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

Dr Iwamoto: What is your Name? Samare : My name is Seno Samare. During the war I was a young man and I used to stay with the Japanese Navy. I stayed with them until one time when I was beaten up by a navy officer. As a result I got up and ran away. Then I came back to them and because of my good testimony they took me back and I stayed with them. I was brought to the officer in charge where the navy officers wanted me to become their cook so I started working for them. When I stayed and cooked for them I found out that, this particular group of Japanese were dangerous and aggressive. If a person made a mistake and if they found out they would beat him up. Mercy was far beyond them. They found that I was a nice person. I was quick to listen and do whatever they told me to do. Regardless of whether it was good or bad I had no choice but to do it before they did any thing to me for not listening to them. Because of this I behaved well and happily stayed with them. They would not allow any body else to come and cook for them. At times they would allow me to have free time. Whatever food I cooked or they cooked we shared together. Whatever meat, pig's meat, fish, cuscus or snake, we all shared together. During my stay with the Japanese, and according to my observation, I saw that when people did not follow the rules and regulations set by the war administration or caused any silly things they would do bad things to them. During the war I stayed with Kisisang, Hutlowesang and many others. Hutlowesang was latter executed . Dr Iwamoto: Tell me more about him? Samare: He used to look after the Chinese. But the other Japanese wanted these Chinese to be executed and he said “no, they don’t have to kill them”. One time they told me to go down and tell Hutlowesang to report to them. I went and brought him to our camp. The camp was in the bush. They got him and went into the house and they sent word to the commander who normally gives the order for executions. He arrived, I was wondering whether he would carry out the execution. I had nothing to say to save him as I was only a cook. I was busy cooking chicken, pigs meat and fish. Later I learnt that he was to be executed soon. He was a nice man, he used to look after Japanese and Chinese alike. A while later the executioner arrived and Hutlowesang was escorted out and they made him stood on a wooden box . The soldiers and guards took up their positions with their swords and rifles on their sides. My heart sunk and I could not stand to see what was going to happen anymore. His executioner came up with his long sword, took up his position, swung three times and cut his head off. After he was beheaded his body was put up on the box and petrol was poured onto it and his body was burnt into ashes. After that they sent a message to his brother who was fighting in the bush. He arrived and cried bitterly for his brother. He came all the way from Luburu in the night and arrived at the camp. That was one of the executions I saw with my own eyes while serving and living with the Japanese during the war. The Kenpeitai were in fact very notorious people. Whatever small mistakes were made by people they punished them for it. And their punishment was usually hard and cruel. Dr Iwamoto: Did the Kenpeitai take any of your women? Samare: Some times they took our women into their prisons and they served their sentence. Dr Iwamoto: Do you know how many women went with Kenpeitai to their prison? Samare: There were quite a number of them - I wouldn't remember the actual number. The Kenpeitai took them away and the women were frightened but they would not do much because they knew that their lives would be in danger if they resisted. They knew that the Kenpeitai were a dangerous group of Japanese. Dr Iwamoto: Where did those women come from? Samare: They came from different villages, some from Lili, Okera and other places. Dr Iwamoto: You received enough food from the Japanese? Samare: I cooked and had enough food with them and enjoyed being with them. They didn't do any bad things to me. They found out that I was a real good man. I listened to whatever they said and followed. They treated me well and we stayed together up until the war ended. Dr Iwamoto: Do you have anymore stories? Samare: During the occupation of the Japanese here they made a lot of gardens and grew their own food. Almost all the areas around here were full of gardens. There was no shortage of food. The village people also helped them with their gardens. Most of those Japanese were nice people except the Kenpeitai who were not good fellows. Dr Iwamoto: Did your people receive enough food from the Japanese? Samare: The people did receive enough food from the Japanese. Dr Iwamoto: Is that all? Samare: The Japanese normally sang this particular song (Umi Yakaba?). And it goes like this: Uti-ti tonaite Nau mi ting long yu kepa Mi na kava yu Tatani na-te Uta ute-bato Katuka nenu ya! Dr Iwamoto: That was very good Samare: That was a Japanese song. Dr Iwamoto: What does it mean? Samare: I don't know. I knew some few words like yasi means coconut, long yasi, yasing motokoi. These are some Japanese words. Dr Iwamoto: Did you go to a Japanese school? Samare: I didn't because I cooked for them and most of the time they spoke their language, I picked it up and knew the main words that they normally used everyday. Dr Iwamoto: Okay, is that all? Samare: Yes. I would like to say a bit about the war. We were young men at that time when we heard about the Japanese and English that they would start a war very soon. We were playing on the road when we actually heard about this. Not long we heard that the Japanese have landed on the shores of New Ireland in Kavieng. As we played we could hear the sounds of the Japanese machine guns. To our suprise a Japanese car arrived. We became frightened and people began to pass on the message saying the war has arrived. Japanese carried the rifles with sharp-pointed swords on their barrels. There was a long convoy of cars travelling from Kavieng all the way to Namatanai. When they arrived in Namatanai and occupied the place and some of them came back and make camps in the villages. Some of them stayed here and others residing at Luburua and others spread to other places. As we stayed a man came and took me and we went down to Kosuloke a village near Kavieng. We stayed there and a missionary from Palawe came and took me and I went him. One time we went diving in the reefs. Some of the Japanese were also there and all of a sudden a war plane came and fired at the Japanese. We hid ourselves under the reefs in the sea. Some Japanese died while others received wounds, others were fortunate: they escaped from the bullets. When the war planes left the Japanese came and took the bodies of the dead soldiers and went to Palange village on the coast and they poured out petrol on to the bodies and burnt them to ashes. We also came out from our hiding place and got fish and walked up along the coconut plantation and came past the guards who guarded the Japanese camp and went our way. The Japanese were busy eating and a man walked past us he was chewing betelnut. A Japanese came and poured out the container of water over him and told him to go away. Probably he did not want him to chew betelnut. Other Japanese also came and told him to go away. We saw this and continued on our way currying our fish and went to Palange where we roasted the fish on a fire and ate. The Japanese lived everywhere. After eating the fish I was told to go and cut banana leaves to spread them on the ground as a bed to sit on. So I went down to the bush and cut some quickly. When i was about to chop the leaves a white man was standing there. I was suprised to see him. I threw the knife down and ran away and told the other men not to mention any thing in case the Japanese might hear. We quickly went back and saw that the unknown man was still standing there and we shared some food with him. Dr Iwamoto: What was his name? Samare: I don't know his name. He must have been an American or Australian spy. Dr Iwamoto: Was he Japanese? Samare: No. Anyway he secretly stayed with us a night and the next day, early in the morning, he got up and took that missionary of Palange (the missionary was a Tolai man) and disappeared. We got up in the morning the next day and we could not find them. For us we came back to the village. After that I went back and worked for the navy. I had a big sore on my neck and it was very painful and as a result at times I had to stop work and rest. I continued like that for some time. One time a Japanese who had been observing me closely came and bursted me. I got up and ran away. I went and worked with Kenpeitai. The boss came and assigned me to cook for him. Dr Iwamoto: What was his name? Samare: His name was Mr Kisisang. I became his cook and found out that he was a very nice man - he never got cross with me. These Japanese wanted me to obey and do things willingly. Obedience was what they wanted. I stayed with them and one night a huge snake came in to Kisisang's house. Mr Kisisang heard the noise of the snake and woke up and got his torch, switched it on and saw it close to him. He got his rifle and shot it. He fired seven bullets into the snake's head and it eventually died. They butchered the snake and removed all its skin, coiled it nicely and put it aside and then they removed all the meat from the skin. When I arrived they told me “Sino you get this meat and go and give it to the navy and these other pieces, you give them to the boss of the boss of the other Kenpeitai”. On the way I met a man scraping coconuts. He was so busy when I came over to him. When he saw me he got up and said “hey brother where are you going?” I got up and said I wanted to bring this meat to the Japanese. Dr Iwamoto: You brought the snake meat to them? Samare: Yes . The man who asked me was from Kunak. He was one of the workers for the Japanese. I came close to him and asked him where I should put the meat and he got up and said “you have to go straight to the boss”. Therefore I went straight in and he was surprised to see me. He got up and asked “you brought fish for me”. I answered “yes I brought this for you”. “Very good man”, he said. He was a cripple and he could not walk properly. They normally carried him around. As I stood by I saw one of his men. He was a local man but outside of Fotmila. He was a police man, a member of Kenpeitai. The kempeitai are very good at arguing with people and trying to find false in them. There as one incident where a policeman accused an elderly man of a wrong doing. He shouted at him and said " you didn't do this thing but you must confess that you did this". So the policeman kept on forcing him until he confessed. If a man refused to say no, he would be kicked, punched or the policeman would do any thing to him. In another incident I saw an elderly man was pulled by the policeman and was thrown down near a big stone. He was kicked and punched. I stood by and felt so worried about that man and tears came down from my eyes. Another time I saw three man who were also punished. The policeman brought them down to the sago palm trees and they cleared and cut them. After seeing what was going on I walked towards the main road. A policeman followed me up and said “hey you must come back”. I stood still and thought to myself what was happening to me. The policeman came up to me and said “you have to come back, go and see the commanding officer”. He said “you have to discuss certain things with him”. I asked him “for what”. So the policeman replied "you remember when they punished the man earlier on and your tears came down and you cried for him?". That was the reason why he wanted me to report to him. I got up and said “okay I will go with you but before that I must report that to my immediate boss, Mr Kissisang, then I can go to court or report to the Kenpeitai commanding officer”. He followed me down to the village and I went straight to Kisisang and told him about what was happening to me. He got up and asked “where is that policeman?” The policeman came before him and he asked him why and who gave him orders to bring me to the court? The policeman got up and said it was the boss. But Mr Kisisang got up and shouted at him and said " the commander said that but I didn't hear that". Kisisang go up and gave the orders to grab hold of the policeman and beat him up to almost half death and later they brought him down the road to the Kenpeitai camp. After this at Lukuruma there were no other incidents. No more executions, punishments or other incidents like this ever happened here. The Japanese looked after us well. Kisisang lived at Lakurumau and people came from all other parts and villages and saw him. The navy also lived here and looked after us well. The Japanese here didn't want people to say or mention anything about the Americans or the Australians or even take sides with them. If they did find out a particular person or those particular people would be brought over to court and if found guilty would be executed. This type of crime according to the war time laws is a serious one. The penalty is death. One time they handcuffed my father, accusing him of stealing because they saw him wearing Japanese shoes. They beat him on the beach, tied his arms behind his back and brought him up to the road and later punched and kicked him. They told Mr Kisisang about it and he got up and told us to go up to the road and wait there. I got angry with the policemen and asked for the reason why they had handcuffed my father and wanted to punish him. When I asked this they got up and punched, and also handcuffed, me. Kisisang was waiting with other men and saw what was happening. Later the policemen came and asked Kisisang for food but he refused and said “I don't have any food, you already punished my boy”. The Japanese went in to their car and drove away. During the war we normally walked around in the night to spy on our enemies. Whenever we saw them we didn't do anything to them. One time we saw some Japanese walking along the beach. I don't know where they went to. Our village was situated near the station. The Japanese made their gardens from one end of the village to the other end. Because of that they never fell short of food and we also did not run out of food. Other villages came and got food from us. Many people who stayed far from the Japanese and the Kenpeitai did not know what was happening however I saw every bit of it as I stayed close to Kisisang. The place where they normally got people and put them as prisoners was wet and water was everywhere. The men who were put into the prison were those who were accused by the kenpeitai, the police. Some times without any charges laid on them, they were unnecessarily put into the prison. Many of those who were found guilty in this prison were killed. Their bodies were buried up there on the hill. Those two men who were punished by cutting and clearing the sago palm trees were later executed and their bodies were buried there under those palm trees where both of them worked. Two other men were also put into prison in a cave. While others were executed those two remained in the prison. One was from Manuai, his name was John Moap. While they were in prison this Manuai man got up very early one morning and decided to run away. The cave was dark however he saw a small light shining through a hole. He got up and said to other man, we must run away. But the other man said “I am afraid”. John got up and escaped through that opening in the cave. He climbed up to the top and eventually escaped into the bush. The other who decided to stay was brought over and executed. His body was buried up on the hill with others who were executed before him. When they dug the holes, these holes were not deep enough. They got the bodies and dumped them in and covered them. Wild pigs and dogs normally went and dug up the graves and ate the carcasses. Many of us were afraid of the Japanese. They came into our village and got our pigs and chickens before our eyes. If people said any thing against them they would be punished severely. We the people of Lakurumau never received any severe punishment from the Japanese. As we stayed on they came and said “Seno, you will go and see Hutolwesang and ask him to come over”. So I went and on my way I met a Chinese man who was a guard there. He asked me, "where are you going?" I answered and said I wanted to see Hutolwesang. He asked me to jump onto his taxi and I said my boss would come and get cross with me if I went with him. But he insisted that I must go with him. Therefore I got on and he drove on. When we arrived my boss saw me and asked me “what are you doing, Seno”? The Chinese replied “we are going that way”. He got up and hit him on his head “I am going to report you to Hutolwesang in the afternoon”. I got off there and went and cooked food for the evening. I also boiled some chickens for the soldiers who were camped in the bush. I also boiled some water. The boss came in the afternoon got the hot water and went and washed and dressed himself. He got up and said, ''Seno' both of us will go ‘, so we got up and went and I saw a Japanese standing with a long sword in his hand. As we arrived I heard the Japanese speak to each other in their language. They brought Hutolwesang and made him stand before us. He was about to be executed. The soldier with the sword swung two times and on the third time he chopped of his head. His head rolled over and his body fell to the ground. It was a very cruel killing. Then they got petrol and poured it onto his body and burned it to ashes. His brother came and got the ashes and mourned for him and later went and buried him. His execution came about because he helped the Chinese. The Japanese were very strict on the laws they set during the war. Dr Iwamoto: Is that all? Samare: When the war grew stronger the people ran into the bushes and hid themselves in the caves. The warships anchored in the sea nearby. The submarine fired the torpedoes to the coast. Dr Iwamoto: Whose submarines were those, Japanese or Americans? Samare: They belonged to the Americans. Dr Iwamoto: Have you gone to school? Samare: I went to the school, but not very long. Dr Iwamoto: How many weeks did you go to school? Samare: It wasn't that long. There was a song we learnt during school and it goes like this: Wotete Tonaite Nau mi ting long yu kepa Mi na kava yu Totori nate Uta utuke butu Katka naru...... Dr Iwamoto: How many kids went to the school? Samare: About a hundred plus. The kids went to school but as the war grew stronger the kids ran away. When the war was about to end the aero planes dropped papers in every village. On the paper it was written that the war was over. The Australians and Americans won the war. The people who were hiding in the bushes came back to the village. It was a frightening experience during the war. Today we are happy, but during the war it was different. Dr Iwamoto: Good.