Interview with Kepas Kuva (Interview)
(Indigenous perspective)
This interview was conducted by Dr Iwamoto Hiromitsu and transcribed/translated by Pastor Jacob Aramans

Dr Iwamoto: What is your name? Kuva: My name is Kepas Kuva. Dr Iwamoto: How old are you? Kuva: I don’t know. Dr Iwamoto: Were you a little boy when the Japanese arrived? Kuva: I was still young, perhaps about 15 years old. Dr Iwamoto: I want to hear your story about the war. Kuva: My story will be confined only to my area or village which is in the inland of the mainland. When the Japanese came a Japanese police man built his house in my village. Dr Iwamoto: Is this policeman a Japanese or a local. Kuva: His name is Nakata Masta. When he wants to call us to do some work, this is how he calls, “ah o boi, ah o boi”. Dr Iwamoto: So you worked with Nakata. Kuva: That’s right. Dr Iwamoto: What do you do? Kuva: I made gardens. We actually cleared the bush and planted kaukau. Dr Iwamoto: Is this garden in the village? Kuva: It's near the village, at the old village site. Dr Iwamoto: What is the name of the old village site? Kuva: It's called mains. Dr Iwamoto: So everyone from the village worked in this garden? Kuva: Yes. Men and women all worked together. We gathered and had a meeting one time and he told a woman that something will happen in this place. He and his police are men, one was called Yambi and the other Kumure. Dr Iwamoto: Were Yambi and Kumure staying with Nakata? Kuva: Yes, they were staying with him. Dr Iwamoto: They were not police but Kenpei? Kuva: They were Kenpei. Dr Iwamoto: Were Nakata, Yambi and Kumure staying here? Kuva: Yambi is from Sepik and Kumure is from Madang. Dr Iwamoto: What was their task? Kuva: They did something one time and masta Nakata called us together. They got a woman to do that thing. When that woman came, they told us (the men) that they would take this woman. Dr Iwamoto: Did Yambi and Kumure have sex with her? Kuva: No, they left the woman here and they went and ordered a man from this area (baining area) to stay with the woman and he would marry her. They told him “if you refuse, we'll shoot you now”. Dr Iwamoto: Did this bad practice happen once or many times? Kuva: Only once. Dr Iwamoto: Where was Nakata? Kuva: He was with us. Dr Iwamoto: Were there any other Japanese men with you? Kuva: No. Only Nakata, he was our boss. Dr Iwamoto: Did Nakata see what happen? Kuva: Yes, he saw it too. Dr Iwamoto: Was Nakata here when the war ended? Kuva: Yes, he was here until the war ended. Then he was taken to Rabaul. Dr Iwamoto: How many Japanese were here? Kuva: Many. This was their road all the way to Toryu. They came with many horses so this road was wide and clear as if it was made by a bulldozer. I think they were with us for two years. We were with them for a long time. They went away on this road but Nakata stayed with us. He camped in the village with us. Dr Iwamoto: Did Nakata speak pidgin? Kuva: Yes, he spoke in pidgin and in his own language. Dr Iwamoto: How was Nakata, was he good or bad? Kuva: He was a bit good. If you did wrong, he would get on you, but otherwise he would be good to you. Dr Iwamoto: Did Yambi and Kumure get orders from Nakata to do that bad thing? Kuva: Yes, it was his order that the man and woman do that bad thing. After they did it, they dug a deep hole into the ground. Yambi and Kumure then blindfolded two young girls about the age of seven and positioned them in front of the hole. Then they aimed their guns, counted one, two, three and bang simultaneously. We all watched as the girls fell into the hole. Yambi and Kumure mounted their bayonets on their guns and then stabbed them in the hole. Dr Iwamoto: Why did they shoot the two young girls? Kuva: That was because their parents ran away from work. We were sad but we could not cry. Dr Iwamoto: Were you paid while working for the Japanese? Kuva: Yes, I was paid. Dr Iwamoto: What kind of pay? Kuva: That small money called Kumpio. Dr Iwamoto: Did you buy food with it? Kuva: Yes. Dr Iwamoto: Did everyone get Kumpio? Kuva: We accepted if they wanted to buy banana, taro or sugar using Kumpio. Dr Iwamoto: Did the Japanese build the hospital here? Kuva: No. Dr Iwamoto: Did they build the school? Kuva: Not that either, because they were not at ease, they were fighting. Dr Iwamoto: Did the Japanese beat some of you? Kuva: Yes they did. Dr Iwamoto: Why did they do that? Kuva: Sometimes when carrying cargo into the bush one or two would run away. So they used to say we are seaching for the tenth boy in the bush. Dr Iwamoto: Who captured the man? The Japanese or Yambi and Kumure? Kuva: The two Yambi and Kumure. Dr Iwamoto: Did they capture them? Kuva: They ran away leaving their kids behind with the Japanese, so the Japanese killed both children. Dr Iwamoto: Did the Japanese kill more men? Kuva: No. Only their kenpei, Yambi and Kumure, killed man. Nakata gave the orders and they executed them. Dr Iwamoto: Who caught the men who ran away? Kuva: Yambi and Kumure chased them and shot them in the bush. When they returned they said they shot them in the bush. We waited for them but they never returned. One of them was an elderly man and the other was young Dr Iwamoto: Did Yambi and Kumure carry rifles with them? Kuva: Yes, they carried rifles. Dr Iwamoto: Did they wear Japanese uniform? Kuva: Yes, they did wear Japanese soldier uniform. Dr Iwamoto: Were Yambi and Kumure here before the war started? Kuva: No, they came with the Japanese. Dr Iwamoto: Did you see any other Kenpei boys? Kuva: Yes, I saw some. But I couldn’t remember their names. Dr Iwamoto: Do you have other war stories? Kuva: Yes, there was a woman with them and they had sex. Then they told her to sit on a large rock at the river. She was crying because they were aiming their guns at her. Dr Iwamoto: Who did this? Was it the Japanese soldiers? Kuva: Yambi and Kumure did this to that woman. There were some kenpei boys involved, but I am not sure of their names, because they were quite a distance from here. They shot her into the river and that was it. How can the story go out, it was the end of her. Dr Iwamoto: Did some of your woman conceive by the Japanese? Kuva: No. There was no mix-race.