, but i could see people everywhere showing goodwill and cooperation to the japanese army, which made me feel that there was no need to worry about public security. on the afternoon of the 16th, i flew back to jakarta.

personally, i hope to keep my daily life simple. because the local indonesian people in java have been exploited for three hundred years, all the public and civil buildings of the dutch and the residences of overseas chinese are quite luxurious. if the garrison is not restrained, i am worried that it will destroy the simple nature of japanese soldiers (fearing that they will be corrupted by capitalism). however, out of the most basic authority and pomp of ruling 50 million javanese people, the military and political department requires me to live in the governor's residence. i have to obey, but i insist on not using the palace-style villa in bogor. (that's what i said, but a few months later, masanobu tsuji saw that everyone in the second division lived in a small villa, everyone wore a small gold watch, and their luggage was several times more than the baggage and ammunition. for details, see my previous article: masanobu tsuji-"guadalcanal"-14, the famous scene of the second division's luggage)

the offensive operations and the work of restoring the infrastructure came to an end, but in order to guard against an allied counterattack based in australia, a java island defense plan and a military and political implementation outline had to be formulated, and a large number of visitors had to be received every day, leaving little time to sit down.

after moving to jakarta, i have received many letters from mainland japan. it takes a lot of time just to reply to the thank-you letters every day.

in early may, a classmate of mine at the army institute sent me a letter from the capital of north korea, with a clipping from the april 15th edition of the capital daily attached.

the letter said:

[on march 10, i heard on the radio that the dutch army had surrendered. our army won a great victory under your command. i was very happy and wanted to send a congratulatory letter immediately. however, considering that the war had just ended and there must be chaos, the letter might not be received, so i delayed sending it. this morning's newspaper published an interview with lieutenant colonel makoto okamura of the general staff, who had just returned from java. the interview detailed the battle process of the dutch east indies. i read it carefully. the front page of the newspaper read:

"the locust army was not afraid of the difficulty of crossing the sea, and swam to the island to conquer java"

the newspaper said that you were 56 years old and could still swim to shore in your military uniform. i never knew you were such a good swimmer and was really surprised. but after i read the whole report carefully, i realized that most of the officers and soldiers were rescued by small boats. as a commander, you are old and should wait for rescue like other soldiers. if you get a heart attack because of forcing yourself to swim and eventually drown in the sea, wouldn't it be a joke? you should consider your current position and responsibilities, especially reflect on your impatience. i advise you not to act rashly like this in the future. then there was another story in the newspaper, which was recalled by chief inspector orita of the nandamen branch in the capital: "i was assigned to the fifth division headquarters in the chinese battlefield as a sergeant. i entered nanning with lieutenant general imamura. the soldiers in the headquarters found a fine rosewood bed for the division commander, considering his age. the division commander said that generals and soldiers should use the same things, and he would not use this rosewood bed. i was inexplicably moved at the time. now that his excellency imamura has occupied java, i am sincerely happy." this story is certainly touching, but i don't think you are right. your men took great pains to find you a high-quality bed. you should thank them and then use this bed to have a good rest. the soldiers will be very happy. i think it is wrong for you to live up to the kindness of your subordinates in order to share the joys and sorrows with the soldiers. as a classmate, i speak more directly. in short, congratulations on your victory and wish you good health]

i am very happy to feel the concern of my friend. but why did such a report that is inconsistent with the facts appear? i have been angry many times before because of the media's nonsense. even if the starting point is good, distorting the facts will make people sad. while reading my friend's letter, i wrote the following reply while sweating profusely:

[“thank you for your letter. i read it all. although the newspaper was written to say good things about me, the description of the incident was untrue and i was very upset. while thanking everyone, i want to explain.

first, how can a 56-year-old swim 2,000 meters fully armed? i only swam in middle school. but i almost never swam after that. so when i was struggling in the sea, my heart ached. when i was about to drown, i found a piece of wood floating in front of me. i finally held it. as you said, i was waiting for the boat to start to rescue me.

the second story about chief inspector orita is also a misunderstanding. i am grateful to them for getting this bed for me, and i have slept on this high-end red sandalwood bed. you should know that this bed was transported from li zongren's residence in nanning.

however, there were many bedbugs on that bed, which made me itch all night and unable to sleep. the soldiers' camp beds were disassembled and could be disinfected with hot water, so there were no bedbugs. for battlefield commanders, it is important to sleep well at night. otherwise, you will not be clear-headed and cannot command. in order to sleep well, i asked the adjutant to move a soldier's bed for me. it's not that i have to show off and share the hardships with the soldiers.

corporal orita worked at the headquarters and often came to repair our watches. he came to my dormitory several times. so when he saw that i was using the same camp bed as the soldiers, not the rosewood bed he had found, he misunderstood me with good intentions.

please tell chief inspector orita when you pass through the south gate: imamura wishes orita-kun good health. however, the story he told the journalist is not true.]

(additional note) after the war, my driver during the java period, mr. imai riro from shiraoka town, saitama prefecture, always wrote to me. at that time, we lived in the same dormitory and did the same things every day. our memories began with swimming in the sea and ended when i was transferred and left java. one of his letters reads:

"…when we were climbing the mountain road, it was pouring rain and the car was slipping and couldn't move forward. commander, you were the first to get out of the car and help me push the car…"

i also felt ashamed when i saw this section.

it was march 9th. when i was leaving karizachi airport for bandung, it started to rain heavily. groups of artillery vehicles and cars had made the mountain road muddy. when i was driving up a slope, i felt that the car was slowly sliding out. i looked out the window and saw a cliff 50 to 60 meters high. i immediately realized that i was in trouble and jumped down in a hurry.

if the car fell off the cliff, i would have to climb up on my legs. i didn't want to climb this difficult mountain road, so i pushed the car desperately to prevent it from falling. my adjutant and i tried our best but it didn't work. fortunately, there was a big rock nearby. we quickly put the rock under the two rear wheels and finally prevented the car from sliding down.

i was the first to jump out of the car to escape danger, not to help the driver push the car. however, mr. imai mistakenly thought that i jumped out of the car to help him, and he was very moved.

people with pure hearts will speculate on other people's thoughts based on their own feelings, which is why such kind misunderstandings occur.

to be continued...