INTERVIEW ONE Grandchildren of Hiroshima: Akito Kono Interview

Transcription

1 INTERVIEW ONE Grandchildren of Hiroshima: Akito Kono Interview Child: Grandchildren of Hiroshima Project, recorded on 7 th August I m Ryo Kurosawa, born on 8 th April Child: I m Chihiro Shimota, born on 13 th February Akito: I m Akito Kono. I was born on 27 th March Child: Could you tell me a little bit about changes before and after the bombing? Akito: Before and after the bombing? Yes, before the bombing, we were in the middle of the war. There were lots of American aircrafts like B-29 flying over us. Well, there used to be anti-aircraft corps based in the mountain behind my house, but their artilleries could reach only around 8,000 meters above the ground, while B-29s flew more than 10,000 meters high. The corps were all useless. Because I knew that, every time the aircrafts came over I had to hide in my house or in a bomb shelter. After the bomb was dropped, the aircrafts stopped coming over and the war ended on 15 th August. As I came to realise that the war was over and we lost it, I started wondering what I should do to live. I was the oldest brother with three younger siblings, and we lost my father in war. I desperately discussed with my mother how we would make a living. Then, one of my friends from my junior high school worked as a watch repairer at the time, disassembling and cleaning watches. While I worked at a post office on weekdays, I commuted minutes to Yaguchi by bicycle on weekends: from early afternoon on Saturdays, and all day long on Sundays. I had learned how to repair watches from my friend for three years until I mastered it. Disassembly and cleaning of a watch cost 250 yen at the time, but I offered my service for 150 yen. I started to gain some money from it, as well as my salary from the post office. In this way I managed to provide food for my family. But I could not get even one yen for myself as my allowance. Yes, I studied very hard to learn this kind of skill. Child: What did you learn? Akito: Watch cleaning. I disassembled, cleaned, and then oiled watches. That is the process of watch cleaning. And watches at the time were completely different from what they are today. Now they work on batteries, but they used to move with a spring. People used to wind a spring by using a key to activate their watches. Now it s battery. Quite different. Well, I learned this kind of things. 1

2 Child: How did your life change before and after the bombing? Akito: Yes, as I told you earlier, before the bombing I had a job. Oh no, I didn t. The A-bomb attack happened in August 1945, so I actually didn t have a job during the war. I started my job at a post office in 1947, so Child: What about food? Akito: There was very little available during the war. Although there was ration distribution, it was not really enough for everyone in my family. We had so little rice we had to make soup most of the time instead. I used to take some wild flowers around me home and put them into our soup as ingredients. But when the war ended on 15 th August, we managed to eat sufficient food. Well, of course, we couldn t get much food just after the war. As I learned how to repair watches, the situation also improved enough to feed everyone in my family. Child: Could you tell me about the life of soldiers? Akito: Soldiers I was born on 27 th March 1927, but those born by December of the previous year were all taken as soldiers. We had to take a physical examination for conscription, and we were assigned to either the first or second class. But I didn t want to become a first class soldier. Candidates were asked to take an eye test at the same time. I could see the eye chart clearly, but I lied. I can t see it! I can t see it! I continued claiming that I couldn t see the chart as I moved back step by step. Other candidates, on the contrary, moved forward and forward stepping over the line. Education was really bad at the time compared to now. Candidates were supposed to look at the chart with one eye closed from the line, but they crossed the line to see the chart so that they could become the first class soldiers at any cost. I alone kept moving back, but I touched a large brazier behind me with heated charcoals in it. Ouch! That s too hot! This should be a divine punishment. Yes, I clearly remember the moment. Anyway, they volunteered to throw away their young and precious lives in the battlefield. I was not like them. I thought I must survive as long as I could. That s why I pretended that I couldn t see the eye chart well. My father also told me to volunteer to become a soldier while I was young. I had a fight with him over it. I said to him, I don t want to die for nothing. Under the education policy at the time, there was nobody who could say such a thing. Well, there might have been a few, but not many. Sacrifices of people were justified for the sake of their country, but then how much could they really contributed to the country by throwing away their precious lives? People at the time were educated to give up their own lives. 2

3 That is why I emphasise the importance of education. I feel dreadful when I think back again. Child: What examinations did you have to take except an eye test? Akito: I had an eye test, and what am I missing? I think I also had to take a sort of running test, but I don t really remember it. I remember the eye test clearly. There must have been physical examination like a running test. Child: Physical fitness? Akito: Yes, it was a kind of measurement of physical fitness. Woman: Where were you when the atomic bomb was dropped? Akito: I was at my workplace in Nagatsuka in Gion Town. After graduation from junior high school, children who didn t have any job were forced to work at military industries. Students were exempted from compulsory recruitment, so I used to go to Hiroshima Electrical Academy in Senda Town. I also studied alone several times at Asano Library located on Train Street. There was an institution in Ujina called Hiroshima Army Ordnance Supply Depot, which I was more interested in than study. This was a place where all sorts of food such as rice, wheat, sugar and soy source were gathered. The food was distributed to the army every day. It was like a food storage. I was mobilised to transfer the food from Ujina to Nagatsuka I mentioned before, in case of enemies attack on Ujina. Then, the food was distributed again to Happon-matsu and Nishijo by truck for the same reason. I was forced to work for the food transfer so that people would not worry about food even when one of the storage was attacked by the enemy. Petrol was not available in Japan at the time, so we used a charcoal-powered truck of this size and height to transfer the food. Child: Where did you get the charcoal from? Akito: Charcoals were available at the time. We generated gas from charcoals to run a truck. Japan is not rich in natural resources like petrol, so we used charcoals instead. At the time, there were some bad people who deliberately dropped rice or wheat flour on the ground when they carried the food, giving excuses like Oops, I stumbled, or Oh no, this paper bag is broken. Then, they put the flour into an iron bucket and mixed with water until the mixture got sticky like a rice cake. They put the cakes on the heated gas generator to eat after work. They took off all the cakes before they left their workplace. 3

4 Other bad people put rice, which they had dropped on purpose, into their gaiters as much as they could. Well, I guess you don t know what gaiters are, though. Full-time workers were checked by guards when they left the workplace, but he guards didn t check on students, so students deliberately dropped rice on the ground and put it into their gaiters. The gaiters made rustling sound as students went through the gate. As we had nothing to eat, everyone did this kind of thing. Even full-time workers performed a cheating plot. Although one of workers was told to load 10 bags of rice on a truck, he loaded two extras. I wondered why he loaded extra bags, but I came to realise that he was trying to keep the two for himself. Things like this happened then. Well, this explains how desperate people were to get food. I had a tough time as well. I used to work at Chugoku Electric Power Corporation and engaged in changing light bulbs. I didn t have anything to eat for lunch. I just kept on working. But I didn t want anybody to know that I didn t eat anything at all, so I used to bring a toothpick from my house and take it with me after telling my boss that I would go out for lunch. Of course I didn t have money to buy food. But it would be very embarrassing if others knew after the break that I didn t eat anything, so I bit on the toothpick to pretend as if I had eaten something for lunch. I did this several times. Anyway, we were desperate to survive. All we could think about was how we could survive. There was no time for other things. Anyway, we ve gone through such time. Woman: You mentioned that other students attempted desperately to pass the eye test. Why did you think differently? Akito: Yes. As I told you, I didn t want to be a soldier. Woman: Were there any other students who had the same idea as yours? Akito: No at all. Well, there might have been some, but I didn t really care about others. All I could care about was myself. As I said before, I didn t want to die for nothing. Woman: Was it your family that made you think that way? Akito: No, it wasn t them. Well, anyone who had such a belief was taken in handcuffs by the military police. Even I can t believe now that I was able to say such a thing at the time. Woman: Did you say out loud that you didn t want to? Akito: Right, there was a factory called Depot in Ujina. They offered provided lunch for us Well, what was your question, by the way? Woman: Did you say out loud that you didn t want to become a soldier? 4

5 Akito: Ah, yes, that s right. And at the time, there was a secondary school called Hiroshima First Junior High School, which was the most prestige in Hiroshima. This school taught students who had graduated from other junior high schools. Students from this school worked very hard when they were mobilised at Hiroshima Army Ordnance Supply Depot in Ujina. They were the same age as me. I often had a fight with them as I did with my father. I once told one of them that his effort would be nothing, no matter how hard he worked, and that Japan would lose the war. I can t believe I said such a thing. I would never say it if I could go back to that time. I had fights like this very often. By the way, later he became a junior high school teacher. He said, Don t say such a stupid thing, Akito. Kamikaze will protect Japan in case of emergency. People during the war were educated in this way. They were told never to stop fighting with their enemies to the last one, even when they had nothing but a bamboo spear. Such an idea was imprinted on people s mind through education. And the student I just mentioned also said, Don t be silly. These are gods in Japan. It is the American who doesn t know about Kamikaze Japan. We had such fights all the time. Woman: I see. Child: Did your father wish to become a soldier? Akito: I don t know if he wanted to be a soldier. I personally didn t want to. He received conscription letters which made him join the army at the Second Sino-Japanese War. We prepared nobori and sent him off, saying Congratulations! Good luck. Banzai, banzai! Woman: Do you know what the nobori is? It s a banner. Akito: Oh, you know nobori? A banner. I think I still have a picture of it. But why did we have to hail to someone who was going to the battlefield and eventually going to give up his life in vain? No one ever casted a doubt about it. The war wouldn t have occurred if there had been many people who had the same idea as me. I know that people had no choice but take the examination for compulsory duty. But my father was taken to the battlefield despite his age, and died in the war at the age of 45. During that period, many young people also threw away their lives in the same way. Actually, their lives were not thrown away, but were taken away by such a stupid war. Well, I wouldn t go against it if we were to be reborn again and again, but we can t. Each life is the only one on earth. It is totally wrong to wage a war by sacrificing people s lives or forcing people to do it. This was widely accepted by people at the time. It is education that is really significant. There was something wrong with education, and we all must admit that. 5

6 And as I told you earlier, when leaders makes an error in judgement, anything horrible can happen. This is in the case of the A-bomb attack. There were three phases of warning: air-raid warning, cautionary warning, and all clear. What if the authority had issued an air-raid warning on 6 th August? In reality, 200,000 people had died by the end of the year. 200,000! Not just two people! The authority which was supposed to give orders made a wrong judgement. Air-raid warning and cautionary warning were lifted, and even all-clear statement wasn t released. We knew nothing at all, and that was when the atomic bomb exploded. When an air-raid warning was issued, we had to turn out all the lights in our house. It looked as if there had been a blackout throughout Hiroshima. Then, in the case of cautionary warning, we didn t have to turn out the lights, but we still had to be cautious. When we saw aircrafts in the sky, we would take action to hide in a shelter behind our house or one in the neighbourhood. Again, what if there had been an air-raid warning or even a cautionary warning? Everybody could have hidden inside shelters. Even buses and trains would have stopped so that everyone could hide into shelters around the vehicles. Can you see what could have happened? The 200,000 precious lives hadn t been lost at all! Of course, there could have been some casualties, but the misjudgement by the authority to warn people left them unprepared, resulting in loss of 200,000 lives. Well, I don t quite remember if it was 20 th or 22 nd June 1945, but anyway, Prime Minister Hideki Tojo and other politicians held a conference in the presence of Emperor. It was clear by that time that Japan would lose the war. I wish at least one of them had raised a voice to prevent unnecessary casualties and surrender. But the thing is, Japan had never lost wars before. This fact allowed people to think that Japan would achieve a victory at the end, no matter how bad the situation might be. There were many people who believed in this idea, as they were educated in this way. As I said, there was such an opportunity in June. If someone had insisted on ending war and surrendering, there wouldn t have been an A-bomb attack, and neither would victims of it. How could these well-educated people possibly accept an idea to force people to kill the enemies to the last one? But such a stupid idea was taken for granted during the war. Japan was overconfident because it had won all the wars before. As a consequence, Japan was attacked by the US with two atomic bombs. That s why I m telling you that leaders judgements have a significant impact on even people s lives, and always have. When you grow up and work at an administrative institution, or start your own business, or get an important position like CEO, Similar things can happen if you make a wrong judgement, okay? You must think really carefully. And this is just an aside. You will be parents in the future anyway, so when you become parents, think about a Japanese character 親 (parents). This character consists of three Chinese characters: 立 (stand), 木 (tree), and 見 (look). That means parents are people who look at things standing on a 6

7 tree. People cannot see things very well through the eyes of a child. By standing on a tree, you must learn a lot from wider and deeper perspectives, and tell your children what you ve learnt. Child s perspective is quite limited and you can t see many things from it. When you become parents, you must look at things standing on a tree, and learn and struggle, then let your children know what you ve experienced. I wonder if any of parents today can educate their children in this way. Woman: Hahaha. Akito: I don t think there are many. And that s why people still cause accidents and crimes, which are totally different from what I used to witness when I was young. Like I said, these incidents happen because parents don t look at things standing on a tree. They look at things from a narrow perspective. Each country must promote dialogues with other countries. And we need love. Love sorts out everything. We must understand each other. And I think it is unacceptable that people lose their lives in wars on this planet. I ve been speaking out loud in both local and national NHK programmes. But I think NHK should broadcast programmes not only on 6 th August, but at least once or twice a month. I don t mean that I want to show up on TV, but there are people who want to spread an anti-war message to all people in Japan. You know that Japan will host the Olympic in Tokyo in 2020, right? I am proposing an idea to Mr Noriaki Usui, who is the Chair of Hiroshima City Council. My proposal includes the opening of direct transport such as a bullet train line from Tokyo to Hiroshima, hoping that every single visitor coming to Tokyo Olympics, including players, coaches and supporters, will be able to visit Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. If people around the world come to understand the terror and inhumanity of atomic bombs, there will be no more war in the future. I ve talked about it with Mr Usui, showing him my passion in it. I m not sure if it is really possible, though. Woman: Thank you very much. Children: Thank you very much. Akito: Well, well. Thank you, too. Glossary Banzai: an act of applause. Kamikaze: Also known as divine wind. Storms that are believed to have protected Japan from Mongol Invasions in the 13 th century. Nobori: a long flag commonly used in battlefields in the age of samurai warriors. 7

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