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Group Essay- Historical Investigation Question: How far did the Japanese Occupation change the lives of the teenagers?

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Group Essay- Historical Investigation Question: How far did the Japanese Occupation change the lives of the teenagers?

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The Japanese Occupation changed the lives of teenagers by a drastic extent because they experienced things was differently.
This is seen from the fact that the teenagers focussed more on the income than their preferences, changed their gaming habits, found it difficult to adapt to the Japanese language in schools, contracted severe diseases and found it hard to obtain food.
As a result, life was made harder for the teenagers due to the drastic changes they experienced during the Japanese Occupation. Seeing that they had no choice but to focus more on making money for a living indicates that they had a new responsibility to take on making their lives harder. Secondly, the teenagers being able to play for less hours and playing Japanese type games, limits their freedom and reduces their chances to relax. Thirdly, the teenagers also contracted diseases that were more severe and harder to treat making affecting their well-being in the long run. Furthermore, they were also forced to learn Japanese in their schools. With this, they might not be even able to comprehend what was taught. Lastly, they were also unable to have proper access to proper food as trade had been cut off  and had to go through the tiresome process of rationing. The teenagers even had to ask permission to purchase food from shops, making it hard for them to receive an essential item for living.  In conclusion, changed the lives of teenagers by a great extent as they experienced things differently.

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Source F: Health welfare of teenagers during WWII

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Source F: Health welfare of teenagers during WWII

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Source Description: Oral interview with Chew Cheok Hai about the health welfare of teenagers

Source Date: 21 July 1994

Source Origin: The National Archives Online

Source Type: Oral interview

RZ: Did he share with you what he experienced during his internment?    CCH: No, he didn't. But we knew they all suffered there. Don't forget, in those days, [B]eri [B]eri, [M]alaria, those were very common diseases RZ: How did they look before and after the war?                                  CCH: They were well-built before the war, being Europeans, big sized, healthy looking. They were very, very thin during the Occupation because don't  forget, being Europeans, not only they could not take Asian Food, they were taking very poor Asian food. So don't forget the diet's so different...

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Source Description: Photograph during the Japanese Occupation at Sime Road Camp, Syonan-To showing interned teenagers queuing up for their tations which was too insufficient to maintain their lives. Later, permission was obtained to purchase food from outside
Covering Date: 1920
Source origin: National Archives Online
Source Type: Photographs

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Covering Date: 1900
Source Description: A photograph showing teenagers at the gates with school canteen food- rice in leaf packets with cucumbers, eggs, bean packets, pineapple and sweet potato
Source Date:  c.1900 - 1906
Source Origin: National Archives Online
Source Type: Photographs

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Source H: Education for teenagers during WWII                                                                

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Source H: Education for teenagers during WWII                                                                

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Source Description: A written source about the schooling lives of teenagers, especially girls during Japanese Occupation and Oral Interview with LIM Choo Sye about what schools taught during the Japanese occupation

Source Date: 1st Jul 1899

Source Type: Written source

Source Origin: Singapore Infopedia and National Archives of Singapore                     During the Japanese Occupation from 1942 to 1945, the school was turned into quarters providing “comfort women” to Japanese troops. Lessons resumed after the war. However, many Students became over aged and were unable to attend school, hence they had to start from the lowest level of education again. eg. Pri 5 to Pri 1 or Sec 3 to Sec 1.

LCS: “We had like… PE, the commands were given in Japanese. We had right turn, attention and things like that, stand at ease, in Japanese. The songs were in Japanese too.”

LCS: “We had PT which is Physical Training. We had a bit of gardening, some arithmetic. But there was no History or Geography.

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Source G: Education for teenagers before WWII.  

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Source G: Education for teenagers before WWII.  

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Source Description: A written source and Oral Interview with Tan Sock Kern about the schooling lives of teenagers, especially girls before Japanese Occupation

Source Date: 1st Jul 1899

Source Type: Written source and Oral Interview

Source Origin: History SG and National Archives of Singapore

Locals still hold the conservative view that women should be illiterate, hence, carriages had to be arranged for the girls to be ferried between the school and their homes tin order to avoid public scrutiny, as a result the community did not extend their support for the school, causing it to struggle through its formative years. Subjects learned at SCGS are Chinese, Romanised Malay, Arithmetic, Geography, Sewing and Physical Education.

YGL: “What did they do for PE lessons?”
TSK: “Well, we go through a syllabus. There’s a book called syllabus with a timetable. As a teacher, we learn the syllabus. We follow the things off… the plan of speed, we do follow –ups, arming ups and then we’ll do exercises, and then agility exercises and then games and this is it?”
YGL: “Games. What games did the Pre-war girls play?”
TSK: “As I said, we had a thing called captains ball.”

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Source E: Health welfare of teenagers before WWII

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Source E: Health welfare of teenagers before WWII

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Source Description: Information about The School Health Services in Singapore when it was established in 1921.

Source Date: 1921

Source Origin: History SG

Source Type: Written Source

The main health issues of school children reported in 1921 were dental cavities, visual defects, anaemia and malnutrition. Tooth decay was the most common health issue detected, affecting 84 percent of school children. This led to an investment in toothbrushes for students and daily tooth-brushing drills. While a decrease in dental cavities was reported in years that followed, many children were still affected due to the lack of dental facilities. In 1947, the school dental service was established to handle the dental health of school children, with the appointment of the first dental officer for schools in 1954.

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Source D: Recreational/ Leisure acivities of teenagers  during WWII

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Source D: Recreational/ Leisure acivities of teenagers  during WWII

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Source Description: Interviewee, Mr Patrick Hardie, telling his interviewer what he did for fun during the Japanese Occupation

Source Date: 4 April 1985

Source Origin: The National Archives Online

Source Type: Oral Interview

TBL : Were you given time to take a bath and do some…say
games?

PH : Oh yes, yes, we do, yea, we do have the time if we want to play any game. But most of the games we play, we play ‘kendo’ (fencing) and sometimes I just cannot take ‘kendo’ with the Japanese because they are very fast with the bamboo sword. You have to cover your head and then you got the metal piece on your face. But they are faster, sometimes I feel very hard to breath(e) because the way he hit you. We learn about that one.

TBL : When did you play the games?

PH : Well, evening time after the vehicle cleaning and so on, and of course that is the only time, on Saturday or Sunday. Because that time we are confined in barracks, we are not allowed to go anywhere. So that’s what we did.

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Source C: Recreational/ Leisure acivities of teenagers before WWII

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Source C: Recreational/ Leisure acivities of teenagers before WWII

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Source Description: Interviewee, Mr Milne Ronald Benjamin, giving his experince about his teenager school games and describing the toy 'chap teh'

Source Date: 15 Febuary 1985

Source Origin: The National Archives Online

Source Type: Oral Interview

RM : There were the most common games that were (played) in school. The other game that was played quite a bit…was ‘chap teh’. It was a game which had quite a number pieces of hard paper with a leather on the bottom and a leather on top…And what one had to do with this ‘chap teh’ was… to kick this with your feet…sometimes it was quite a long game and it took the whole recess hour and was to be continued the day after or the evening after school.

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Brandon Shaun: Sources A and B, Bryan Chea: Sources C and D, James Lim: Sources E and F, He Qiao: Sources G and H, Arsyad: Sources I and J

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Source A:  Jobs of teenagers before WWII 

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Source A:  Jobs of teenagers before WWII 

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Source Description: Speech by Mdm Salamah Mohd Yusof Skills on sourcing out employment for students and common reasons for students leaving their jobs

Source Date: 13 Sep 2002

Source Origin: The National Archives Online

Source Type: Oral Interview

ZY: Has any of them actually, after they started work and they couldn’t cope with working life, have they ever come back to you and said that…
SMY: Yes, they will come back. They will come back and say: ‘Oh I left the job. Can find for me another job?’ It's more on the skills. Like maybe they are not placed in the right job skill. For example like, his skill is more on working in the factory. Maybe he can handle, he can pack. He's good at packing and all that. But he's put in a cafeteria where he has to serve. So that makes them unsuccessful. They cannot do the job because of the skill that they have is not the skill that is needed in the job. That means they are put in a wrong place, in the wrong job

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Source Description: Oral Interview with Mr Lim Kheng Ann about teaching the Japanese language to the locals and a job as an interpreter during the war years.

Source Date: 2 July 1999

Source Origin: The National Archives Online

Source Type: Oral Interview

PL: ‘To teach the Japanese language, wow!

LKA: ‘From locals- to locals. They trained us and a few were selected. The better ones, as guess, to teach to help them to teach.'
PL: ‘How much were you paid?’
LKA: ‘Oh I cannot recall. It was very nominal because it was only two hours a day. But it was something to do and interesting in the sense that…'
PL: ‘That's quite cool for a boy of 16.’
LKA: ‘So that was interesting thing. Then I had other sideline other jobs because it's only teaching about two hours. I was an interpreter over there part time for all these Chinese businessmen who wanted to do business with the Japanese.’