The Japanese
Major Yamauchi Commandant of the 1st camp in the Kampong Getah and later District Commander of Area 3. His relationship with Marion Jefferson was a key theme of the series and over time, he came to respect Marion. The two built up an understanding and he would often take a less harsh course of action based on Marion's requests. He was a keen family man and learned that he had a grandson just a few months before his arrest by the allies. Yamauchi engaged Christina Campbell as his personal assistant in the 2nd and 3rd camp. He believed that the surrender was right and was emotionally drained by the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, later learning that his daughter and grandson died in the latter. After the handover of power was completed, he was arrested and after being treated for stomach ulcers in a Singapore hospital, was interred at Changi prison. He was tried with many of the former internees testifying against him and hanged for war crimes in 1945. Portrayed by Burt Kwouk.
Miss Hasan (died 1943) Administrator of the 2nd camp. Miss Hasan was a corrupt Japanese official, employed originally to interpret for Lt. Nakamura. However, her position became more untenable after Nakamura was replaced and Yamauchi took a deeper interest in the camp. She was a money-lender and alcoholic who formed a special relationship with Verna Johnson. The pair deliberately kept back Red Cross parcels in order to sell to the women. Miss Hasan was killed in an allied air strike on the camp in 1943. Portrayed by Josephine Welcome.
Shinya (died 1943) Japanese soldier who engaged in a relationship with Dorothy, though not sexual. Shinya would give her cigarettes in return for English lessons. He often spoke negatively about his Japanese colleagues, especially Captain Sato but this didn't stop him shooting Rose Millar when she broke out of the camp. He was killed in an allied air strike on the camp in 1943. Portrayed by Takashi Kawahara.
Captain Sato (died 1945) Known as Satan by the internees, Sato rose through the ranks to become Commandant of the 2nd and 3rd camp. Violent and harsh, he especially disliked Marion Jefferson and Joss Holbrook and considered Yamauchi's relationship with the women, notably Christina Campbell, far too lenient. He couldn't accept the Japanese surrender in 1945 and committed hari-kari the day the allies entered the camp to liberate the women. Portrayed by Eiji Kusuhara.
The Chinese actress Barbara Yu-Ling played two parts; appearing in one episode in Series Two, and in nearly all episodes of the final Series Three. Although she played two different characters (in Series Two the Japanese Camp abortionist, and in Series Three Marion Jefferson's Chinese housemaid) strangely enough both characters were called May.
Read more about this topic: List Of Tenko Characters
Famous quotes containing the word japanese:
“The Japanese have perfected good manners and made them indistinguishable from rudeness.”
—Paul Theroux (b. 1941)
“A pragmatic race, the Japanese appear to have decided long ago that the only reason for drinking alcohol is to become intoxicated and therefore drink only when they wish to be drunk.
So I went out into the night and the neon and let the crowd pull me along, walking blind, willing myself to be just a segment of that mass organism, just one more drifting chip of consciousness under the geodesics.”
—William Gibson (b. 1948)