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this episode mainly talks about imamura and sukarno

mr. sukarno was born with a science and engineering background. he became a professor at bandung university of technology in java at the age of 27. since then, he has been committed to the indonesian national independence movement and has persisted for more than ten years. during this period, he was imprisoned in java, new guinea and sumatra several times and experienced hardships. when i landed in java, he was still in the bankren prison in sumatra. he was just in his early 40s.

after the war in java, students and other youth groups in java frequently submitted petitions to the military and political department, asking: "mr. sukarno enjoys high prestige among the indonesian people, please release him from the prison in sumatra."

the propaganda team of the military and political department considered that if they could get mr. sukarno's support, it would be beneficial for the japanese army to implement military politics, so they asked the prison to arrange for mr. sukarno to be released. soon, mr. sukarno arrived in java and was taken to jakarta by the staff officer nakayama ningren.

the leaders of the southern army headquarters in saigon at the time were still sarcastically saying: if a fanatical nationalist like sukarno were taken in to java, imamura hitoshi would have a lot of headaches in the future.

i didn't care about it. one day in may, mr. sukarno proposed through colonel nakayama that he wanted to see me and say hello to me in order to thank me for releasing him from prison and letting him return to java. i had no reason to refuse, so i accepted it.

his gentle, elegant face and calm speech did not show that he was a fanatic at all. however, the hardships of long-term imprisonment made his forehead full of wrinkles, which more or less revealed the indomitable spirit of this patriot.

in order to avoid making the conversation tense, i did not take him to the reception room, but to the study. there was no table between us, but two chairs sitting opposite each other.

there are several translators in the headquarters. among them are mr. shogenji's two sons. while working as a journalist in fukuoka, mr. shogenji wanted to start a business overseas. later, he moved to china and singapore, and then moved to dutch indonesia. he developed in surabaya, especially in southern borneo, planted coconuts and rubber, and successfully opened a mine there. most of the japanese businesses in the area, including nomura trading company, were taken care of by him. he had a high prestige among both the dutch and indonesians, so at the beginning of the war, he was recruited by the navy and served as the mayor of panziel masiso, the capital of south borneo. his eldest son, kuan (18 years old), was born there and studied in the dutch elementary and middle schools. he is now a translator in my headquarters, and the second son, xiaozhen (16 years old), is a translator in my dormitory. the older brother's expression is already very stable, while the younger brother has an innocent and childish look.

me: "adjutant tanaka! can those two kids be official translators? they look so childish..."

tanaka: "it's okay. in the general staff, i will also let my brother translate some of the more profound content... the level of translation is not determined by appearance, but by language ability..."

captain tanaka minoru said this, but he did not mean to replace the other translators.

mr. sukarno came to my dormitory six or seven times, and we had private conversations together. i liked the boys from zhengyuan temple to be interpreters the most! their language level was indeed very high.

colonel yasuto nakayama was also present at the first meeting. first, we started with greetings.

i said, "mr. sukarno! i have read many of your works in java and heard a lot about you, so i am very clear about your ideological principles and code of conduct, as well as your efforts for indonesia's independence. therefore, i will not make any imperative demands on you. because i know that you will not do anything that does not conform to your thoughts..."

when this greater east asian war is over, no one can say whether the entire indonesian region will establish a completely independent country as you expect, or ally with japan or become a federal independent country, or become a highly autonomous country with japan responsible for defense, etc. this is decided by the japanese government directly in consultation with the indonesian leadership, and i have no right to interfere in this matter. the only thing i can publicly promise to 60 million people now is that the military government i implement will bring better political power and welfare to the indonesian people than the dutch colonial period. therefore, whether you assist my army to come out and do things, or take a neutral position, do nothing, and wait and see the situation, it is all fine. even if it is the latter, the army will protect your life, property and reputation.

however, if you interfere with the japanese military operations and local administration, i will never allow you to move freely until the end of the war. even in this case, i will not put you in prison like i did with the dutch officials.

you don't need to reply in a hurry. please discuss with your comrades, decide on a clear attitude, and inform me through colonel nakayama.

sukarno: "i understand what the commander means. i will think about it and give you an answer soon."

although the conversation went smoothly, it took more than an hour because it was translated back and forth. after the conversation, mr. sukarno left.

about four days later, colonel nakayama brought sukarno's reply:

"the japanese side has promised to improve the welfare of indonesians compared to the dutch colonial era. i believe this, and my comrades and i will assist the japanese side in its administration. however, after the war, i will not give up my freedom of will to take any action, and i want to make this clear."

taking the above conversation as an opportunity, colonel nakayama and mr. sukarno negotiated to assist the japanese military and government. to achieve this goal, an agency was established and the army was promised to provide the necessary office staff, car configuration, funds for activities, etc., so his visits to me increased.

i once said to him: "regarding the increase in the welfare of the indonesian people that i originally promised mr. sukarno, first of all, i want to replace most of the official positions that were previously occupied by the dutch with capable indonesians.

however, the japanese government informed me that they would send dozens of administrative officials such as the prime minister from japan to serve as governors and mayors of large cities in the near future. this was not only done in java, but also in all occupied areas. this was done to prevent the enemy from making a comeback and to consider the coordination between the military and the people.

i believe that no matter what, the essence of civil affairs must be handled by indigenous officials. therefore, i would like to let a group of indonesians take up positions below the county magistrate as soon as possible. if talents who can play a role in state politics emerge, the japanese will be gradually replaced.

the second point i am considering is setting up an administrative advisory body.

in a state of war, it is impossible to let all ethnic groups vote for members and convene parliament. so i want to set up an institution to listen to the voice of the people - the advisory council, with mr. sukarno, me and count kodama taking turns as the speaker, and selecting 5 or 6 japanese and about 10 indonesians as members. the administrative work will be done by colonel nakayama and another person recommended by you, trying to understand what the people want now, what difficulties they have, etc., to help them, so that various policies are in line with local actual conditions and implemented. the three political advisers on the japanese side all agree with this view. what do you think?"

sukarno: "of course it is possible to set up this institution. i hope it will be established immediately."

me: "you will recommend and select ten people. you don't have to worry about the funding. we will also provide the travel expenses and other expenses required for the investigation. so starting from tomorrow, please discuss with colonel nakayama and draw up a specific plan for the consultation institute.

within a month, the plan was agreed upon and the names of the members of the two sides were determined (the japanese side had three political advisers, plus the chief of staff and the deputy chief of staff, a total of five people. the indonesian side had today's president, vice president, and most of the cabinet members at the time of independence). during my tenure in java, i held three or four conferences and put forward many good suggestions, which were implemented by the military and political departments. i heard that the operation of the advisory council continued until the end of the war.

one sunday, mr. sukarno called my adjutant, captain tanaka minoru, and said that he wanted to visit me in my dormitory for personal matters. i agreed, and he brought a young man of about 30 years old with him.

we talked with the help of zhengyuanji zhen's translation.

sukarno: "this young man is my nephew baskin abdullah, who is the leading oil painter in indonesia. he wants to paint a portrait of the commander, so he asked me to come to you, what do you think?..."

me: "my face cannot be an object of art. however, if you want to use it for practice, that's fine. but you can't let me stay still for too long, right?"

sukarno: no, no. just chat with me normally.

the two of them came every two or three days, a total of four times. the last time, lieutenant colonel machida (publicity squad leader) and shimizu sai brought mr. sukarno, mr. abdullah, and mr. hatta (later vice president) to my dormitory and put the portrait in a beautiful frame. mr. sukarno said it was a gift for me.

i told the young man that i wanted to buy the painting, but he firmly disagreed, saying that the painting was not good. i had no choice but to accept it, but still asked someone to send a considerable gift to the painter abdullah's home. later i learned that it was mr. shimizu's idea to create this painting. he wanted me to have more conversations with mr. sukarno. i also felt that it was a pleasure to be familiar with mr. sukarno.

i have absolute trust in mr. sukarno and the young people under his command. they have devoted almost all their hearts and minds to national independence. at the same time, they have made great contributions to the japanese army and japan.

i heard that his oratory was amazing. i have never heard him speak, but i wonder if such a gentle and polite person could have such passion?

one day, political adviser hayashi kyujiro said during a discussion: "a few days ago, i was on the street and passed by a square. i saw a huge crowd and couldn't get through. so i got off the car to ask, and it turned out that mr. sukarno was giving a speech to the people. i squeezed into the crowd to listen. because the speech was in javanese, the content was unknown, but his voice and tone were full of abundant enthusiasm. the crowd was completely attracted by his speech and set off a storm of enthusiasm. just as the legend goes, it was really amazing.

dutch officials avoided him and imprisoned him in remote prisons many times, keeping him away from the public, because they were afraid of his firm will for national independence and his prestige among the indonesian people.

(follow-up note) seven years later. i was imprisoned in jakarta's cibinan prison as a war criminal. before the military trial, i was imprisoned in a political prisoner cell with a more comfortable living environment. i was allowed to go out for two or three hours every morning and afternoon, take a walk in the prison, or go to other prisoners' cells to play cards and chat.

among the political prisoners were two officers of the independence army. in a non-commissioned officer school in yogyakarta, the captain was the squadron leader and the second lieutenant was the squad leader. when the captain met me while walking, he would salute respectfully, but he never entered my room once. the second lieutenant looked like a japanese, was 22 years old this year, and was said to be from an aristocratic family. during the war, he entered the youth training center guided by the japanese army, learned some japanese, and often came to my room and chattered with me in broken english and japanese.

one day, two people came to my room together. then the captain said the following in english.

"we have something important to say today. our english is not good enough. i would like to ask mr. yamazaki who lives in the front room to translate it. please be sure to listen."

yamazaki was born in hosei university. he was a baseball player named kumadai-kun in the six university league. now he was drafted into the army under his adoptive father's name. he was convicted of a series of incidents while serving in the java military police and was convicted of being a war criminal. he speaks indonesian very well and is admired by many indigenous people.

according to the prison's instructions, yamazaki was assigned to manage 700 japanese war criminals and was responsible for liaison with the authorities. i greeted yamazaki and he came right away.

they said: "as you know, more than half of the aboriginal guards in this prison cooperate with the independent government. there are also three or four staunch independent guards in this political prisoner cell. i am the liaison officer of the independent government in our prison. today, the independent government conveyed instructions to the two of us."

i see. there is an independent republic in yogyakarta, a city in central java, headed by none other than sukarno.

me: “what does that directive have to do with me?”

"that's about the general. your subordinates, maruyama, the division commander, and tokairin, the regiment commander, have been sentenced to death. according to information from insiders in the independence government, you, general imamura, will probably be sentenced to death as well. i don't know what the presiding judge will sentence me to, but if maruyama and tokairin are both executed, i estimate that you will also be hanged, so we secretly investigated the execution date and planned to intercept the prisoner on the way to the execution ground that day. now we are making plans, and i hope that you will jump on the car of the independence army without hesitation. mr. sukarno asked me to tell you this."

i don't know this squadron leader. however, judging from his and the second lieutenant's expressions, he doesn't seem to be making things up. but i don't completely believe him. i heard that there are supporters of the independent government among the guards, as well as spies from the netherlands and even double agents. so i can't let anything slip, especially when it comes to intercepting prisoners, so i asked yamazaki-kun to translate it as follows:

"i hope that through you i can give the following reply to the independent government. in japanese bushido, it is dishonorable to survive the execution. in order to save me, you must organize people to fight with the dutch military and police. bullets have no eyes, and there will definitely be casualties. i am deeply grateful for mr. sukarno's kindness, but please forgive me for not agreeing with his prisoner rescue plan.

if the independence movement wins and chibinan prison is taken over by the independence army before i am executed, i will not refuse to release me.”

the two officers seemed unable to understand my refusal for a moment. however, after repeated persuasion from mr. yamazaki, they still passed on the message to their superiors despite showing puzzled expressions.

surprisingly, the chief judge rejected my death sentence, and later, with the intervention of the dutch governor, i was found not guilty, so there was no need to intercept the prisoner. but for me personally, mr. sukarno's kindness is really precious.

imamura and sukarno had a close personal relationship and met many times after the war. i found three or four photos of their meetings from different eras.

later, the british consul general in jakarta suddenly came to the japanese law firm and said the following:

"i went to jakarta a few days ago and paid a visit to mr. sukarno (at this time, with the mediation of the united nations, the independence of the republic of indonesia was recognized, and mr. sukarno was determined to be the first president). independence day is set on december 27. before that, he cannot speak for the japanese war criminals in prison. the consulate general in london is very close to the japanese lawyers' office. he entrusted me to visit the japanese lawyers' office after i took office and convey my greetings to imamura: "sukarno is sincerely happy that general imamura was found not guilty, and wants to tell him that sukarno will not forget general imamura's kindness eight years ago."

the above content was relayed to me by bachelor of law kiyoshi matsumoto of the japanese lawyers group (currently living in osaka).

i have not given any reply to mr. sukarno yet.