ABSTRACT
In his novel The Wind Cannot Read Richard Mason, who was a graduate of the Interrogators’ Course, describes one of his teachers, Itsumi, who is believed to be modelled after Yanada. Itsumi had been studying British business methods in England, and was docked in India on his way back to Japan when the First World war broke out. After the war Louis Allen, during his first visit to Japan, used the phrase in a conversation with an official from the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In addition to teaching the language, General Piggott drew on his extensive knowledge and experience and tried to give the students an accurate and balanced picture of Japanese culture, the people, life in the Japanese army, and the Japanese soldier’s mentality. The phonetics of Japanese were not too difficult but the language was complex and ambiguous.
