by Ping Chong
PROJECTION: Photo of a large, dead rhinoceros
(The Narrator points to the rhinoceros, then walks to center stage and faces the audience.)
NARRATOR: Time passes.
1941, Java, a sweltering summer afternoon. (As a Dutch Diplomat) At 1:54 P.M. they arrived at the Japanese command post. They waited in a room arranged for them by Major General Endo Saburo of the Airforce. I and the Japanese delegation were shown to another room. The room was about fifteen feet wide by thirty feet long. The conference table, approximately six by twelve feet, was located in the center of the room. The green chairs were arranged so that the Japanese would be seated on the right side of the table as seen from the door, and the Dutch party opposite them along the left side. The interpreters for both sides were placed at either end of the table. There were ten Japanese in all. Two overhead fans shifted the air in the room. After clearing my throat, I opened the proceedings.
(Enter Lieutenant Imamura from downstage left and Governor General Tjarda from downstage right, facing each other. Governor General Tjarda bows.)
TJARDA (In Dutch): Gouverneur Generaal Tjard van Starkenborgh Stachouwer. Vertegenwoordiger van de kroon der Nederlanden. (Representative of the Crown of the Netherlands) Japanese interpreter.
(The Narrator walks to Imamura.)
NARRATOR: Governor General Tjarda van Starkenborgh Stachouwer. Representative of the Crown of Holland.
(Narrator walks back to center.)
IMAMURA (In Japanese): Watakushi wa olanda higashi indoryo ni okeru nihon gun shikasha no taisho Imamura dearu.
(I am Lieutenant General Imamura, Commander of Japanese operations in the Dutch East Indies) Dutch interpreter!
(Narrator goes to Tjarda.)
NARRATOR: Lieutenant General Imamura, Commander of the Japanese forces in the Dutch East Indies.
(Narrator goes back to center. Tjarda and Imamura turn to face the audience.)
IMAMURA: Did you order suspension of hostilities?
TJARDA: Yes, I did.
IMAMURA: Was that because you thought you were unable to continue the war?
TJARDA: Because I did not want to extend the horror of war any further.
IMAMURA: Do you accept an unconditional surrender?
TJARDA: No, I do not.
(Tjarda and Imamura face each other again.)
IMAMURA: We demand the total and unconditional surrender of the Dutch East Indies army.
NARRATOR (To audience): The Dutch representatives looked at each other, apparently reluctant to answer immediately. Lieutenant General Imamura put out his clove cigarette and continued:
(An Indonesian Nationalist enters downstage left and walks a diagonal to upstage right.)
IMAMURA: You only have two alternatives: unconditional surrender or continuation of the war. As you have seen while passing this airfield, Japanese bombers are ready to fly. If you go back to Bandung without accepting surrender, we will ensure your personal safety up to the Japanese forward line. But I will order bombing to begin immediately after you cross that line. I will give you ten minutes to think it over.
(Tjarda and Imamura turn again to the audience.)
NARRATOR: General Imamura set down his blue-and-white teacup and exchanged a few words with his staff. Then the Dutch representative cleared his throat and spoke:
TJARDA: I am prepared to . . . I am prepared to ask the queen for permission to surrender. Now I wish to leave this room.
IMAMURA: I will conclude a cease-fire agreement with you if you take the following measure: to send a message to the whole of the Dutch East Indies from the Bandung broadcasting station tomorrow morning saying, “You must stop all hostilities and surrender unconditionally to the Japanese army.” I must emphasize that the bombings, now temporarily suspended, will begin again, if we do not hear your message tomorrow morning. If you agree with my demands, this meeting will be closed.
NARRATOR: The Governor General was led to his running motorcar. For a moment the tires turned in place on the gravel path and then sped away. A flock of crows passed overhead.
(Tjarda exits downstage right. The Indonesian Nationalist takes his place, then goes downstage center.)
INDONESIAN NATIONALIST: Selamat datang penduduk tanah air ini mengulapkan para pemerintah nippon. Selamat datang.
NARRATOR (Translating): The people of the land welcome you.
INDONESIAN NATIONALIST: Our aim is to liberate ourselves from Dutch rule for the freedom of our people and the happiness of Muslims.
(The Narrator, Imamura and Tjarda now speak as Nationalists.)
ALL: Nippon the leader of Asia.
INDONESIAN NATIONALIST: We believe that the Japanese army is a righteous army which can help us achieve our aspirations.
ALL: Nippon the protector of Asia.
INDONESIAN NATIONALIST: We wish to follow the Japanese army for the sake of our people.
ALL: Nippon the light of Asia.
INDONESIAN NATIONALIST: This is our one desire.
ALL: Nippon.
(The Javanese Dancer, who slowly has been crossing since the beginning of the scene, finally exits upstage right.)
In our country a prophecy has been passed on for hundreds of years that people of the same race would come one day to restore the freedom for Indonesia. Are you, tuan (sir), the same people as us? Then, salamat datang. (Welcome)
NARRATOR: The people of the land extend their greetings.
IMAMURA: We are heartened by your welcome. The Greater Asian coprosperity sphere was created to free Asia from European and American dominance. Let us move together to create one united Asia.
ALL: Hai.
(They all turn downstage left and bow. Imamura walks to Indonesian Nationalist.)
IMAMURA: However . . .
PROJECTION: Poster of the Japanese deployment of soldiers and weapons in Southeast Asia
(The Narrator, again as the “sower,” starts scattering seeds.)
. . . there is only one way to make this happen successfully. The Japanese way. Only one goal and interest: the Japanese interest. Only one destiny for the East Asian countries—to become so many Manchukuos or Koreas bound together to Japan. From now on, you will perform saikeirei: a ritual bow toward the emperor in Tokyo at public assemblies. The local calendar will be changed to the Japanese. 1941 will become 2601. Japanese holidays will become your holidays. The Japanese language will be promoted as the lingua franca of the new Imperium. Are there any questions?
(The projection of the poster fades. A new image appears in its place:)
PROJECTION: A red circle—the rising sun
INDONESIAN NATIONALIST: Both my parents were Indo-European in the Dutch Indies. So they were Dutch. They lived happily on Java until the Japanese came. My father, still a boy, was captured with his father. They beat him with burning wood. Their breakfast was a handful of starch. At the end of the war, the last thing my father got from my grandfather was this breakfast. The love from a father to his son. They couldn’t see each other because they were in separate cells. My grandfather made a little rope from his shirt on which he fitted a small ball of starch. One week later, just before the war was over, he was killed by the Japanese. My name is Arnaud Kokosky Deforchaux. I’m acting and dancing in this piece in respect to my parents.
(All exit. The red circle goes to black. We hear the traditional Nationalist song: “Merdeka! Merdeka!”—The Marseillaise of Indonesia.)
PROJECTION: 1895
Japan takes its first colony.
1905
Japan defeats Russia on land and sea.
1919
Japan at the Paris Peace Conference
as one of the Big Five Victors
after World War I.
1923
“This is not a people intended to erect
factories: Why do they not ennoble
their handicrafts?”
1924
The only nationality to receive
an immigration quota of “zero”
> in the U.S. was the Japanese.
1930
In the founding moment of the
League of Nations, Japan’s request
for a simple declaration of
“racial equality” was rejected.
1930
“Japanese pilots wouldn’t have a chance
against ours, because all Japanese
have poor eyesight.”
1941
The attack on Pearl Harbor
by the Japanese.
1941
“Here lies a black man
killed fighting a yellow man
for the protection of the white man.”
Delenda est Japonia.
Scene 8
Internment Camp, U.S.A., 1942
Afternoon. “Merdeka! Merdeka!” cross-fades with the sound of a train. Japanese Americans 1–6 enter from upstage right singing “Go Tell It on the Mountain.” They wear clothing from the 1940s.
ALL:Go tell it on the mountain
Over the hills and everywhere
Go tell it on the mountain
That Jesus Christ is born
JAPANESE AMERICAN 1:When I was a sinner
I sinned both night and day
I asked my Lord to help me
And He showed me the way
ALL:Go tell it on the mountain
Over the hills and everywhere
Go tell it on the mountain
That Jesus Christ is born
JAPANESE AMERICAN 2:When I was a gambler
I gambled night and day
I asked my Lord to help me
And He showed me the way
ALL:Go tell it on the mountain
Over the hills and everywhere
Go tell it on the mountain
That Jesus Christ is born
JAPANESE AMERICAN 3:When I was a sinner
I sinned both night and day
I asked my Lord to help me
And He showed me the way
ALL:Go tell it on the mountain
Over the hills and everywhere
Go tell it on the mountain
That Jesus Christ is born.
(They hum the song, while each steps forward out of line to speak, then back into line as they finish—echoing the Jesuit scene.)
JAPANESE AMERICAN 1: Hi, I’m from Eureka, California. Together with my husband, I run a pharmacy and have two boys.
JAPANESE AMERICAN 2: Hello children, I teach American history at P.S. 24 in Portland, Oregon. What you don’t know won’t hurt me.
JAPANESE AMERICAN 3: Hi, I own Suzy’s Bar and Grill. And I make the best BLT sandwiches in Seattle, Washington. Special price today!
JAPANESE AMERICAN 4: I am a dentist. Hi. I took over my father’s practice in San Diego, California, 1938. Don’t forget to see me for your fillings.
JAPANESE AMERICAN 5: Hi, I am a high school student from San Jose, California. I am the captain of the team. Football, that is.
JAPANESE AMERICAN 6: Hi, for two generations, my family has been farming in Sacramento, California. I am a strawberry farmer. The best.
ALL (Sing):Go tell it on the mountain
Over the hills and everywhere
Go tell it on the mountain
That Jesus Christ is born.
(They become silent for a moment, and their expressions darken. They walk forward. A Soldier, played by the Narrator, enters downstage right. He addresses the audience directly:)
PROJECTION: List of internment camp locations, dates of operation and number of Japanese Americans held
NARRATOR: February 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders the evacuation of all American citizens of Japanese ancestry. They were imprisoned—though they were not called prisoners—in ten relocation centers—not called concentration camps—in remote and desolate parts of the country.
PROJECTION: Black-and-white portraits of Japanese Americans from the 1940s are displayed alongside the lists
(The Japanese Americans onstage pass tags on strings to one another down the line.
The Narrator pulls a megaphone from behind his back and speaks as a Government Official:)
Instructions to all citizens of Japanese ancestry—both alien and non-alien.
(We hear music—“Dardanella”—a rumba-like tune with a warbling Japanese female voice and lots of static.)
All persons possessing one-half, one-quarter, one-eighth or one-sixteenth Japanese blood will be henceforth relocated to government-sanctioned internment camps in the states of Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico and California. Free access will be restricted to all persons with Japanese ancestry, both alien and non-alien without direct special permission of the Commanding General. You have nine days to store, sell or dispose of your personal holdings. This includes farms, real estate, business or professional equipment, household goods, automobiles and livestock. As citizens of the United States—those of you who are citizens of the United States—the government is prepared to assist you with the storage, sale and/or disposal of your personal properties.
However, we cannot be held liable for the vandalism, theft, loss and/or destruction that will occur to your personal properties. You understand this? Good. Sign here.
(They all move back. They make the same sharp-profile turn and fearful crouch movement of the Jesuit scene.)
Sign here. And here. And here. And one more John Hancock on the last page which you may keep as your personal copy. You are required to bring with you to the initial assembly center the following items:
(They make the same fearful movement.)
ALL (Whispering): Padre, we are afraid.
(Narrator walks from right to left. Stagehands bring on luggage. Projections fade out.)
Sufficient bedding and linens, one raincoat, one pair of work boots, one pair of work pants, one pair of work gloves, four rolls of toilet paper, two tubes of toothpaste, one toothbrush, one comb, one knife, one fork, one spoon, one plate, one cup . . .
(All stand.)
. . . and, lastly, only one bottle of perfume or aftershave lotion will be allowed per evacuee. Are there any questions?
PROJECTION: Photo montage of internment camps and portraits of decorated Japanese American soldiers from World War I and II, which ends with a close-up of a medal on a soldier’s chest
ALL: Good. Evacuee Abe, Luke and family.
(Japanese American 2 leaves.)
Evacuee Oshima, John and son.
(Japanese American 3 leaves.)
Evacuee Hakamura, Peter.
(Japanese American 5 leaves.)
Evacuee Sakomoto, Matthew and family. Evacuee Tojo, Martin and daughter.
(Japanese American 4 leaves.)
Evacuee Morita, Paul and son.
(Japanese American 6 leaves.)
Evacuees . . . have a nice day!
(The Narrator exits, leaving Japanese American 1 onstage.)
PROJECTION: Photos of Internment camps
JAPANESE AMERICAN 1: Just before we left for the internment camp, a man came to our house. He said he was an antique dealer and wanted to buy my mother’s twelve-piece dinner set of blue-and-white porcelain. He offered her fifteen dollars for the entire set. She told him, “Sir, it is worth much more than that. At least two hundred dollars! The set was brought from Japan. It has been in our family for a long, long time.” The man thought for a moment and then said $17.50 was his final offer. My mother reached into the red velvet case, which contained the dinner set and took out a dinner plate. She hurled it at the floor. The man leaped back shouting, “Stop! Stop! Those are very valuable dishes lady!” She took out another plate and hurled it on the floor . . . and another, and another, never moving, never opening her mouth. Just quivering and glaring at the retreating dealer with tears streaming down her cheeks. She stood there smashing cups and bowls and platters. Until the entire set lay scattered in blue-and-white fragments across the wooden floor.
(Japanese American 1 exits upstage left.
The following text is project
ed along with the internment camp images:)
PROJECTION: No evidence of sabotage was ever found
against the Japanese,
either alien or non-alien.