Yamamoto’s Decision: World War II Play from Sherwood Ross

ACT THREE, SCENE FOUR

Time: The next day.
Setting: Office of the Naval Minister:

(At rise, the Naval Minister: is seated at an elegant cherry wood desk. Behind him, flags of Japan and Imperial Navy in standards. Picture of Hirohito and map of the world on the wall. Intercom buzzes on his desk and he leans forward to hear it.)

Intercom Voice: Admiral Yamamoto to see you, sir, about the new dress hat you ordered for the officers.
Naval Minister:(Into intercom) I didn’t order any dress hat —

(Naval Minister sees a cane poke through the parted door with a bowler hat on the end of it and smiles. Yamamoto enters dressed in a Charlie Chaplin tramp outfit, complete with seedy tails and Chaplin moustache. The Naval Minister begins to laugh as Yamamoto does a Chaplin walk about the office, sees a photo of the Emperor on the wall, knocks it off with his cane, and makes a motion to sweep all the papers and photographs off the Naval Minister:’s desk but holds back. )

Sit down! Sit down, you idiot! For God’s sake! Look what you’ve done to the Emperor.

Yamamoto:I can’t help myself. All aggressive little men hate other aggressive little men.
Naval Minister:(Laughing) I don’t get the moustache. When you were in Berlin and the Germans invited you to meet Hitler, you refused. Now you wear one just like him.
Yamamoto:(Peeling it off.) The perfect disguise. Besides, it’s difficult to Assassin ate you when you’ve got a crowd of hilarious people following you down the street.
Naval Minister:Oh, really? Well, it’s all over town you had a bit of trouble last night.
Yamamoto:Cherry Blossom Society, not much. (Taking out a note pad.) Who do you like between Joe Louis and Max Schmelling?
Naval Minister:The Army’s pushing us into the arms of Germany. Give me Louis.
Yamamoto:Let’s hope Louis has learned to keep his left up. Now how about what you owe me for last week? (Naval Minister: reaches into his pocket and produces a paper bill and plunks it down for Yamamoto:.) Thanks.
Naval Minister:This week I’ll take your advice. Now, to business: They say the Army of God faction wants to Assassin:ate you.
Yamamoto:Let them stand in line.
Naval Minister:Akio thinks you’d be safer in retirement.
Yamamoto:Akio’s always out for my welfare. You know I can’t retire when we’re this close to war.
Naval Minister:Certain?
Yamamoto:I’d be embarrassed to let my lads go into battle without me.
Naval Minister:(Hands him a paper.) All right, it’s official. (Beat) You’re Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet. I’m putting you where the Army can’t reach you.
Yamamoto:I’m grateful, of course. Why me?
Naval Minister:This is going to be an air war. You fly. You know carriers.
Yamamoto:I wonder if I’m not better off cultivating my roses? You’ve never seen my garden.
Naval Minister:You don’t sound enthusiastic.
Yamamoto:Attacking America? Should I be?
Naval Minister:Isoroku confide in me. Tell me your true feeling. Your file says when you were a boy you learned English from an American missionary. So I know you don’t hate them, quite the contrary. For that matter, I admit, at times I respect them myself. But, do you have a true sense of “on,” of what you owe the Emperor?

(Yamamoto nods, gets up, walks over to the photograph he knocked to the floor and hangs it back up, upside down.)

Yamamoto:I suppose deep down inside somewhere, yes, of course. (He turns photograph right side up and returns to his chair.) However, the first lesson that missionary taught was David and Goliath. The Bible makes killing a giant look easy.
Naval Minister:Do you think you can fling a stone and hit Goliath between the eyes?
Yamamoto:(Reaching into his pocket and handing the Naval Minister one page.) Here’s your plan.
Naval Minister:On one page?
Yamamoto:Read it. (While Naval Minister reads, Yamamoto does a Chaplin dance, humming aloud.)
Naval Minister:Isoroku! This — is incredible. Totally against our strategic thinking.
Yamamoto:(Pointing at paper with cane.) You are so right!
Naval Minister:This plan doesn’t lure the American fleet into our home waters. Hawaii is just the opposite.
Yamamoto:Old samurai expression: (sings and dances) “victory first, battle afterwards.”
Naval Minister:And six carriers in one striking force? I could see risking one carrier, maybe two…
Yamamoto: (Tapping Naval Minister’s head lightly with cane.) If I club you once with this cane by surprise I can do you some damage. If I club you six times, I’ll knock you cold.
Naval Minister:You plan to surprise them, don’t you? Like we did to the Russians.
Yamamoto:(Does dance steps to show motions of the fleet he describes.) Exactly. We’ll sail the northern route in early December. Nobody travels those sea lanes. Too cold. Too stormy. When we’re directly North of Hawaii, boom, a sudden turn South and we launch three hundred planes on a Sunday morning. (Yamamoto touches Minister’s head with the cane.)
Naval Minister:(Irritably.) Stop beating me with that stick!
Yamamoto:Pearl Harbor’s a big liberty town. Lots of girls, bars, massage parlors. At eight o’clock on a Sunday morning they’ll be snoring in cathouses all along Hotel Street. Their ships will be moored to the docks with just skeleton crews. It’s perfect.
Naval Minister:If we invade the Philippines they’ll have to come to us.
Yamamoto:If we knock out their Pacific Fleet on the first day of the war, Tojo can walk ashore in the Philippines, as well as Singapore and the Dutch Indies. The British just sank three Italian warships in their anchorage with half a dozen old torpedo planes. Imagine three hundred warplanes swooping down on a naval base! It’s never been done before.
Naval Minister:I dunno…Bit of a gamble, even for a professional gambler…
Yamamoto:Stop calling me a gambler! I hate it everyone says that. This is a prudent, calculated risk.
Naval Minister:If this were a game of Go, prudent strategy would dictate we invade the corners of the board first, then extend our forces along the sides. Nobody ever opens the game playing the first stone in the middle of the board. If the Pacific Ocean were a Go board, Hawaii would be dead center. To play the first stone there would be a fool’s play.
Yamamoto:Wait —
Naval Minister:(Minister holds up the paper Yamamoto gave him.) This scheme is totally unorthodox.
Yamamoto:Agreed. But just imagine before the Go game even starts, you take away half your opponent’s stones and then you say, “Play Go!”
Naval Minister:And if you do knock out the Pacific fleet the first day, what do you think will be the likely outcome of the war?

Yamamoto:Oh, probably for the first six months or a year or so, I’ll run wild. Then- (shrugs)
Naval Minister:You mean until the Americans gear up their war machine–
Yamamoto:Once that happens, it’s out of my hands.
Naval Minister:What makes you so confident you can catch them by surprise?
Yamamoto:They’re racist.
Naval Minister:Everybody’s racist. We’re racist. Hitler’s racist. What’s the connection?
Yamamoto:Everything. They look down on their blacks and on people with yellow skin as inferiors. They think we have bad eyesight. They judge us by the cheap toys we sell, those tiny wooden warships little American boys buy for a coin, with the rising sun flags on them. They have no idea of the quality of our fleet, the discipline of our sailors. If you took that chair you’ve got your ass on and stood on it in front of the White House and screamed at the top of your voice, (yells) ‘We are sending a task force across the Pacific Ocean to attack Pearl Harbor!’ (normal voice) they wouldn’t believe you. We’re yellow. Inferiors.
Naval Minister:(Stands up, pointing to the paper Yamamoto gave him.) It’s a long shot.
Yamamoto:Time to trust me.
Naval Minister:Okay. Now give me a proper report. And, stay the hell out of Yoko’s.
Yamamoto:(Rising.) I live as I please.
Naval Minister:You could have been killed last night!
Yamamoto:I am fated to die in battle.
Naval Minister:You won’t live long enough to fight in one! I’m assigning guards to be with you at all times. I need you alive, to win this war. If your scheme works, maybe they’ll sue for peace.
Yamamoto:Not very likely. Make you a deal: I’ll stay out of the geisha houses. You stay out of the opium dens. (Yamamoto: does the Chaplin walk out the door.) Blackout.

ACT THREE, SCENE FIVE

Setting: A small teahouse, Tokyo.

(Fumio: is seated alone at a table, glancing at his watch, turning the pages of a newspaper, until Tokuko come in, holding a mesh shopping bag with several cans in it. He rises to his feet and bows.)

Tokuko:I only have a minute. (She seats herself opposite him.)
Fumio:Tea? (He fills a cup that was set for her.)
Tokuko:(Drinks.) So?
Fumio:Tokuko: —
Tokuko:(Bemused.) Yes?
Fumio:Tokuko —
Tokuko:I see you have mastered my new name.
Fumio:I want to make it up to you.
Tokuko:That you can never do, Fumio.
Fumio:I understand. I mean, the war is going to start any day now… when it’s over, when I come home–
Tokuko:And you are saying?
Fumio:Let me do what I had planned for us.
Tokuko:You did that. Your plan succeeded brilliantly, for Fumio. You got what you wanted that night and then you deserted me.
Fumio:I cannot make over the past. I beg you let me make it up to you. I am a man now.
Tokuko:Can you imagine how much your very presence upsets me?
Fumio:(Anguished) Then you must still feel something for me!
Tokuko:If you can imagine some wild flower that has been trampled into the dust by a careless passerby, that’s how I regard you.
Fumio:Allow me to try.
Tokuko:For all the hell you’ve been through, you are such a boy. I can no more get my love back than you can get your eye back. And we cannot get our baby back.
Fumio:(Touching his chest.) I am in agony, here.
Tokuko:People talk about their heart so carelessly it has no meaning any more.
Fumio:After the war, I will work hard and make money. We’ll have a big house.
Tokuko:(Rises) When you return from the war, Fumio, I will look in the bookstores to read your incredible romances.
Fumio:(Rising.) Please, just consider it.
Tokuko:(Raising her voice somewhat.) You are damaged merchandise. The sight of you disgusts me. You wanted to fight, now you are disfigured. I slaved in a brothel because of you. A brothel! I am professional geisha now. If you ever run a shipyard come visit us and I will play the samisen for you and Yoko will take your money.
(Tokuko leaves. Dejected, Fumio looks after her until blackout.)

ACT THREE, SCENE SIX

Setting: Yamamoto’s office.

(At rise, Yamamoto is seated at his desk, doing paperwork. He wears plain blue uniform. The office door left pushes open and Akio enters, dressed in grey business suit.)

Akio:Akio here!
Yamamoto:Come on in. You’ve got bad news written all over your face. Sit down. (Motions to Akio to take seat.)
Akio:I think I’ll stand. What’s this I hear about you?
Yamamoto:You tell me.
Akio:The word is they wanted to give you three carriers for the attack and you said give me six or I’m out.
Yamamoto:The usual poker bluff. I got my six, I’m in.
Akio:You had the perfect opening to quit!
Yamamoto:
Sit down a minute. (Akio sits.) Here’s how I see it. I am duty-bound to serve the Emperor as his shield. I will not spare my honor or my life.
Akio:
What are you giving me, a speech? Remember me, your best friend? No speeches!
Yamamoto:I mean it.
Akio:You’ve already lost your honor. And Tojo’ll be delighted to hear your dead.
Yamamoto:(Sighs) In too deep. I’ve trained the pilots, the sailors, signed off on the blueprints of their ships, everything. I can’t bet against Japan. (Beat) I’m busy today. Fumio called in crazy and I’m here alone.
Akio:(Haughtily.) Don’t let me keep you from your chores. (Starts to rise but Yamamoto motions him to remain seated.)
Yamamoto:Why don’t you take a nice vacation? Sit out the war in Brazil.
Akio:I can’t leave Japan.
Yamamoto:So what makes you think I can quit now, like some rat?
Akio:I walked out – you can, too. I knew back in Shanghai the consequences if I refused to fire but I thought ‘better to give up your career.” You said back then when I told you about it, “This is the saddest day of my whole life!” But it wasn’t the saddest day in my life. I wake up every morning free of these gangsters. But you’re going to do murder for them.
Yamamoto:War is not murder.
Akio:Explain that legalism to the American sailors! Inside, you have scruples. I remember when that cadet hid your Bible, you beat the crap out of him. Boy, was he sorry you weren’t a practicing Christian! The Bible meant something to you.
Yamamoto:You lecture me on ethics when you’re building theYamato?
Akio:I quit this morning. (Yamamoto makes a face.) Resigned, finished, kaput! I can go plant rice with the sun beating down on my hat, inhaling the pure stench of manure.
Yamamoto:Well, well! I am duly impressed.
Akio:There’s something else that is critical for you to know. (Beat)
Yamamoto:Does it pertain to your recent visit to Reiko:?
Akio:That was purely a social call. (Awkward silence.)
Yamamoto:A man could do worse. (Awkward silence.) Did you—?
Akio:No! Of course not!
Yamamoto:Jealousy is one emotion I have no use for. She deserves a more attentive husband than she’s got.
Akio:That’s not it. I was at a party in the Peruvian Embassy. (Pause. Yamamoto shrugs.) There was war talk, as usual, and I had a bit to drink. I told them about the plan to attack Hawaii.
Yamamoto:You really did? Tell me, you didn’t!
Akio:I wanted them to pass the warning along to Washington.
Yamamoto:You gave away our plan?
Akio:I’m not on our side anymore. Gangsters don’t command my loyalty. When gangsters take over a country, the people don’t owe them loyalty.
Yamamoto:(Shocked, resigned, suddenly quiet and gentle.) If you were drunk, they’ll probably discount it. I myself have written a few indiscreet letters to friends about Hawaii. I think the Americans will discount it. I’ve forgotten you told me.
Akio:I’m astounded you’re not furious.
Yamamoto:It’s done. (Yamamoto stands and Akio stands. Yamamoto comes around his desk and embraces Akio.) We’re brothers. We’ll always be brothers.
Akio:Oh, after I handed in my notice, I got a call from Kempetai. They want me visit them.
Yamamoto:Don’t do it!
Akio:Believe me, I don’t plan to.
Yamamoto:Last week, that Reuters correspondent they arrested-
Akio:(Derisively) They claimed he was depressed and jumped out of the eighth floor window.
Yamamoto:He was a newlywed, everything to live for. I played chess with him only a week ago.
Akio:I’m surprised he didn’t jump then.
Yamamoto:If they give you any trouble, I’ll go to Hirohito.
Akio:I can take care of myself.
Yamamoto:If I ask, the Palace will instruct them to leave you alone.

Akio:Your reverence for my life is touching. Sure, we’re brothers. Every man jack killed in what’s coming is somebody’s brother, somebody’s husband, a father, a lover. I don’t think they’re real to you. I’m flesh. (Takes Yamamoto:’s hand and puts it on his breast.) Our pilots who will die over Hawaii are as alive as I am. (Taking a step back, distancing himself from Yamamoto.) I don’t think you feel this war. It’s an abstraction to you.
Yamamoto:Akio:, I saw Hirohito two days ago. He and Tojo’s gang are like mountain climbers tied on a rope all going down under an avalanche.
Akio:So quit with me or this will be the saddest day of my life. (Looks at Yamamoto for an answer but gets none. Akio: walks out, leaving the door open.)
Yamamoto:Oh shit!
Blackout

Sherwood Ross

Sherwood Ross is an award-winning reporter. He served in the U.S Air Force where he contributed to his base newspaper. He later worked for The Miami Herald and Chicago Daily News. He contributed a weekly column on working for a major wire service. He is also an editorial and book publicist. He currently resides in Florida.