Peter Okada had been working for the Parks and Recreation Department of the City of Los Angeles when his family received an evacuation notice under Executive Order 9066. They were eventually incarcerated at the Amache Detention Camp in Colorado.
<br><br>In 1943, Okada enlisted and was sent to the Military Intelligence Service Language School (MISLS). His first assignment after graduating from MISLS landed him in Manila, Philippines. His next military duty occurred in Japan with the Occupational forces, in which he served briefly with the 2nd Division Marines in Kyushu. Okada was assigned to a labor battalion whose task was to dispose of ammunition, gun powder, and Zero fighter engines after rendering them unusable. Subsequently, he joined the 108th Military Government Team in Osaka until its deactivation in 1951. In this capacity, he felt that he played "the role of a bridge between Japan and the U.S." and his experience spurred his lifelong business career between the U.S. and Japan. He served in various positions, including Chief of the Information Section and Chief of the Agriculture and Forestry Section in the Economics Division. In his work with the Education Section of the Military Government Team, Okada had to routinely visit schools unannounced to ensure that the schools had been stripped of any relics from the prewar years. For example, <i>kamidana</i> (God Shelf) and photos of the Emperor and Empress, as well as any martial arts weapons had to be confiscated and turned in to the local police.
<br><br>Like many others, Okada witnessed the calamity of war in Occupied Japan. His first reactions upon seeing the devastation of war was not only a tremendous flow of sympathy but also utter helplessness.
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I went through this period where the people were really starving...they called it onion living because they were taking their best kimonos out in the country and trading it for vegetable or rice, and they were bringing it back and they had to smuggle it back. They had rice sewn into the overcoats. And so they called it onion living because they were peeling off and crying.
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<br><br>He returned to Los Angeles in 1951 to complete his postsecondary education, graduating from Woodbury University with a degree  in foreign trade. He went back to Japan in early 1954, having gained employment as a buyer and vice president of Pacific Wood Products Company, one of the major plywood importers to the United States. He also founded his own companies, PWP Japan, Inc. and Alpac Foods Inc. After residing for more than three decades in Japan, Okada returned to the United States in 1980.
<br><br>In 1991 he received an invitation from the Commissioner of the American Football Association in Japan, which requested his presence during a game in Osaka to honor Okada for his contributions to the sport. While working in the Occupation Army's education division, Okada--seeing a group of students whittling time away with little to do--introduced American football and taught them everything, from simple passing techniques to intricate formations and tactics. As a result, it had become part of the regular sports curriculum at high schools in the Kinki and Tokyo regions. At the ceremony, they bestowed upon him the title of "Father of American Football in High Schools in Japan." Despite that earlier feeling of despair and helplessness in the postwar years, Okada was able to leave an indelible mark on Japanese society.
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Whatever the degree of significance, I feel very humble when I realize that unconsciously I made a very small contribution, and left a very tiny footprint, as a member of the MIS during the early and heady days in the aftermath of a tragic war.
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