Relations between teenage boys in Japan and Australia

[freeiheitpisarz]

For my English assignment I'm to do something revolving around the Bombing of Darwin. I'm writing a story and the story is set in 1942 in Japan (unsure as of yet which city, though most likely a larger city.) The story is a set of letters written between two teenage boys (both sixteen), one in Japan and one in Darwin, NT Australia in the year 1942 Some of the things I need to know are:

• Would the Japanese boy know English? Would he learn it in school or would a family member have to teach him ie. his mother?
• Would the two be able to exchange letters? Would their parents allow it? I assume their letters would be censored, but would the government not allow their letters to be sent?

Terms I used with google include 'japanese english 1940' and 'japanese students learning student 1940' for the first part and 'japanese censorship 1940' and 'japanese letter censorship 1940.'

Thank you in advance :)