G08, Yumi Okuda ‘99, Mrs Gotō, Neighbor, 1925, Tōkyō
In November 1997, I interviewed my neighbor, Mrs Gotō, who lives quite close to my house. She is the grandmother of my friend, Daisuke, who is 16, the same age as me. Mrs Gotō was born in 1925, and now she is 72 years old.
The war affected many people in Japan. As the situation got worse, children were evacuated to the countryside, where it was safer. The children had a hard time living away from their parents, but they bore all of the hardships, thinking that it would help to win the war.
During the war, many ordinary people were killed. The most disastrous attacks were the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but people suffered in other parts of Japan, such as the 100,000 victims of the Tōkyō Air Raid of March 9-10, 1945. Mrs Gotō was about 20 years old at that time. She was living in a dormitory in Nippori at the time of the air raid. Her area was safe, but the house where her family lived was totally burned down. She feels sad, because all of her belongings were burned then too, including the photographs of her parents and some awards that she received in school. She said that if she had them now, she would show them to her grandchildren.
Many people suffered from food shortages as well. Mrs Gotō was able to get some food from the company dormitory, but her little brother died of malnutrition. Before he died, he said that he wanted to eat a banana. Today, whenever she visits his grave, she brings some bananas as an offering. Her meals consisted of some noodles and a little rice mixed with corn. Food was rationed according to the number of people. Some miso soup was distributed, but she had to use it in small amounts to make it last for a long time. There were no bowls to put the food in, so they used tin plates.
For people who had some connection to a farm, food was not so much of a problem. But those who had no relationship with farmers faced great difficulties to get food. Many of them traveled by train to farms, in places like Narita in Chiba prefecture, in order to get food for their families. Some farmers illegally sold rice for money by smuggling it into the city. This was risky, because they would be punished if they were found out.
Mrs Gotō said that she made monpe (loose trousers) out of her kimono. It left a lasting impression when one of her co-workers walked to the factory after the March 9-10 bombing wearing monpe. She remembers that her face was black with dirt and smoke.
People had a hard time during the war, but the suffering continued after the war too. Mrs Gotō got married to her husband when he returned from the war, but many women were widowed. Her sister lost her husband in the war. He had been sent to China. She was left alone to care for her children. She often traveled to the countryside to buy vegetables. She is now living with her son in Tochigi prefecture.
Mrs Gotō said that it is very hard to imagine what the situation was like during the war. Children now are very lucky and should be happy to enjoy all the luxuries that we have now.