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

Dr Iwamoto: What is your name? Kami: My name is Kami Kesen. I come from Pitilu Island near Lorengau. I really liked the way the Japanese behaved when they came to Manus. It was a Sunday and I saw ten aeroplanes flew over Pitilu and drop bombs on Lorengau. Another lot of five came and dropped bombs twice and left. A week later six war ships arrived. Two came to Pitilu, two went to Lorengau and another two sailed to Lombrum. When they arrived here the soldiers didn't do anything bad to the local people - instead they enjoyed themselves here. We had no fear of them. We stayed and just looked at them. After the six ships came and went a huge ship loaded with soldiers came. Some soldiers went to Momote, another lot went to Lorengau while others stayed at Pitilu. I didn't do anything at that time so the Japanese recruited me to work as a carrier. Many young men of Pitilu were in the village. The Japanese took us and dug huge tunnels to hide their cars, soldiers and other equipment that would be used during the war. We did some of that work to help them but nothing was done to help our country because they didn't have any money to pay us for our hard work. The commanding officer who looked after the soldiers at Pitilu was called Tosang. We came over to Lorengau and after that Yosita, the chief commanding officer in Lorengau, took us and we built the airfield near Lorengau. It was a hard work, we gathered the bushes, leveled the slopes, chopped down the coconut palms, dug up holes, carried the stones, and coconut stems and dumped them into the holes. We leveled the place at once and not long afterwards five planes flew in and landed. They didn't compensate us. Instead they promised us that they would help us if the Japanese won the war and Manus became part of Japan. I was so happy when I heard that. After that they took us to Momote where we built another airfield. That was also another heavy job without any pay. Yosita went back to Japan. The work on this airfield was not yet completed when the fighting started. It was a big war. We the people of Manus were confused and broke apart. We didn't know what the Japanese and the people of Manus would do. But the Japanese came and fought the Americans and the Australians and I was sorry for them because many of the Japanese died at the hands of the Allies. Dr Iwamoto: When the Japanese came how old were you? Kami: I was a big boy at that time but never married. I worked as a carrier with the Japanese. Later on I joined the navy and worked as a weather man. My work was to shoot a balloon up into the sky to gather information for weather forecasting. Dr Iwamoto: So you became a carrier of the Japanese? Kami: I became a carrier and worked on the airport in Lorengau, Momote and Pitilu. Because Pitilu people live near Lorengau and many of them were recruited by the Japanese to work for them on the airfields and serve as the carriers. Other Manusians were not. Dr Iwamoto: All the men from Pitilu worked with the Japanese? Kami: Yes all of them. Some were young and others were old. Many have died and only three of us are still alive. Dr Iwamoto: Do you know how many men from Pitilu worked like that? Kami: About 40 of us. Dr Iwamoto: Only men and not women? Kami: Only men not women. Dr Iwamoto: So they become carriers like you? Kami: They carried cargoes, sand, chopped trees and cleared the bushes and built the airport. Dr Iwamoto: How long did you normally work? Kami: We worked and normally the Japanese would come and say “yasmin, yasminase”. Yasmin means rest and yasminase means work. Dr Iwamoto: Did you work from the morning till eveniing? Kami: We started work in the morning up until 12 o'clock then we would go for lunch. We started work again from one o'clock up to five o’clock in the evening. Because of the war they wanted us to finish the work quickly. Dr Iwamoto: You said Japanese were friendly. They did not fight or do anything bad to you? Kami: When they first arrived they fought some men. When they came to the village they asked for pigs and the people said they didn't have any. But then the Japanese , the pigs themselves, they realised that they have been tricked so they beat the men up. After that they became friendly to us. The soldiers shot one of our men here. Dr Iwamoto: Why did the Japanese kill that man? Kami: They killed him because of his disobedience to work. They also accused him of collaborating with the Australians and not bringing people to work. We worked and I saw all those things with my own eyes. They killed him by tying his hands to his back and burnt him alive. Dr Iwamoto: Do you know the name of that person? Kami: His name was Kebog and he was a luluai. The Japanese held him and tied his hands to his back, heated the stones and put those hot stones on his body and eventually killed him. Dr Iwamoto: Did many people see and witness the killing? Kami: Many people (men, women and children) saw the Japanese kill him because he was their luluai (policeman) in the village. Here in Manus, the Japanese did not do anything bad to the women but they killed many men. Dr Iwamoto: Did the Japanese appoint any boss boy or policeman in your village? Kami: The Japanese appointed luluais to become bosses in the villages. The overall bosses were the Japanese themselves. Whenever they give instructions either to work or relax we simply had to follow. Dr Iwamoto: Did any of your men join and serve as Japanese soldiers? Kami: No. When they first arrived they didn't get any men to join them and also they did not reside for too long here. Dr Iwamoto: Did the Japanese open up any schools here? Kami: They didn't set up any schools but they did teach us how to speak Japanese and explained the arithmetic system to us but we could hardly understand them. Dr Iwamoto: Do some Japanese spoke any or some pidgin? Kami: No. At that time the Japanese arrived here none of them were able to speak pidgin. After the death of Kebo they sent a message to a Japanese who came before the war and lived here. His name was Katosang and was a good friend of the Pitulu people. The Germans brouht him here as a labourer. He lived in the lorengau when the war came. He ran away to Tamak and lived there and eventually was killed by a bomb. Dr Iwamoto: He died? Kaml: Yes. When the Japanese say wingep they mean good time. Whenever they commit a rong dong and come to you send them go free. Dr Iwamoto: How did Katosang treat your people? Kami: They arrived here for a little while about a month after the war started and we all ran away. The Japanese who lived with us in the village were good to us. The Japanese did some rongdong to other people of Manus but nothing to us Pitulu. Katosang knew English and he taught us. He was a very nice man. Dr Iwamoto: When the war came where did you go? Kami: The fighting started when the Americans (Allies) shot to death a ma and two of his children. The war plane which shot the man and his children was called a “lightning". We brought the bodies over and Katosang (who was also alive at this point) also witnessed this fight and said to bury the body and forget about anything else. After that he told us to go and hide. Dr Iwamoto: So now you were in the bush? Kami: Yes we were in the bush. There was no food. We couldn’t find food. To find food was very difficult. People even stole from other's gardens. I stole some food from others' gardens. We were in the bush for a week and after that soldiers came into the bush. Dr Iwamoto: After the Americans won the war against the Japanese? Kami: When the Americans defeated the Japanese in the war, General McArthur of America and General MacArthy of Australia and the Papua New Guinean policemen who were the followers of the allies and fought with them came into the bush and found us and told us to follow them and go back to the village. We went back to the village, I began to follow the Australians and the Americans and began to work as their carrier. It was easy to talk to and find things quickly. During my first time as a carrier with the Australians I saw how Japanese were killed by the Americans. There were about 300 of us whom were recruited to become carriers. We were divided into two groups, 150 in each group. We were sent to Lorengau and chased the Japanese up the hills. The Japanese were based at Lukos Mission Station. They fought them there, killed some and chased many into the bushes and many Japanese died of hunger and starvation. Dr Iwamoto: The Americans found you to carry their cargo? Kami: Yes the Americans like the Japanese made us to carry their cargo but didn’t pay us anything. Our village was destroyed. They burnt down houses and cut down trees that people planted to provide shade. Dr Iwamoto: During the war the Japanese who stationed at Pitulu together ate with you? Kami: They had their own rooms and lived and ate their own food but lived in the village with us. Because they are soldiers they came here for war. The Luluais and the Tultuls stopped us from eating or staying close to them. They needed to stay alone to prepare and to get ready to fight. We only helped them in their work while we were not lazy in when they told us to do. When we completed the job work the Japanese gave us drinks. They filled up buckets with water and added sekei (beer) and then we enjoyed ourselves together drinking. Dr Iwamoto: How did the Americans treated you? Kami: During the times of the Americans we didn’t do much of the work. We fought with them and we were given plenty of food. Dr Iwamoto: You ate with the Americans? Kami: Yes, we ate with them because they had plenty of food. They had enough so they shared with us and we cooked it ourselves. Before there wasn’t any road from here to Momote. When the Americans came they started building roads. I also worked with them on this road. We surveyed the land and cut the bushes, cleared the place and a tractor went in and pulled and carried the cut down trees away. So a big road was built from here to the sea and harbour at Loniu. Before people could only travel by sea to Momote. Dr Iwamoto: Did the Japanese harass or do any evil things to your women? Kami: Here in Manus, there were no incidents like that. I lead the people here and in that situation, I saw nothing. Dr Iwamoto: How about the Americans and the Australians? Kami: Americans also did the same thing. Like the Japanese they did not do anything bad to our women. They lived in their own camps and we lived in ours. The law of Australia here was very strong. Mr Mc Arthy who was a Kiap who lived in Rabaul before helped us and we created a good relationship and understanding between us. Therefore when the war came the soldiers hadn’t done any bad things to us or our women. Of all the Japanese stationed in Manus not one of them escaped. All of them died. Those of them who were at Rabaul and Kavieng were alive and went back home to Japan. General McArthur and General Mc Arthy ran all the way to Rabaul to block the Japanese ships which might have sailed to Rabaul and Kavieng to get the soldiers away to their country. Dr Iwamoto: After the war did the Americans build any prisons, to lock up the Japanese? Have you seen any of them here in Manus? Kami: No, I have not seen any prisons built here. No Japanese were locked up here in Manus. Those Japanese who were in the jungles or bushes became so hungry and skinny. We brought them home and from there we don’t know where they went to. Probably back to Japan, Australia, America or were killed. Dr Iwamoto: After the war did you receive any compensation from them? Kami: When the war ended we were not compensated. We waited but nothing was given to us either by Japan, America or from Australia for the hardship, labour and the pain that we received during the war.