E14Sp, David Sancho ‘94, Tamaho Shimizu, Grandmother, 1918, Nagano, Kanagawa: Kawasaki-shi
I interviewed my maternal grandmother at Honmoku Hospital in Yokohama, in November 1992. She was born in 1918 and is 74 years old.
Q: Where were you living during the war?
A: I lived in Kawasaki, but I moved back to my hometown, Komoro in Nagano Prefecture, from time to time.
Q: What was your occupation during the war?
A: At first I worked in Ginza at Meiji Seika, a confectionery company, but then I became the owner of a bar, or in other words a mama-san. Your grandfather was sent to Manchuria and drove vans carrying resources for the Army, along with his brother.
Q: What was the situation at that time?
A: It was very inconvenient; for example, there were no taxis. The quality of food was very bad, and there was almost no rice in the city. I was very fortunate at this time, since I went back to Nagano during the year, and I was able to bring rice back to Kawasaki. Because of this, I think I had a better life than most of the people living around Tōkyō.
Q: What was your reaction to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor?
A: I felt really bad, and I was confused, but I was confident that Japan would win. I guess I had been brainwashed, since at school I was taught that Japan had the strongest military force in the world. I was scared when Japan entered World War II; that’s all I felt.
Q: What was your attitude towards Americans?
A: There were no Americans in Japan during the war, but I couldn’t think of them as good people even after the war ended. But since they won the war, I guess it couldn’t be helped that they took control of Japan for a while.
Q: What was your reaction to the bombing of Hiroshima?
A: I went to Hiroshima a few months after the bombing, and the conditions were terrible. The survivors were really pitiful to see; they were lying all over the roads. It was so disgusting. There were maggots oozing out of the wounds of the people who suffered from the bomb. When I saw them, I hoped that there would be no more war in the future.
Q: How did you feel about General Douglas MacArthur?
A: At first I thought that this was the end for Japan. But I guess MacArthur and the Emperor did their best for the reconstruction of Japan.
Q: Looking back, how do you feel about the war in general?
A: I feel lucky that I lived through the war without suffering any physical damage. I hope there will be no more wars in the future.