Accounts vary as to whether it took one day or three to complete the full draft of the little book. In any case, Nichi-Bei Kaiwa Techō (Japanese-English Conversation Manual) made its debut exactly one month after those tears came to Ogawa’s eyes. It was thirty-two pages long, and its initial printing of three hundred thousand copies disappeared almost immediately. By the end of 1945, 3.5 million copies had been sold. All over Japan, people prepared to meet their conquerors by turning to page 1 of this handy guide, which began: Thank you! Thank you, awfully! How do you do?
