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 Air Raid of Tōkyō (Tōkyō Dai-Kūshū). It was late on the night of March 10, 1945.
Q: How old were you then?
A: I was 19 or 20 years old, so not much older than you are now.
Q: Where were you living then?
A: I was living in the Ryōgoku area, not far from Nihonbashi. I was the only child, and I was with my father, who is your great-grandfather. My mother had evacuated to her homeland in Tochigi.
Q: What were you doing on that night?
A: I was just about to go to sleep. I was very nervous, because I had heard that Asakusa, on the other side of Nihonbashi, had been attacked. Then our neighbors told us that the area near our house was on fire. My father and I went to the school nearby, which was our refuge shelter, and we went there whenever we were attacked. When we got to the school, it was already full of people, and they did not let us in, so we went to the Ryōgoku train station. It was also a good place to seek shelter, since we could hide under the railway bridge. But the station was also full of refugees, and soon the whole town was blazing with fire.
Then we moved to the banks of the Sumida River. From there, we could see the other side of the river burning. We stayed there for a few hours, but the fire got so strong that we could not bear the heat. So we returned to the train station, where everything had been destroyed by the fire. Of course, our house was all gone too. I remember clearly that the telephone poles, which were made of wood, were all burned clear down to the ground. You can imagine how fierce the fire was. Since our house was gone, we had no choice but to go to my mother’s home in Tochigi. Even though the station was still standing, there were no trains there, so we had to walk to Ueno Station.
Q: Did you or your father get injured?
A: No, neither of us were injured, but we had almost nothing. I remember being relieved that my father had carried some money with him.
Q: What was the scene that you remember most clearly?
A: I almost cried when I saw the Kokugikan Sumō Arena burning, since I was a big fan of sumō. But I remember that it looked very beautiful with the flames around it.