L12, Sayuri Satofuka ‘04, Moto Kawaguchi, Grandmother, 1924, Shizuoka
On November 8, 2002, I interviewed my maternal grandmother. We met on the 4th floor of the Odakyū department store in Machida. She is 78 years old and was born in 1924.
M (Me): Do you remember World War II, also called the Pacific War (Taiheiyō Sensō)? How old were you when it began?
G (Grandmother): Yes, I remember it. But we called it the Greater East Asia War (Dai-Tō-A Sensō). I was about the same age as you.
M: Who were your family members?
G: A mother, two older brothers, and me.
M: What happened to your father?
G: Oh! He died when I was eight or nine.
M: Can you tell me what happened to your family during the war?1
G: Well, my mother stayed at home with me. One of my brothers went to war, but the other one stayed at home. All the men and young boys had to join the Army as soldiers.
M: How was your older brother able to stay home?
G: He was disqualified during the medical exam, because he had intestinal tuberculosis. If you had any medical problems, you did not have to go to war as a soldier. I was happy that he came home, but unfortunately my other brother had to go to the war. I was worried, and I started to hate soldiers. My mother was proud of my brother, because he was bravely fighting for his country. A few days after my brother left, an akagami arrived for my sick brother. An akagami was a summons from the government, which ordered him to report for duty even though had a medical problem. However, my brother died a few days later, because of his sickness.
M: What happened to your other brother?
G: When the war ended, he came home from China. My mother and I were very happy to see him again.
Did I tell you that during the war, goods were getting scarce because they were given to the soldiers and the rich people? Also factories were not making any products, so even if we wanted to buy soap, we couldn’t, because there was none in shops, or it was very expensive to buy.
M: If goods were scarce, was food a problem too?
G: Yes. What we ate was like what animals ate. Like potatoes and onions. Many people died because they did not have enough nutrients. We even couldn’t celebrate New Year or birthdays. Since I lived in Shizuoka on the coastline, we collected seawater and boiled it to obtain salt. I went to the countryside to exchange salt for rice, and I carried about ten kilograms of rice back from Tochigi and Saitama. At every station, there was a soldier checking our baggage. Once he chased me, but I ran away, carrying a bag of rice over my shoulder. That was tough and scary.
M: Did you go to school?
G: No, I had graduated already, and I was working at an office. Children did not go to school either; instead they had to work at factories, where they had to make bombs, guns, and other military weapons. Only old people and women worked normally. I had a fiancé, and he went to war, but he did not come back.
M: Were there airplanes?
G: Of course. Every day there were air raids. An airplane called B-29 flew overhead dropping bombs. The sound was like rain. When the B-29s came, the air raid sirens rang and we had to turn off all the lights. We could not get enough sleep. I felt like I was not alive. Many times I thought of committing suicide, but I did not want to leave my mother alone.
M: Do you have any last words?
G: It was very difficult living during war. I did not care about winning or losing; I only wanted it to end quickly. The American soldiers came on land, and there were rumours going on that we would be killed, so many people moved to the mountains. I didn’t, but the soldiers guarded offices and factories. Even after the war ended, food or goods were still scarce, and we received ration tickets from the government. These tickets were like money, and we could receive enough food or other goods. This carried on for ten years or so. I am surprised that I lived through the war. You are lucky that you are living in a safe world, Sayuri!