K06, Eri (Elly) Nonaka ‘02, Hideo Nonaka, Grandfather, 1920, Tōkyō, Yokohama: Naka-ku
The only person that I am really close to who is old enough to answer my questions is my grandfather. His name is Hideo Nonaka, and he is 80 years old. He lives right in front of my house, so it was really easy to get all the information I wanted. I interviewed him on November 8, 2000.
My grandfather attended Sophia University during World War II. He was about 22 years old when he became a student-soldier. He studied at the Imperial Army school for about a year and a half. Even though he was a Catholic, he passed the test to become a part-time officer of the Japanese Army. He told me that he never thought that he would pass the test, because he wrote down that he believed in Jesus Christ.
Before the war, he and his father attended Mass at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Yamate-chō every Sunday. (Back then, the church was more strict than now.) During the war, he told me that he never lost hope, because he believed that God would help him. But Kempei-tai (military police) soldiers came to the church during the war to find out which families attended the church during this chaotic time. The police threatened the church, so it had to close for some time.
My grandfather said that he always prayed to God that he would never have to shoot anybody and go to the front lines of the war. His wish came true: he never shot anyone, and he didn’t go to the front lines. Instead, he did paperwork at the Army headquarters in Tōkyō. He told me that he was really lucky, because most of his friends went to the front and never came back.
Because he had another house in Yokohama, he had to commute to Tōkyō every morning. Tōkyō was attacked by American bomber planes which came from Saipan, and it was totally destroyed in a major bombing raid. But my grandfather was safe because he lived in Yokohama at that time.
Japanese subjects had to carry out two duties. One was to pay taxes to the country, and the other was to fight in the war. My grandfather was a lower-rank officer, because he was a university student and believed in Christianity. So he never got promoted to a higher rank. Again, he said that he was lucky, because if he had been promoted, maybe he would have had to go to the battlefield.
On August 14, 1945, young Army officers between the ages of 26 to 28 years old, wanted to continue the war. They tried to take power in the streets of Tōkyō. They still believed that Japan could somehow defeat America. Also they knew that if they didn’t do something on that day, the next day the Emperor would declare the end of the war on JOAK (NHK) Radio. The Emperor recorded his voice in a speech that declared the surrender to end the war. The young soldiers were smart enough to think that if they stole the recording, the war would still go on. But this didn’t work. The police stopped them, and most of them killed themselves with their own guns.
My grandfather was really close to these Army officers, but he didn’t want the war to continue, so he didn’t join them. Everyone in Japan heard the Emperor’s voice on the radio the next day, and the war ended. My grandfather went back to Yokohama safely after the war ended on August 15, 1945.
As I asked questions to my grandfather, it looked like he didn’t really want to remember his past. I think it was really hard for him, but I am glad that he didn’t have to go to the front lines and shoot other people. As time went by, my grandfather started to recall his memories, and he talked to me for a long time. This interview has linked me to my grandfather’s past and it was quite amazing to hear how different Tōkyō was from how it is now.