Jimmy Ariyasu was just about to fulfill his plans to study mathematics at University of California, Los Angeles when the U.S. Army drafted him in 1940. He later became a member of the first MIS class at the Presidio in San Francisco. He was also one of the first six MIS men to be dispatched overseas.
<br><br>Ariyasu and a team of Nisei soldiers went to New Caledonia to join the new Americal Division. The division arrived to prevent the Japanese from taking the island and shutting off Australia from the United States. As part of the language team, Ariyasu translated various documents, including some Japanese codebooks found when the U.S. Navy sank enemy submarines. The books contained information about Japanese naval ships, including names, code names, and their physical characteristics. He also served on Cebu Island in the Philippines. It was there that he encountered a Japanese prisoner of war who agreed to deactivate a minefield so that U.S. troops could continue on their route to destroy Japanese forces on the other side. Ariyasu took charge of making sure the prisoner did as he was told and did not escape. Because it was upon his recommendation that the prisoner take on this task, Ariyasu felt tremendous responsibility for the success of this particular mission.
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No matter what came, they couldn't bend us. The will was so strong that they could throw dynamite at us and we'd go out there and overcome that dynamite that's out there....we were not just [out there] for our glory. Nor did we think about self-pity or self-love or just because we wanted power or anything but it was just to first look out for our people...for the good of the Japanese [-American] people.
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<br><br>In his interrogation work in the South Pacific, Ariyasu met many interesting prisoners of war, including one short and childlike 14-year-old who was not afraid to show his allegiance to the Japanese Emperor.
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This is what he had to say: "Churchill is this tall (shows by bringing his head down to his knee indicating height); Roosevelt is this tall (his hand up to his chin); Tenno Heika (the Japanese Emperor) is this tall (his hand goes as high as he could reach). Banzai!"
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<br><br>Ariyasu encountered many near-death situations in which snipers and other enemy men got very close to his position. 
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It was scary afterwards [to think about] how close that guy [an enemy infiltrator who was later shot by the guards in charge of the U.S. troops stationed in the area] was and that God had given me another day to live.
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<br><br>There were even incidents in which U.S. artillery guns shot at his unit because the troops had received the wrong coordinates.
<br><br>After being discharged, Ariyasu went back to the United States and found that some people still held negative views about people of Japanese ancestry.
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The day I got my discharge, on a bus...I got off at Peoria...one guy stopped by to help me--to get my duffel bag and everything and I was wearing a GI uniform. Then when he saw me and my color--he raised a lot of dust and sped away....I thought, "Jesus!" It hurt me.
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<br><br>As the oldest of nine children in the family, Ariyasu took it upon himself to support the family and started a grocery business in California. After seven years in the business, he went into real estate and eventually opened his own office in southern California. Though initially he encountered prejudice because of his ethnicity, he eventually found his way onto the Los Angeles Board of Realtors, even earning the title of "Realtor of the Year" in 1967.
