Wartime Memories

Prefecture: Tōkyō

  • Eriko Shinozaki

    D04, Eriko Shinozaki ‘91, Grandmother, 1920, Karafuto, Hokkaidō, Tōkyō Q: Hello, Grandma, can I interview you about your life during World War II for my homework assignment? A: Sure, but I was not in Japan during the war. Q: Were you in Karafuto [the southern half of Sakhalin island, under Japanese rule from 1905 to…

  • Shinobu Suzuki

    D05, Shinobu Suzuki ‘91, Tokiko Suzuki, Grandmother, 1925, Tōkyō In November 1989, I interviewed my paternal grandmother, Tokiko Suzuki, 64 years old, in my living room. Q: Which specific period of time do you remember most clearly? A: The year before Japan surrendered, 1944 and 1945. During that time, the hardest experience was the Great…

  • Satoe Takahashi

    E16, Satoe Takahashi ‘94, Kimiko Tanaka, Grandmother, 1921, Tōkyō I interviewed my maternal grandmother, who is 70 years old, about her experiences during World War II. Q: How old were you when the war broke out?A: I was 20 years old in 1941 (Shōwa 16). Q: What were you doing then?A: I was focusing on…

  • Emma Wilkinson

    E18B, Emma Wilkinson ‘94, Terue Umeyama, Grandmother, 1917, Tōkyō I interviewed Terue Umeyama, who is my maternal grandmother. She is 75 years old, and I spoke to her at her home in Urawa, Saitama Prefecture, on November 28, 1992. Q: What was your reaction to Japan entering World War II?A: I was frightened, because I…

  • Miya King

    F04B, Miya King ‘97, Shigeko Hoshikawa, Grandmother, 1920, Tōkyō, Aichi, Yamagata My maternal grandmother was born on August 3, 1920, and she is now 75 years old. I interviewed her in December 1995 Q: Could you describe your life when the war started?A: I was attending Kyōritsu Joshi Tandai [a women’s junior college] in Tōkyō.…

  • Ai Fujita

    G01, Ai Fujita ‘99, Sumako Ikeda, Grandmother, 1929, Tōkyō In November 1997, I interviewed my maternal grandmother, Sumako Ikeda, at my grandparents’ house in Umejima, Tōkyō. She was born in 1929 and is 68 years old now. Q: Please tell me your situation when World War II began. A: I was 12 years old when…

  • Mira (Milla) Ikeda

    V01, Mira (Milla) Ikeda ‘21, Reiko Yamamuro, Great-aunt, 1944, Shun’ichi Yamamuro, Great-uncle, 1941, China, Yokohama: Kanagawa-ku, Tōkyō For this oral interview, I interviewed my grandmother’s sister, Reiko Yamamuro, and her husband, Shun’ichi Yamamuro, at their house in Yokohama on October 10th, 2019. Reiko Yamamuro was born in Shanghai in the year 1944, just before the…

  • Tomoe Endō

    H04U, Tomoe Endō ‘00, Shizue Osias, Grandmother, 1928, Toshiko Endō, Grandmother, 1920, Yokohama: Minami-ku, Shizuoka, Tōkyō, Nagano I interviewed both of my grandmothers about their experiences during World War II. Shizue Sugitō Osias is now 70 years old. She was 17 years old when she heard the air raid alarms in Yokohama and she was…

  • 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…

  • Sayaka Haishi

    H06, Sayaka Haishi ‘00, Grandfather, 1925, Grandmother, 1928, China, Hokkaidō, Tōkyō Before Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and declared war on the United States on December 8, 1941, Japan had already invaded China and Vietnam. The Japanese Army then attacked the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia and kept moving southward to enlarge the area under Japanese…