Returning downstream, I sat with the Japanese in front of the boat, and for a change was able to make myself heard above the din of the engine. I asked about reports that Mr Inoh had been arrested as a war criminal. This had surprised me, for Inoh had the reputation of being about the most human and humane camp commander on the line.

‘It’s true,’ said our interpreter. ‘Mr. Inoh was in jail, in Bangkok first and then in Singapore, for one-and-a-half years. He had ten months in solitary confinement. He was charged with being responsible for hardships in the boat in which he travelled with POWs to Japan.’

‘But surely a camp commander couldn’t have been held responsible for conditions on a ship?’ I asked.

‘Mr. Inoh says he protested at the bad conditions. There was nothing he could do. But his sergeant, who had no one to speak for him, was hanged on the same charge.’

I found this news acutely depressing, I had tried in vain in London to get hold of the records of those trials of the railway Japanese just after the war in Singapore. But I discovered that they are still not available to the public.

What did the Japanese think about the war crimes trials?

‘If Japan had won the war, there would have been no such trials. But if war crimes tribunals have to be held, we think they should be judged by neutral countries. Otherwise, they are simply revenge.’

Then, through Nagase, Inoh asked me: ‘Do you think the Allies would have dropped two atom bombs on us if we had been a European nation? If we had been Italy, or even Germany? I believe that Asian peoples think you would not have done so.’

‘I don’t know,’ I replied. ‘How can anyone know? I’ve thought about it often, because, you see, those bombs may have saved all our lives.’ Then, changing the subject, I asked Nagase: ‘Do you think either of our nations have changed at all since the war?’

‘The Japanese have certainly changed,’ he replied. ‘We had a war creed preached to us for a generation and it ended in total disaster and surrender. The younger generation have learned their lesson. They are absolutely not interested in war. How about the British? Are you still in your hearts imperialists?’

‘I don’t think so. Though to say there are no British would-be imperialists would be as rash as to say there are still no Japanese samurai who are militarily-minded. There must be some. But, like you, we are learning through physical facts: we have no empire left. In fact, we have much in common. We are now both island powers, over-populated and highly industrialised. Whether we are competitors or friends, our problems are alike.’