Scattered throughout this site are excerpts from the book So I Went to Japan. In the words of author Alvin Grauer, it illustrates: “The delights, despairs, and minor perils experienced by Allied Personnel stationed in postwar Japan; described by one of them, and cheerfully illustrated by his Japanese friend.” For the careful reader, his vignettes tell more perhaps than he intended. His comments predate police reform and the disbanding of the Home Ministry in September 1947. The sketches by his Japanese friend, some made in 1946, are equally arresting for what they do and do not portray. Clearly, the artist knew what subjects most intrigued Americans but also managed to present his own sentiments. This is a rare work from the early Occupation days. Fortunately, Grauer presented an autographed copy to the Library of Congress in December 1947. Back home in the United States, Ben Grauer, his brother, was a well-known radio news broadcaster.

From: Grauer, Alvin. So I Went to Japan. Tokyo: Nippon Times, 1947.