Category: Uncategorized
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Rio Yanaga
W05, Rio Yanaga ‘22, Masahiko Yanaga, Grandfather, c 1935, Kunika Yanaga, Grandmother, c 1935, Tōkyō, Nagano, China I asked my paternal grandparents to talk about their memories of World War II. They were both about ten years old when the war ended in 1945. I interviewed them in November 2020, seventy-five years later. Q: Could…
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Myung-Jun Hong
H07K , Myung-Jun Hong ‘00, Grandfather, 1918, Korea, Tōkyō On November 15, 1998, I interviewed my grandfather. He is 80 years old and lives in Tōkyō now. When the war was about to break out, he was studying at Meiji University in Japan. It was very rare for Koreans to study at a prestigious university…
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Akiko Shimizu
L15, Akiko Shimizu ‘04, Shōzō Katsuta, Uncle, 1935, Nagano On October 27, 2002, I interviewed my uncle at his house. His name is Shōzō Katsuta, and he is 67 years old. [His father, and Akiko’s grandfather, was Shinsui Itō (1898-1972), a well-known artist of Japanese paintings, called Nihonga.] Question: What did you think about “war”…
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Sophia Ikeda
H09B, Sophia Ikeda ‘00, Yuriko Kosakai, Neighbor, 1924, Kanagawa: Kamakura-shi, Tōkyō During the Second World War, many people were killed and many lives were affected. It was not a good time for anyone, because it created many memories that people don’t want to remember. I interviewed my next-door neighbor. Her name is Yuriko Kosakai, and…
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Tatsuya Kotake
M02, Tatsuya Kotake ‘06, Yoshiko Kitano, Grandmother, 1929, Tōkyō, Niigata When World War II began, my grandmother, Yoshiko Kitano, was twelve years old. She had been born in 1929 (Shōwa 4). She was living in the working-class shitamachi area of Tōkyō with her family. Her neighborhood had a narrow street with five houses on each…
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Kyōsuke Kikuchi
H13, Kyōsuke Kikuchi ‘00, Kaichirō Yamada, Great-uncle, 1909, Kanagawa: Fujisawa-shi On November 8, 1998, I interviewed my great-uncle, Yamada Kaiichirō. He was born on May 5, 1909, so he lived through the Great Kantō Earthquake of 1923, as well as World War II. I asked him about the earthquake, and he described it to me…
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Mina Mardani
M03T, Mina Mardani ‘06, Yasuko Takano, Grandmother, 1932, Tōkyō, Chiba I interviewed my maternal grandmother on November 15, 2004. Her name is Yasuko Takano, and she is 72 years old. This is her testimony. On December 8, 1941, I listened to the radio news with my family at our house in Ryōgoku, and I remember…
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Wako Huang
L04C, Wako Huang ‘04, Shin’ichi Numata, Neighbor, 1919, Yokohama: Naka-ku, Saitama, Kyōto, Gifu On November 11, 2002, I interviewed Shin’ichi Numata, my downstairs neighbor. He is 83 years old. Mr. Numata allowed me to interview him in person. He was an intelligent man, and never hesitated to inform me about his experiences during World War…
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Manish Ramiah
N08I, Manish Ramiah ‘07, Kinko Kaitō, Family friend, 1929, Tōkyō, Niigata On Saturday, October 29, 2005, I interviewed Mrs Kinko Kaikō, a survivor of World War II about her personal experiences during the war. She lives near our house, and my mother often meets her on the way to Nishi-Nippori Station, where they chat a…
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Ellen Uchida
T04C, Ellen Uchida ‘19, Thomas Yao, Grandfather, 1931, China On October 8, 2017, I interviewed my maternal grandfather, Thomas Yao, by telephone. He was born in 1931 and is 86 years old, living in Taiwan. Q. Where were you born? Can you describe your family life? Can you describe the area where you were born?…