"New Kent" departed Leyte on 7 October, and arrived in Davao Gulf on the following day. She moved to Talomo Bay, Davao Gulf on 9 October and departed 15 October, having embarked the 2nd Battalion, 21st Infantry RCT, 24th Infantry Division and attached units bound for Okayama, Japan. The convoy arrived off Hiro-wan, Japan on 21 October, and the troops and cargo were discharged during the next two days. During the week spent in Japan, sightseeing parties from the ship visited the nearby large Japanese naval base at Kure as well as the site where the first atomic bomb was dropped at Hiroshima.