Days as a Technician’s Trainee

by Kiyoshi Taniguch
Department of Laboratory, Nagasaki ( 1949-1995)

Members of newly instituted Nagasaki Laboratory, including Supervisor Mr. Tachibana (right) and Mr. Taniguchi in front of Nagasaki Kaikan.

“Please work here at ABCC until old age,” so said Dr. Wright quietly but solemnly in Japanese at the interview in April 1949 arranged through the introduction by chance of my sister who was working in the Census Section of Nagasaki ABCC then. From the next day, I followed for a while Miss Kinoshita, my senior, who taught me how to ask the questions in the questionnaire and complete the form, wherever she went.

Thereafter I energetically covered the whole of Nagasaki rising from destruction and covered with dust, running from one place to another young as I was, as if I was called to my work. One day, Mr. Hamasaki and I were told by our chief to go to the Administrative Department for some business. There, we were asked by Acting Director Mullin to go to Hiroshima as technician trainees. Mr. Hamasaki refrained from giving a reply on the spot, but I, being in an easy position of second son, readily said OK. In November of the same year, with eleven volunteers from other ABCC sections and outside, I visited Hiroshima for the first time and reported to the ABCC at the Gaisen-kan in Ujina. To our surprise, however, Dr. Wright showed up and tried to persuade us out of the decision saying, “Why do you move to another department? You have an important position and job at the Census Section. You should go back to Nagasaki at once.” Having come all the way from Nagasaki and also attracted not a little to a new job at a new place, two other members from the Census Section as well as I did not feel like going back to Nagasaki at all. Finally, Dr. Wright gave up and left half angrily. Then, we, complete laymen, were treated to the following terms with their required number of personnel on the blackboard; Biochemistry, Hematology, Serology, Histology, Parasitology, Photography and X-ray. Of those, we were asked to choose one. It took some time to complete the arrangement, but slowly it was done with Biochemistry, Histology, Parasitology … until only Photography was left. I was not sure but finally decided to choose Serology, since I did not have confidence in Photography. When the position for each of us was finalized for the time being, we were led to our respective sections immediately.

The two who chose Serology were left where they were, however. Since the Section of Serology was in Kure, we were supposed to stay in Ujina overnight and be taken to Kure the following day. The notion of being separated from other members from Nagasaki made me somewhat lonely and worried. The other fellow member of Serology being a female, I tried to behave manly and drove off for Kure next morning, seeing the bright ocean and sky offshore Unjina, which seemed to me symbolic of a bright and reassuring hope lying ahead. “Good morning, ma’am,” “good morning,” all of a sudden English-speaking occasions increased. Our supervisor, Miss Rotenberg, who had an imposing title of Second-Lieutenant of the Australian Army in Kure, was extremely strict when it came to work and taught us thoroughly the manners in laboratory. Due partly to language problems, we were chided by her many times a day, a painful experience indeed. Two female colleagues were also rebuked often and, with tears brimming in their eyes, they stood facing the window and would not turn around. We were not taught actual work and kept on cleansing utensils with chromic sulfate and green soap, preparing examinations and cleaning the place day after day. The postcards from my colleagues in Hiroshima told me that they were doing fine, getting used to their work gradually. When I was increasingly itching for learning the work and going back to Nagasaki, I was attacked by parasites and got sick. I took medicine in my room, but wrongly took a mouthful of day’s dose for a big Australian soldier. I was much troubled by the effect of the medicine, and as a result, stayed away from work for a few days. Miss Rotenberg made a call of inquiry on me. She was noted for her beauty, but never did she look more beautiful to me than when she kindly came to see me then. I cannot forget other persons like Mr. Nitta, Mr. Kobessho, members of the ABCC in Kure, their faces and their kindness, either.

When I attended a Christmas party in Ujina at the end of the same year, I was so absorbed in being with the old acquaintances from Nagasaki that I missed the car for Kure. At a loss, I asked around and learned that there was one more car left for Kure. After going around on the second and third floors for the owner of the car, I finally found him and explained my plight to him. I was allowed to get on the car and went back to Kure casually talking with the driver. Later I learned that the driver was none other than Director Tessmer himself. How embarrassing. I would send a letter of thanks and apology to him afterward.

The following day, a huge nisei named Mr. Francis Tachibana, who were to be a supervisor of the Nagasaki Laboratory, arrived as a visiting associate in the Serology section in Kure from the US Army Hospital 406 in Japan. Although he was a humorous man, he knew quite a bit about science and would go into an argument with Miss Rotenberg over issues like complement fixation reaction. It was around that time that I came to understand what kind of a person Miss Rotenberg was and got in the swing of my job. I gradually came to know ABCC better and my life got busy every day with work, learning and playing. Almost all the staff including Mr. Imori, Mr. Maruo and Mrs. Suzuki are retired now, but I still keep in touch with them by occasionally writing to them.

The time came for me to return to Nagasaki. Back in Nagasaki, under the guidance of Mr. Tachibana, the construction of the laboratory started at the former site of the medical school, and before long, the laboratory was on. Perhaps, only a few of the trainees with whom I studied are left working now.


This article was originally published in RERF Newsletter 1(9):5, 1963 in Japanese.

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