D02C, Aileen Jo ‘91, “Anyan,” Grandmother, c 1924, Hyōgo, Nagano, China, Yokohama: Naka-ku
In November 1989, I asked my grandmother (whom I call “Anyan”) about her wartime memories. She was a teenager and young adult during the worst years of the war.
Q: Anyan, I’d like to ask you some questions about your experiences during World War II. Were you living in China then?
A: Well, let me go back a bit. I was born in Kōbe, since my father was in the import-export business in Japan. I stayed in Kōbe until I was in Grade 4, but then I went back to Shanghai for the rest of my education. My parents were considering a marriage to the son of their friends, who was also in the trading business. In those days, it was the parents who chose the marriage partner. My sister was forced to marry, so compared to her, at least I had the privilege to make my own decision. I married him after only one week of dating. I gave birth to my first daughter, Kare. Soon after, my husband had to go to Yokohama on business, and by then World War II had started. I joined him in Yokohama by myself.
Q: Didn’t you take Kare with you?
A: No, I wouldn’t dare to do that! To get to Yokohama, we had to take a ship, which was very dangerous. There was a high possibility of being hit by a torpedo. I didn’t care about my own life, but I wouldn’t want a young baby to lose her life!
Q: I guess that’s what we call “parental love.” Were you in danger?
A: No, luckily I got to Yokohama safely, and Kare was able to join me later. But we evacuated to Nagano as soon as she reached Japan. It was very dangerous in the cities, especially in Yokohama. B-29 bombers were dropping bombs everywhere.
Q: How old were you then?
A: Hmmm …. 21, I think.
Q: Were the Chinese able to get along with the Japanese, living side by side?
A: All of my neighbors were very nice to me.
Q: I’ve seen in movies the evacuation places where you would only get a small amount of food, but did you suffer from starvation like that?
A: No, no, we bought a house in Nagano, and we had to grow our own food on our farm. We exchanged food for other things with the neighbors.
Q: Did you go through any suffering or hardships?
A: Not really. We had a maid who looked after the children, and we had enough food and money.
Q: You had an ordinary daily life! How about after the war? Did you go back to Kōbe?
A: No, we went to Yokohama. I used to live where the Aster Restaurant is located now, in Chinatown. We were selling rice crackers [senbei], and we made some profit out of it. In those days, everyone used to buy more rice crackers than people do nowadays. After that, we started many other jobs, such as coffee shops, and that was when we began to run the Aster Hotel.
Q: Wow! You’ve owned the same land for many years!
A: Don’t be that surprised. Land is very valuable. It doesn’t rot, so it’s worth keeping.
Q: I was surprised that you didn’t suffer that much during the war, but thank you very much, Grandma!