T01, Takashi Kitao ‘19, Kazuaki Takai, Grandfather, 1936, Aomori, Yokohama: Nishi-ku
I interviewed my maternal grandfather, Kazuaki Takai, on October 17, 2017. He was born in 1936 and is 81 years old.
Q: How old were you when the Pearl Harbor attack happened?
A. Five years old.
Q. Did you seek refuge during the bombing in Tōkyō? Where did you go?
A. Yes, I went to Aomori. I stayed there from April 1944 and came back to Yokohama in September of 1945.
Q. What was your life like in Aomori ?
A. There was no electricity, but there were a lot of snakes. Only a few times Japanese planes flew overhead. The school was approximately two kilometers from our house.
Q. What was the bombing like in Yokohama?
A. The area around Yokohama station was heavily bombed. Our house was not affected, but when the alarm indicating evacuation due to the bombing was rung, we evacuated to a nearby park. The area where I lived was very mountainous and was mostly covered with farmland. However, the Morinaga chocolate factory was mistaken as a military factory, and so it was bombed. From the park I saw the place burning. At that moment I thought our house was burned and destroyed.
Q. Did you seek refuge with your entire family?
A. No, my brother sought refuge with a group, while I went separately. This was because at the time I was still young and was a little sick, so my parents decided that I should go independently. My oldest brother and my only sister stayed in Yokohama.
Q. Are there any memories you would like to share with me?
A. When I was six years old, I went to an army hospital to sing for the wounded soldiers. The song went like this: [He sang it.] “Today we go to school, thanks to the soldiers. They fight for the country, they fight for the country, thanks to the soldiers.”
