Takashi Matsui's parents decided to send their eldest child to Japan to attend school. They believed that sons should be able to communicate with their parents in the mother tongue and that the American education system paled in comparison to schooling in Japan. Such thinking built the foundation for Matsui's education and in the end, he had more than 11 years of formal education in Japan. Matsui notes that one clear difference between Japanese and American schools at the time was military training. In Japanese high schools, students had to undergo military training in which they learned strict discipline and combat-related matters such as arms training, drills, and maneuvers. Many students also engaged in the martial arts. Education remained foremost in Matsui's mind as he pursued his higher education both in Japan and in the United States after the war.
<br><br>An interesting incident cleared the path for Matsui to enter the Military Intelligence Service Language School (MISLS) at Camp Savage in late 1942. Having been drafted into the Army prior to the Pearl Harbor attack, Matsui and other Nisei soldiers had been sent to Camp Robinson for basic training when they discovered a booklet in the day room at the company headquarters. The title "How to Speak Japanese" intrigued Matsui and he began to sift through the book when he noticed mistakes and started to discuss them with others in the room. The conversation was overheard by a Caucasian officer who in turn reported it to the company commander. Two weeks later, Matsui was ordered to report to Camp Savage: "I wasn't sure whether I was being punished or what. I didn't know anything about Camp Savage--nobody knew."
<br><br>Upon graduation, he was asked to remain as an instructor and taught at the school for a few years. Recruitment of students was also part of his job as he and other faculty members visited various detention camps to enroll Nisei volunteers for the school. Throughout the war, he remained connected to the language school, moving with the school to its locations in Camp Savage, Fort Snelling, and finally the Presidio of Monterey.
<br><br>As Matsui remembers it, language training at the MIS school consisted of the following: developing skills to do two-way translations of textbook excerpts, radio messages, and documents; reading <i>sosho</i>, or the Japanese style of cursive writing; understanding Japanese military terminology; conducting interrogations especially of prisoners of war; and comprehending lectures on Japanese culture, customs and manners, traditions, and "national characteristics." Specifically, Matsui taught the upper level classes, consisting of Nisei and Caucasian lawyers, judges, engineers, and other highly educated professionals. In his later years of teaching, he became chairman of the academic division in which the students were all Caucasian officer-candidates. True to the aphorism, "Teaching is the beginning of learning," Matsui recalls that the learning process occurred two-way, as he learned as much from his students as they had from him. One Caucasian student remains large in his memory. With a gift for photographic memory, the student did little studying but as Matsui recalls, he "always turned in a perfect paper."
<br><br>Matsui firmly believes that the Nisei who received language training through the MIS school were given opportunities to enrich their lives, with many of them in the postwar period pursuing fields that involved the language in one way or another.
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To all of them [the students] MISLS training must have been a wonderful and rare experience....It was an education that gave them their livelihood and more than anything else a capacity to appreciate the culture and beauty of their ancestral land.
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<br><br>During the Occupation of Japan, Matsui led the General Headquarters 386th Interrogation Team and interrogated those prisoners repatriating to Japan. After separating from active duty, he gained employment as a legal investigator, working for the defense in the War Crimes Commission. His team--which handled those accused of direct involvement in crimes--was responsible for bringing an acquittal for Japanese Major General Uchiyama and for lessening sentences for others.
<br><br>Matsui remembers his first visit to see his parents and relatives in Fukuoka during a two-week furlough. Having missed the train car specifically designated for Allied personnel, Matsui opted to ride with the Japanese locals so that he could return home as quickly as possible. He did not realize then that his decision would lead to a minor "incident."
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The stationmaster came out and he personally assigned me four seats and placed a sign on the window stating that these seats were exclusively for Occupation personnel....The car was really congested and everyone was looking at me because I had four seats to myself. All were standing and I felt bad....I asked an <i>obachan</i>, an elderly lady closest to me to please sit down but she refused. Then I asked an old man, but he too refused. I then told them that I grew up not too far from here and I went to America when I was young and am now going to visit my folks and I again invited them to sit down. Finally, one <i>obachan</i> sat down. After she sat down, everyone wanted to sit down...[It was] strange to see a Japanese in a uniform of another country.
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<br><br>After being discharged from military service, Matsui served in managerial positions at numerous companies including Mitsubishi Corporation, where he stayed until his retirement in 1987. His devotion to community service in the greater Seattle area earned him many honors, including being selected as one of Seattle's 100 "Newsmakers of Tomorrow." He was also the founding president of the Northwest Association of the Military Intelligence Service, and participated in a variety of service, business, cultural, and veterans organizations.
<br><br>For Matsui's lifetime contributions toward improving U.S.-Japan relations, the government of Japan awarded him the 5th Order of the Rising Sun (Gold and Silver Rays) in April 1994.
