Profound Sadness

The movie Reign Over Me (2007) is a black and blue therapeutic drama, but is a comedy as well, of friendship between two dentists Alan Johnson and Charlie Fineman, roommates at college. When they encounter each other at Washington Square in New York, Charlie is a wreck of a dentist, shabby looking, and Alan failed to recognize his old chum. Later we learn that Charlie lost his entire family in 9/11, three daughters, a wife and the family dog. He was well compensated for their wrongful deaths, but so wracked with grief that he lost touch with reality, escaping into movies, music and TV games such as "Shadow of the Colossus", and riding on a two-wheeled scooter which is a metaphor for the imbalance in which he lives. Inside his condo, Charlie is remodeling his dining room by himself, conscience-stricken with the last telephone conversation he had with his wife before boarding her ill-fated hijacked flight. Remodeling was the last thing his wife wanted him to do.

Charlie showed no will to live and actually attempted to kill himself, by tricking policemen to shoot him. Despite Alan's helpful arrangements, Charlie shut himself off from the therapist's questions about his loved ones, turning up the volume on his iPod, listening to "Love, Reign O'er Me." His post traumatic stress syndrome was bottomless in spite of Alan's self-sacrificing endeavors.

Recently, as I sat in my dentist's waiting room, I reflected on the dentist movie. While waiting, I read a "Bunshun" review of the book Yasuko's Diary during WWII (2009) written by Ryusho Kadota. I bought the book on my way home.

Yasuko Kuriya (1925-1945) was a daughter of Hiroshima City Mayor Senkichi Kuriya. Senkichi served as the chief of Osaka Prefectural Police but was transferred to Hiroshima as the city mayor in l943. Senkichi had a house in southern Tokyo, so he relocated only accompanied by his wife Sachiyo, leaving all the children in Tokyo. The eldest daughter, Motoko, was already married and lived in Kobe. However, with the Allied's air raids returning again and again and getting fiercer, the young ones were sent to the mountain and farming villages away from Tokyo. However, Shinobu, eldest son, chose to join his parents in Hiroshima. The second son, Tadashi, left for Yamanashi, second daughter, Yasuko, for Niigata and third daughter, Chikako, for Nagano, thus scattering the entire family.

Before leaving for Niigata, Yasuko had almost a year's worth of experience working at the Army Arsenal in Jyujo, northern Tokyo, in the student corps. She and her friends were paired to work with three prep students from Chuo University including Jotaro "Jo" Takagi and Jing Yi Liang, a Taiwanese, who finished 5 years in Setagawa Middle School. It was the time Confucian teaching prevailed and "boys did not sit with girls after reaching 7 years old", but Yasuko was a friendly girl, not shy, but naive. Being personally consulted, Yasuko dissuaded Liang from applying to become "Tokko" (Kamikaze pilot) saying "it is the pride of the nation but disgraceful to enforce as a nation."

Yasuko once invited Takagi and Liang to her house. Liang met Mother Sachiyo and brother Shinobu, and Liang was impressed with Yasuko's piano piece "A Maiden's Prayer" (by Tekla Badarzewska). Shinobu drew his favorite cartoon and gave it to Liang.

August 6, 1945, the A-bomb killed the Mayor, Yasuko's brother, Shinobu, instantly. Mother Sachiyo was severely burned but survived. Yasuko came to know what happened in Hiroshima, but Yasuko learned of the death of her father from the newspaper after Japan's unconditional surrender. She decided to go home to Tokyo, which survived the raids. Then Takagi and Liang visited Yasuko's home unexpectedly because two friends wanted to console her for the death of the family. Yasuko was, told by Motoko that her mother was hospitalized. Yasuko decided to go care for her mother. Yasuko asked Liang to buy her a ticket to Hiroshima since Liang could use his non-Japanese privilege making it easier to buy. He complied and got it quickly. Yasuko was in Hiroshima by the end of August. Yasuko did everything she could possibly do for her dying mother. She fed her mother medicine, water and air mouth to mouth. Her mother died 10 days afterwards despite Yasuko's dedicated nursing.

Motoko and Yasuko lit fire to the mother's remains by the river. Yasuko carried mother's ashes back to Tokyo after staying some weeks at Motoko's house. While in Kobe, Yasuko showed symptons of mastitis from the secondary radiation exposure or ionizing radiation. She went through a mastitis operation in Tokyo. Chikako, Yasuko's younger sister came home in mid-October from Nagano. What Chikako saw at home were three funeral tablets of both her parents and brother, and her bed-ridden sister Yasuko.

Yasuko's news spread to Chuo University students. Liang, staying at Jo's house, came again to see Yasuko in mid November, a few days before Yasuko's death. Liang was apologetic in getting Yasuko her ticket to Hiroshima so quickly. He could have saved her life by delaying his ticket purchase. On November 24, Yasuko passed away. What a sad story!

Two sisters Motoko and Chikako, as well as his brother Tadashi, wrote their respective bereavement memoirs of Yasuko based on Yasuko's diary after the war; but the publication was limited and was buried for almost 60 years.

I had to compare the grief of the sister and brother with that of the dentist Charlie. Profound and unbearable sorrow. I can say, however, Kuriya's brother and sisters did not have the luxury of escape as did Charlie. No therapeutic consultation was available.

Author Kadota found Jingyi Liang in Taoyuan City, Taiwan, through Jo Takagi's connection, and met Liang twice, first in Taiwan and again in Tokyo, Japan. The second meeting was to to visit Kuriya's family tomb in Tama Cemetary together. Liang seems to me to be a bit like Charlie. According to Kadota, Liang's Japanese is perfect, better than the ordinary Japanese. He admitted that he adored Yasuko and losing her made him a misanthropist. Liang continued at Jo Takagi's home in post-war days but in the summer of 1956, when they walked Hiratsuka Beach together, Liang suddenly shouted "I'm going home." Jo understood him without any comment. Jo saw him off on the S.S. Taipei Maru. Seeing Mt. Fuji disappearing in the distance, Liang vowed never to return to Japan.

In Jhongli, Taoyuan, Kadota was guided to the rose beds in Liang's home backyard, where he buried Yasuko's hair. Liang requested it when Yasuko left for Niigata as he was afraid he could not see her any more upon her departure. Also at the Tokyo arsenal, Liang was once presented with a bouquet of red roses from Yasuko. Liang said red roses grew and bred surprising well there. Liang took piano lessons to play "A Maiden's Prayer."

It was his grandfather who helped Liang to regain himself upon his homecoming and arranged a marriage with Gong. Liang fared well through all the years with Gong, surviving the "228 Incident" in particular, by hiding his association with Japan. He sent all his children to the U.S. for education and he let them stay. He considered immigrating to live with them but thought better of it.
Red roses traditionally signify love, passion, respect and courage

"August 6, 1945"

Very few Japanese remember there were about 45,000 British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) occupying western Japan from 1956 to 1958 - Shimane, Tottori, Okayama, Hiroshima and Yamaguchi and four prefectures of Shikoku. I was a high school student then in Shikoku. I couldn't tell the nationality of the soldiers, BCOF or USOF, who came to my school to burn the school gliders with gasoline. I was a member of the air club, so I sadly watched it. The act was part of their demilitarizing responsibilities but I wondered why it was necessary.

During two-thirds of the occupation, the Commonwealth was represented by Australians, and throughout its existence BCOF was always commanded by an Australian officer. They were headquartered in Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture. One-tenth of the BCOF were Kiwis, New Zealand contingent of an army Infantry Brigade commonly known as "Jayforce". They took over USOF in the early part 1946. They were in charge of Chofu, the westernmost of the BCOF district, which is now a part of Shimonoseki City. The main job of the troops on their patrols was to see that the munitions of the Japanese Navy, Army and Air Force were destroyed, dumped at sea or melted down.

The J-Force headquarters in Chofumachi was in the Kobe Seiko works where the planes were melted down to recycle aluminum. I have read in one of the local Shimonoseki papers that the Kiwis behaved well, showed less racial discrimination against the Japanese than any other troops and left a warm impression when they repatriated. We are both islanders, and Kiwis have Maoris, similarities stop there?

About 10 years ago, I was invited to a welcome reception of a dozen Kiwi veterans who were J-Force members. They must have all been septuagenarians with the lapse of 50 years. They were hale and hearty and we enjoyed conversation. I came to know a gentleman named Bill, a historian and a teacher by profession, who lives near Auckland. We have corresponded almost 10 years. Through the exchange of e-mails, I learned that he has made many Japanese friends and gave me the name of Shiro Nakamura for whom he helped translate and publish an article in August 11, 2001 issue of a top 10 New Zealand magazine called Listener.

I Googled the Listener back issues but I could not retrieve the article. It was probably too old to be in the online archives. Bill sent me a photostatic copy for scanning. The Listener article was greatly praised by critics as per Bill. He said the article triggered his memories of the battered Imperial Naval Port that had huge buildings with racks for "midget" submarines in Kure, and the horror of first seeing Hiroshima from the railway train from Kure to Chofu.

The title of the Listener article is "August 6. 1945". The original Japanese article was written by Rennosuke Fukuda (1923 - 2001) who was one of 100,000 victims of the A-Bomb on that ominous morning. What a real and truly graphic account by Rennosuke, a victim himself! He was unconscious at the moment of the flash! Coming back to life, he saw he was blown quite a distance away from where he was originally.

I remembered I met Shiro Nakamura when the Kiwi veterans revisited Kitakyushu 10 years ago. So I wrote to Nakamura, asking who Rennosuke Fukuda is. It turns out that Rennosuke Fukuda was his older brother. Shiro was adopted into the Nakamura family and hence his surname change. Here is a brief bio of Shiro's brother Rennosuke.

Rennosuke was born in Shimonoseki, studied at the Yamaguchi Youth Normal School and became a school teacher. He was drafted by the Army and assigned to the accounting section of the Hiroshima Engineering Battalion. After the war, he got a job at the Shimonoseki City Office and worked until his retirement. He died in 2001.

I asked Shiro if Rennosuke had written any other articles. He said it was the only paper he found, so Shiro thought he owed it to his brother to get it published with timely help from Bill, our mutual Kiwi friend. Shiro was completely surprised when he found the translated story in the Listener. He had not sent any photos, so he concluded that the Listener must have picked up photos from the archives.

Maybe it is an old article. Belated though, I want to congratulate Rennosuke from the bottom of my heart for this great article in the Listener, as the culmination of friendship and cooperation between Bill and Shiro. I pray for the soul of Rennosuke, and I want to dedicate this blog entry to my mutual friends by presenting the article to my readers.

Bill and Shiro

The Listener article:

Found : the American Samurai in Kumamoto

I asked my American friend who studied at one of the Kumamoto Universities as a foreign exchange student some years ago, "Do you miss anything in Kumamoto?" He answered, "Sure, the rich water from Mount Aso." His reply inspired me to visit the local areas close by with water, such as Hakenomiya, Lake Ezu, etc., not to mention the famous Suizenji Park (shown above). I learned that Kumamoto (population of about 670,000) is one of the rare cities which enjoy plentiful water from rich underground water resources. The underground water supplies originate from Aso Caldera, the active volcano surrounded by mountain ranges and plateaus. The vast Shirakawa River runs through the city. I observed water welling out in a number of places in Hakenomiya and Lake Ezu.

Lake Ezu
City Hall has a speical electronic board with the up-to-the-minute water levels at various locations. Lake Ezu's figures average 7.0-7.5 meters throughout the year. Kumamoto Castle had many deep wells as sources of water in case they were besieged.

A few days ago I was in Kumamoto again. It was a sunny day and unusually warm for January. I took a stroll around Suizenji Park and came upon the first western colonial style house in Kumamoto (1871), designated as an important cultural property of the prefecture. The house is known as L.L. Janes' Residence, so named because the Janes' family of four were the first occupants. The museum director briefed me on who he was and I realized this gentleman was the model for Captain Algren in the movie The Last Samurai played by Tom Cruise. Captain Leroy Lansing Janes (Jaynes) was an 1861 graduate from West Point and fought in the Battle of Fort Stevens in the Civil War. The battle was fought on July 11 and 12 in Northwest Washington, D.C. as part of the Valley Campaigns of 1864 between the forces under Confederate Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early and Union General Horatio Wright. The battle resulted in a Union victory.

After the Meiji Restoration, many local lords hastened to set up schools for the children of the clans. Governor Hosokawa, the ex-Kumamoto lord was no exception and he requested an American teacher through the Meiji Government. Janes was no Captain Algren and he did not drink. He was a pious, hard working Christian, born in New Philadelphia, Ohio, the son of Colonel Elisha Janes, who served as the county sheriff (1838-1841). He was 34 years old when he took the job. He taught more than a dozen curricula in English by himself, ranging from geometry, algebra, physics, chemistry, biology, to English.

The museum exhibited some of the textbooks he had handwritten. His methodology focused on group study, self-teaching rather than through lecturing, bringing out the best of the student. He selected group leaders to train their juniors. He taught the first coed school in Japan aimed to instill the ideals of the Japanese spirit with western teachings. He also ventured into farming vegetables with a horse driven plough and taught culturing fruit by grafting, dairy farming, bread-making and he imported the first print machine. The community respected his great mind and his five-year contract could have been renewed. Unfortunately, many of his students converted to ardent Protestants under his influence. Christianity had long been banned during Tokugawa Shogunate and was still frowned upon. Those who practiced were subjected to persecution. Janes left Kumamoto in 1876 in obscurity.

The bloody Seinan War broke out in 1877, just after he left, in the 10th year of Meiji. Therefore, he was not involved in the war as in the movie The Last Samurai. If he were, he would have fought against the rebel Satsuma force led by Takamori Saigo. Captain Algren sided with the rebels. Kumamoto Castle was besieged by the rebels. His residence became quarters for Prince Arisugawa-no-miya Taruhito, as well as the field hospital for the wounded soldiers. Again the museum exhibited a decayed wooden shutter on which the injured were carried. The house became the symbol of the birth of the Japanese Red Cross Hospital.

The two-story house was originally built inside the Kumamoto Castle. It was moved to the present location, outside the castle, next to the third house of author Soseki Natsume. The subdued colors of the roof and walls were green and brown and the windows and door frames all contribute to a harmony that suggests settled warmth. The museum director said that Nagasaki carpenters, who built the Glover House in 1863, were involved in the construction.

Records show that L.L. Janes returned to Japan and taught English in Osaka, Kagoshima, etc. and retired in San Jose, California. Several Kumamotoans visited him in San Jose.

Lastly, I found that Doshisha University in Kyoto, as well as the International Christian University in Musashino, Tokyo had affiliations with the Western School of Kumamoto, when the descendents of Janes' (Jaynes) students were traced. Janes, apparently tried to save lives of students in sanctuary, if they pursued their religious creeds.

The Manhattan Project and Oak Ridge

My favorite non-fiction author Bill Bryson, while trekking the Appalachian Trail (A Walk in the Woods, 2007) from Georgia to Tennessee with his pal, hit on the idea to hop over to Virginia's Blue Ridge mountains. He rented a car in Knoxville and drove to Gatlinburg, the main entrance to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. They could not just skip the Trail of Tears that saw the exodus of the Cherokees.

Knoxville is the 3rd largest city of Tennessee and the home of TVA Headquarters to where the Manhattan Project was lured. Oak Ridge, nicknamed "Secret City" during WWII, is just half an hour drive from Knoxville. It went from empty woods in l941 to a city of 70,000 in 1945. On a snowy March in the 1980s, I hurried onto Interstate 40 to Asheville, North Carolina, and I'm sure I was driving very close to Oak Ridge. Recently I found one of my friends living in Oak Ridge. I obtained information and photos* from this friend to update my knowledge and curiosity about the famous Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), now operating under the Department of Energy (DOE).

Originally called the Manhattan Engineer District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, it became known later, as the "Manhattan Project"; formed in 1939 by President Franklin Roosevelt who was alerted by exiled German scientists headed by Nobel Prize Winner Albert Einstein that Nazi Germany had started studies on a new bomb using uranium, secured at an uranium mine in German occupied Czech.

President Roosevelt, not so impressed at first, agreed to embark on the project and named General Leslie Groves (1896-1970) as Military Director and the eminent Berkeley physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967) as Scientific Director. Please note this formation precedes Pearl Harbor and Japan was doomed to an atomic attack before its declaration of war. Nazi Germany was intended to be the target, but the bombing of Pearl Harbor changed all that. President Truman, who succeeded President Roosevelt, knew he had to justify the huge expenditure of 2 billion dollars.

The Manhattan Project was largely carried out at four secret laboratories established by the power of eminent domain in four cities: Los Alamos, New Mexico (27,000 acres/11,000 hectares); Oak Ridge, Tennessee (59,000 acres/24,000 hectares); Richland, Washington (500,000 acres/202,000 hectares - see Bonneville Power Authority); and Chalk River, Ontario, Canada. There were eight (8) signature facilities spread over the above 4 cities, three (3) of which were built in Oak Ridge.

The facilities in Oak Ridge were:

1) K-25 Gaseous Diffusion Process Building
U-shaped building measures half a mile by 1000 feet. (The original building covered more than 1500 acres and was described as the Empire State Building laid flat on its side. Must have been a gargantuan building! ) It housed the gaseous diffusion process, one of three isotope separations processes, that produced U235 for the Hiroshima Little Boy.

2) X-10 Graphite Reactor
Designed as a pilot for the Hanford (Richmond) production reactors. Produced first significant amounts of plutonium.

3) Y-12 Electromagnetic Separation Plant or Calutron Plant or Beta-3 Racetracks
Produced U235 for the Hiroshima bomb. Only surviving production-level electromagnetic isotope separation facility in the U.S. (Treasured silver - 6000 tons - was borrowed from Fort Knox for use in the fabrication of equipment as a copper substitute with less electrical resistance)

In the hidden outlying secret posts, thousands of class A scientists and engineers, including Nobel Prize winners, participated in the Manhattan Project under Oppenheimer who orchestrated open communication, stimulated exchange and debate of ideas, broke down barriers of compartmentalization, and solved many quandaries. These scientists were consciously or unconsciously aware that they were opening Pandora's box. I'm guessing that they were caught up in the excitement of the technological breakthrough or perhaps had the hubris syndrome.

I became aware that Pearl Buck (1892-1973) wrote a novel entitled Command the Morning in l959. Key scientists of the Manhattan Project all appear under fictitious names, traveling all over Berkeley, Chicago, Oak Ridge, New Mexico, Washington. The author added one young woman scientist, educated in India, among the group of bomb makers, and at a later stage, she desperately tries to block the bombing. One interesting scene was Dr. Burton Hall returning to New Mexico, then driving casually to Arizona to meet his Japanese American friend, Yasuo Matsugi, in the concentration camp. Yasuo is an artist who had been to Paris and came back to the U.S. when the war started. Dr. Hall is returning a courtesy visit to Yasuo who came to meet him prior to encampment. Yasuo showed a small heron wood sculpture made of a sage tree. Being asked why he wasn't painting, Yasuo replied he just did not feel like painting anymore. After the war, Yasuo settled in Chicago, met Burton there and accompanied him to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. "Command the Morning" derives from Job 38.12. The Lord questions Job: Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place."

Both Germany and Japan lost the competitive edge in the war of technology. Records show that over 70 German engineers had built a reactor but were forced to engage in more pressing works as the war atmosphere grew tense. Japan's Army prototype reactor, built with a fewer number of engineers including Prof. Nishina from Universities of Tokyo and Tohoku, and in cooperation with Riken Laboratory, used a thermal diffusion method. It seems that high school students were mobilized to dig uranium ores in Fukushima. The Navy project, tied with Kyoto University, used a centrifugation method. The Navy solicited help from Germany in getting uranium dioxide. In March 1944, 560kg uranium dioxide was transported to Japan by No. 234 U-Boat but never reached Japan as it surrendered on the way and was captured by the U.S. The Imperial Navy and Army took two separate research paths and failed to share information with each other. No joint research efforts were made despite the limited number of scientists. Another bad example of the lack of cooperation between the two was the unshared technology of the Naval Fighter "Zero." It is well known that the U.S. secured uranium from the Congo.

*Now the following info is from my friend:

1) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)
ORNL, originally known as Clinton Works after the nearby town of Clinton, played major roles in the Manhattan Project. It evolved into the DOE organization, addressing important national and global energy and environmental issues. Today, ORNL, working with the University of Tennessee (UT)-Battelle Memorial Institution, is opening the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS), the world's foremost facility for the study of materials. The venue covers 150 square miles (38,850 hectares) with a total staff of 3,800, including 1500 scientists and engineers. They are visited by 3000 guest researchers and 30,000 visitors each year.

2) K-25
Demolition is in progress. The hastily erected K-25 had been idle for so many years with little or no maintenance and had caved in roofs, unsafe floors and cracked columns. The entire K-25 is scheduled to be demolished by the end of 2011. DOE says it is one of the most complex decommissioning projects because of its size, the contamination from operations and structural problems. After the cleanup, the site will be the East Tennessee Technology Park, available for commercial enterprises set amid spacious green and wooded areas. Visitors at this time can take the Scenic Excursion Train (operated by Southern Appalachia Railway Museum) to the site.

3) X-10
Designated as a National Historic Landmark.

4) Y-12
Eligible for Landmark status and being studied under the Integrated Facility Disposition Program (IFDP).

My friend sent me a photograph of peace bell installed in 1996 in the central city park called A. K. Bissel Park that commemorated the 50th anniversary of the city Oak Ridge. I thought maybe it was a gift from its Japanese sister city Hitachi Naka, but it was not. I'm amazed to find out that it took more than 20 years of arguing to have the bell accepted and dedicated in the "Atomic City" as a symbol of peace.

In 1972, the Federal Court of Greenville, NC endowed U.S. Citizenship to a group of Asian immigrants. Among them were Indiana University graduates Ram Uppuluri and Shigeko Yoshino. They got married and lived in Knoxville where Ram worked as a mathematician.

After the war and as the news of Hiroshima/Nagasaki tragedies came, Oak Ridge community was impatient to show its peace initiative. It reviewed a proposal by Sigeko Uppuluri, which introduced the bell concept. Some agreed but most opposed, reasoning the bell to be too much of a religious symbol. After some passage of time, however, the bell idea gained support and a funds were raised. The Uppuluris visited Japan with a bell design by artist Suzzane Harris. It was 1993 when the bell was cast in Kyoto by bell maker Sotetsu Iwazawa.

The bell cost approximately $100,000, even with the maker's concession. The sister city Hitachi-Naka and the Atomic Energy Society of Japan respectively contributed $14,000 and $23,000. The bell was transported by Honda Motors. Another objection arose on the erection of the bell pavilion in the public park and it took another three years until it was finally in place. The bell pavilion adopted the vernacular cantilevered barn structure found around the eastern Tennessee region. It was designed by Jon Coddington, a U-T professor. The city motto campaigned for the Peace Bell was "Born of War, Living the Peace, Growing through Science."

What's inscribed on the striker of the Friendship Bell per my friend is:

"In honor of the long and excellent working relations and friendship which developed in the collaboration in the first reactor fuel cycle between Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Corporation (scratched, cannot read) during the period 1981-1994."
- Anonymous

Oak Ridge is ranked No. l Best City to live in the medium sized city category. It is a haven now for retirees. Many elderly volunteers are working for such organizations as American Museum of Science & Energy" (AMSE), etc.

Who Is Shig Imamura? - Part II

The naval battles of Midway Atoll and Guadalcanal, often seen as a turning point, reversed the balance of power in the war in the pacific. In l942: U.S. had one and half a million soldiers versus over 2 million for Japan. In l943, the Allied Forces had over 3 million versus 2.4 million for Japan. The Japanese loss of pilots and sailors from the above naval battles needed immediate reinforcements, particularly to replenish vulnerable pilots. Students from colleges and universities were recruited and mobilized.

In October, 1943, the deferred conscription allowed for college students suddenly ended. The semesters were shortened for immediate graduation and enrollment into the army and the navy. Choices were given, but those who passed physical and eye exams were to join the airmen corps. The navy was regarded as more refined than the army and was considered free of bullying. However, in reality, the navy had more rampant bullying in the name of reformative baptism.

About 99,000 young men, not only from Japan but also from colonial Korea and Taiwan, were drafted (first time for Koreans and Taiwanese), of which 81,000 went to the army and 18,000 to the navy. Finally, 5,000 were sent to the naval air corps - about half to Tsuchiura Naval Air Station, northeast of Tokyo and the other half to Mie Naval Air Station on Ise Bay. The assignments were probably made based on their places of birth.

Two pilots-to-be Shig Imamura (1922-1981) of Matsuyama, and Norimitsu Takushima (1922-1945) of Fukuoka, reported to Mie. After finishing training, they were both sent to Izumi Naval Air Corps in Kagoshima according to their respective records. Shig was dispatched to Wonsan, (North) Korea and Takushima to Matsuura. I carefully read their April journals. Takushima took a vacation trip to Kagoshima on Sunday, April 23, 1944. Shig wrote that he went to Amakusa one Sunday in the same month to sightsee. It seems they were not in the same group. Why so much detail for these two? The information came from (1) Shig's autobiography - Shig: The True Story of an American Kamikaze, and (2) from the book Kuchinashi-no-Hana** - The Diary of a Young Japanese Man Caught in World War II, and edited letters by Takushima's brother-in-law translated by Kichiyo Ishigaki and Paul Whitney (2002).

Takushima (Keio University graduate) did not return from his reconnaissance flight in early 1945, while Shig survived the war. They were both born in 1922, and might have met each other, but no mention was made in their respective memoirs. Takushima wrote an inspirational poem which touched readers' hearts and inspired the popular song "Kuchinashi-no-Hana." Sung by a professional singer, it took post-war Japan by storm along with the book.

These young men were not Kamikaze pilots right from the beginning. Suicidal methods were not originally permitted under Admiral Yamamoto. The midget submarines used in the Pearl Harbor attack were definitely not for suicide attacks. They were supposed to return and were promised rescue. However, after following several fatal defeats and retreats, Japan lost command both in air and sea. As it became clear that the resources to wage war were diminishing, a predicament prevailed in all aspects of war. The Japanese Imperial Navy kicked off their offenses in the Philippines with l) the piloted rocket powered gliders (O-ka), 2) manned torpedoes (Kaiten submarines), 3) explosive motorboats (Shinyo), ...etc. The development of these weapons, however, were slow and the delays ended up saving many lives.

Kamikaze Squadron (Tokkotai) was said to have begun on October 25, 1944 with Captain Tsurao Seki, the first pilot, based at Mabarakat Air Base. The practice ended with Captain Tatsuo Nakatsuru, the last pilot who left Oita Air Base in the late afternoon of August l5, l945. These two captains were classmates coincidentally at the Edajima Naval Academy. (It was said that the two names were chosen to glorify the Academy.)

Captain Seki's true feelings was confided to his friend prior to the mission.

"I could drop a 500kg bomb on the flight deck of a carrier without going in for body-crashing and still make my way back. Japan's future is bleak if it is forced to kill one of its best pilots. I am not going on this mission for the Emperor or for the Empire... I am going because I was ordered to. It is better to die, rather than to live as a coward!"

His mission was to deter landing of the U.S. forces at the Battle of Leyte Gulf. He was posthumously promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. Shig Imamura wrote about Captain Seki in his autobiography.

Captain Nakatsuru became the last Kamikaze pilot on a controversial mission, personally requested by Admiral Ugaki, once Chief-of-Staff under Admiral Yamamoto. Nakatsuru was not promoted posthumously because the flight was unauthorized. His departure, along with others, from Oita Air Base was late in the afternoon of August 15. The surrender and cease fire announcement had already been made at noon, but Admiral Ugaki insisted he had not received an official order. There were two dozen pilots who volunteered to die for the Admiral.

After many years of silence, Captain Nakatsuru's father, spoke up during a local memorial day. "Why did the Admiral have to take young lives including my son?" Two-thirds of those student-turned pilots died as Kamikazes.

Upon learning their fate, the young pilots, as well as other soldiers who were asked to sacrifice themselves, made heart-rending groans and expressed grief for unacceptable death in the name of war. Writings of those who lost their lives were published after the war. The "spiritual road" of student soldiers became quite a sensation, and became the target of studies by researchers both at home and abroad. The above mentioned "Kuchinashi" was quoted in many war books, including Kike Watatsumi no Koe, translated as Listen to the Voices from The Sea - Writings of the Fallen Japanese Students by Midori Yamanouchi and Joseph L. Quinn is available from the University of Scranton Press (2000).

On February 11, l944, Japanese Empire Day, Shig Imamura, his colleagues and subordinates, all stepped forward and asked their superiors if they could accept a Kamikaze mission. Shig disregarded possible exemptions given to eldest sons. As Captain, he was put in charge of one of two Kamikaze squadrons. On July 29, he was set to fly a mission to attack an invasion fleet off Tokyo Coast. His mission was canceled when radar reports of the invasion fleet proved inaccurate. He was stationed in Chitose, Hokkaido when the the news of surrender reached him.

Here's Lieutenant Takushima's poem that brought river of tears among the Japanese.

There is only one who sheds tears at my words
There is only one who thinks so ill of me
And through all of this, there is only one
who will always love me, never forget me.
After I'm dead, there is only one
who will bring gardenia flowers.
Amongst them all, there is only just one.

Kamikaze pilots were not fanatics as was generally thought. They had no desire for glory or fame. Pure as the arctic snow in heart, they were human. They moped, cried, and ranted. However, they accepted and faced death courageously for loved ones and country, believing their actions would bring a conclusion to the war in a better way. Let their deaths not be wasted. The mission, our mission is clear: to have peace prevail with no more wars and no more nuclear bombs.

-----

** Kuchinashi-no-Hana are gardenias. The Japanese word literally means "flowers without mouths."

Who is Shig Imamura? - Part I

I have received a lot of personal questions ever since my Japanese translation of the book Dear Miss Breed was published last year.

My daughter in Santa Barbara forwarded me this one:

Hi,
I was born in Heart Mountain, Wyoming. I do not have memory of being in camp as I left when I was a year and half old. My husband was at Gila Bend, AZ. He had some memory of camp as he was older (about five) when he left camp. Are you related to the Imamuras of Berkeley? I think that there was a Buddhist minister, Rev. Imamura, who was there in the 60's and his daughter who was a very accomplished pianist. Just wondering.
Pat

Phew! Reverend Imamura!

I received another question, this time from Mrs. U, who helped me a great deal (without Mrs. U, I wouldn't have even ventured) with my translation of Dear Miss Breed written by Joanne Oppenheim. She asked me if I was related to Professor Shigeo (Shig) Imamura, whom she met when she studied at the English Center of Michigan State University. She said Professor Imamura was born in California but went to Japan a few years before WWII broke. He spent his boyhood in Matsuyama in Ehime Prefecture and she knew I was from the same area.

Well, the name Imamura is not rare and can be found on many Japanese Web sites. There are about a dozen Imamuras using the same Japanese Kanji character as my first name even if pronounced differently. These people were in a variety of professions: musician, Chinese medicine specialist, soccer umpire, animation artist, turbine engineer, ...etc. While traveling in the U.S. on business, I used to open the phone directory at hotels to find people named Imamura and I found a few in large cities, like Denver and Los Angeles.

Back to Shig Imamura. Mrs. U sent me a memoir written by Prof. Imamura. The title Shig: The True Story of an American Kamikaze and the cover photo of Imamura clad in a flight uniform really surprised me. I read it immediately. The book was published in 2001, after his death in 1998, thanks to the efforts by his disciples both in the U.S. and Japan for editing Shig's manuscripts. The Japanese translation was made available from the publisher Soshisha in 2003. The translator, Ken Oshiba, is the first businessman turned principal of Mie Prefectural senior high school.

To my happy surprise, I found two familiar names in the book. One is Prof. Yamauchi who taught me English at Matsuyama College of Commerce (abbreviated as Matsuyama Kosho), now known as Matsuyama University. Prof. Yamauchi played an important role as Shig's mentor when Shig came from the U.S. He was an English and music instructor then at Matsuyama Chugaku (middle school) in the old education system. He heard about Shig and arranged Shig to continue his English education by introducing him to an American missionary. As his music teacher, Yamauchi Sensei let Shig play the cornet in his band which led to Shig blowing the bugle in the military drill event at school. When the war was over, Yamauchi Sensei took woolgathering Shig to the Occupation Force depot and got him a job as an interpreter.

I left Matsuyama for Osaka to concentrate on English studies and didn't finish at Matsuyama Kosho. I do, however, remember faculty names, especially of the English department, including Yamauchi Sensei. Prof. Futagami was my mentor there. Years later, when I mentioned quitting my Tokyo job, he tipped me off that I might be able to succeed him at Kosho. Another Kosho teacher, Prof. Komoda asked me if I was a returnee from the U.S. I didn't understand why he asked me but probably he knew or heard of Prof. Imamura and wanted to see if I was related to him. Shig also wrote about Takahashi Sensei who composed Haiku in English and I think he also taught me. I also remember Prof. Hoshino who taught the Japanese Constitution. He became President of Kosho later.

Another mention is the late Principal Suzuki of Kinmon (Golden Gate) Japanese School where Shig Imamura learned Japanese. Shig was born in San Jose, but moved to San Francisco when his father got a job there.

Kinmon Gakuen (Golden Gate Academy)
est. 1911 with 133 students
2031 Bush Street, San Franciso
A historical landmark for the Japanese American community
My first trip to the U.S. was in l957 on a prop-jet airplane. It stopped first at Wake island for breakfast, second in Honolulu for dinner; two stops and two nights before arriving in San Francisco. I know Princinpal Suzuki's niece in Tokyo and she introduced me to her uncle. Suzuki Kocho Sensei served as our guide for a party of three first-time visitors to the U.S. Our party consisted of my two bosses and me and we went to Fishermen's Wharf, Golden Gate Bridge and Park, and University of California, Berkeley Campus. I never imagined that my son would graduate from Berkeley. I wasn't yet married. I was very thankful for Principal Suzuki's kindness. I could have contacted him while I was stationed in New York in the '60s. I regretted that I missed the chance. Over 50 years later, I found all these nearly forgotten names in this book.

I faced quite a reverse culture shock when I returned to Japan. It is easy to wet your feet in foreign waters but the converse is not always true. Shig returned to Japan as a 4th grader and the book says that no one could find any differences with the other boys after his hair was cropped at the barber shop. He spoke Japanese well, thanks to Kinmon Gakuen and Suzuki Sensei. My son temporarily returned to Japan about the same age and slid into the same grade without difficulties, also thanks to the Saturday Japanese language school in New York.

As Shig grew in Japan, he noted himself that he "grew 110% more Japanese-like" than the regular Japanese boys. I read about a case of another returnee student from the U.S. This person was at the college level, older than Shig, when he returned. He reacted to the draft matter-of-factly (no influence from the U.S. education), didn't show any mortification and died in the war in the Philippines. Unfortunately, it was true that everyone was deeply dyed in war time colors without exception. I will describe the Kamikaze mental state in detail in the next blog entry.

More than three-fourths of the book is about how Shig became a Kamikaze pilot and the remainder is about his brief career as an educator both in the U.S. and Japan. With a GARIOA scholarship, he went and got his degree at Michigan State University (MSU). He then taught in Japan and back at MSU as an ESL teacher. Shig wrote in the preface that ever since he stood on the classroom podium at MSU as a teacher, he had been pursued for press interviews as a miraculous survivor, especially because he wrote in the MSU student paper "Kamikaze now a U-teacher". He had been eagerly sought wherever he went and he responded to all the interest. Persuaded by friends, he finally decided to write it down.

Shig spent about 30 years in the U.S. including his childhood of 10 years in California, and about 40 years in Japan. I shared similar life experiences and I can definitely identify with Shig.

Summer Memories

- From Seto Inland Sea to Nishinagato Beach Resort -

1. Seto Inland Sea

I was raised by the Seto Inland Sea. In summer, I swam almost every day at Asakawa Beach in west suburban Imabari, the city where I was born. No goggles. No ear plugs. White sands and a placid sea. I was pretty good at fishing multicolorfin rainbowfish (halichoeres poecilopterus), a small sand fish of about 6 inches or l5 centimeters. It is said that the fish sleep in a sand bed. Upon wakening, the fish brush aside the sand and hunt for a breakfast of nereis (worms). If you are fishing for them, there is a faint tug and that's the moment you have to pull on the fishing line or it eats the bait line with its saw-shaped teeth and escapes. This is the fish that can switch from female to male as they grow. Their color changes from red to blue. I learned later that they are polygamous. It is a very tasty fish when baked on a charcoal fire. Another memory is scooping crabs as they are coming ashore to lay eggs and mating under moonlight. Dad, my two younger brothers and I caught 5 bucketfuls of crabs. This was on the sandy beach east of Imabari, an experience similar to the one I encountered during a Grunion run in California described later on.

I never imagined that Shikoku Island would be connected with Chugoku (the part of mainland Japan facing us across the Seto Inland Sea) by a series of bridges, eliminating all the ferries that thrived once in my day. It is called the Shimanami Sea Route that spans 80 kilometers. The shuttle bus runs every hour on the hour between Imabari and Fukuyama, a traffic innovation of the century.

2. Sagamore (Oyster) Bay / Jones Beach, Long Island, NY

We took our children to swim at either Oyster Bay or Jones Beach when we lived in Long Island. We were young, go-getters. Because of my work, I was unable to go fishing with my son, but he was happy to go out fishing with our retired neighbors. They drove to Montaulk Point more than once and brought back lots of porgies. Even my dad didn't bring home that many porgies at one time. Today I saw sadly the following warning on the Long Island Web site:

"Long Island's Beaches Are Unsafe for Swimming. If you live on Long Island, don't bother going to the beach for a swim over the next couple of days. Almost all the beaches are closed, which is what health departments are forced to do after a big rain storm, because our streets are so dirty and our sewers are so riddled with holes that storm-water is too dangerous to swim in."

3. La Jolla Shores / Mission Bay, San Diego, CA

My wife says that the most memorable beach to her was La Jolla Shores. She and our daughter would sit and wait in the evening until the golden red and purple sky succumbed and the setting sun sparked the last blinking lights of green and dipped into the horizon. It is a most peaceful vision.

Unforgettable to me while living in San Diego was the grunion run I encountered, similar to the crab catch in the Seto Inland Sea. I've heard that many people would listen to the radio forecast to find out when the grunion would run and where. They have to be well prepared to run and be on the spot to catch them. There are two species of grunion. First, the California grunion, and the other, the Gulf grunion. Both are sardine-sized fish and are found only off the coast of California and Baja California, Mexico.

Grunions are known for their very unusual mating ritual. At very high tides the females come up onto the sandy beach and dig their tails into the sand to lay their eggs. A group of males then wrap themselves around the female to deposit their sperm. For the next ten days the grunion eggs remain hidden in the sand, and at the next set of high tides, the eggs hatch and the young grunions are washed out to sea.

One night during the '80s, we were entertaining guests from Japan in a North County restaurant facing the ocean. About the time we finished dinner and were ready to leave, we saw a grunion invasion right before our eyes. We were the first that noticed it happening and we all went out barefoot to scoop up the small fish. A flock of sea gulls dove down overhead to feast. It happened so quickly that the fish were gone by the time a group of catchers arrived.

Two things I remember well on the sportsfishing boat off San Diego and Coronado Island. We caught salmon! The proof that the cold current comes down to Southern Cal. Someone brought a brand new Motorola Micro-Tac phone and surprised all the fishermen on board chatting with friends on land. It is nothing new these days, but that's the way it was back then.

4. Hermosa Beach / Portuguese Bend (Rancho Palos Verdes), CA

I met U.S. Air Force Captain Armour stationed in FEMCOM Air Base in Tachikawa, Tokyo and came to know his wife and children. They are a wonderful American family. I had frequent trips to the West Coast while living in New York to meet with the Armours in Los Angeles.

One day, they took me to Hermosa Beach and I rushed into the water. "Ouch!" After a few strokes, something invisible hit me in the water and I suffered acute pain. My lower body got swollen and left a red stripe upon my skin. Then I went totally numb. I was ambushed and stung by a monster jelly fish. Captain Armour mentioned that it may have been be a Portuguese Man-of-War, the name derived from a Portuguese war ship of the 15th century. Urine is commonly used as a first-aid remedy and I jumped into the men's room immediately. Ever since, I have opted for swimming in a pool, abandoning ocean swimming.

There's a place called Portuguese Bend in Palos Verdes, near the famous all-glass Wayfarers Chapel designed by Lloyd Wright, son of Frank Lloyd Wright. I somehow associate these two Portuguese words. A Google search revealed that Portuguese Bend means "green stick", by which I interpret (I may be wrong) green stick fishing method, popular among the Japanese fishermen.

5. Morro Rock, San Luis Obispo, CA

Heading north from Santa Barabara, Goleta and the awesome Gaviota Pass, you pass Nipomo and Pismo, known for clam beaches, and then enter San Luis Obispo, acronymed as SLO, where people enjoy a slow life, or sometimes referred to as the good life. The destination of my first trip was not SLO but San Simenon, although I later found out they are both located in the same county. San Simenon is where one of the richest men in the world built his castle. His name was William Randolph Hearst, the newspaper king. My wife and I were then accompanied by my daughter's family.

As we exited 101 and took old Route l, I was immediately charmed with the chain of volcanic "plug dome" peaks, the unique step-stone volcanic formation. They make up such unforgettable picturesque view that I got hooked on them and I knew I'd be returning again and again. Local people call these peaks "7" or "9" peaks, depending on how many of the peaks are included in the count. Whatever the count is, it is a looming sentinel guard isle, known as Morro Rock. In 1542, a Portuguese navigator Juan Rodriquez Cabrillo, called it "El Morro", as it resembled the turbaned head of the Moor. "El Morro" replaced the Chumash word "lisamu" meaning a shrine on the coast. I can only visualize how Morro Rock looked originally, because photographs of the isle were only available after the 1890s. The isle became the main source of quarry for sea transportation. What we see today should be 581 ft or 177 meters in height, but is now a wrecked isle after centuries of quarrying to provide materials to construct breakwaters. The practice was finally called off when the U.S. Congress listed it as a State Landmark. However, the isle still stands firm in magnificent shape and color, attracting visitors, such as myself, a foreigner from Japan. Today, the area is a sanctuary and the serene bay view - with sand dunes, rows of anchoring yachts and boats - is unbeatable when compared to other marinas.

6. Nishinagato Resort Beach

Upon our return to Japan from the U.S., we sold our house in Tokyo and relocated to Kitakyushu. Kiyoko, my wife's sister, took us to the Kanmon Strait lookout where we enjoyed watching large boats cruising the narrow strait of one kilometer under the Kanmon Bridge. Moji Port nearby reminds us at night, of San Diego Harbor, as we see Shimonoseki well-lit across the strait. In San Diego, you'd see naval vessels instead, sometimes even an aircraft carrier such as the Kitty Hawk.

Kiyoko also gave us rides to nice beaches here and there in Kyushu, but whenever we had the chance, we returned to Nishinagato Resort Beach. It takes 2-1/2 hours to get to crossing the Kanmon Strait and driving up on the Japan Sea side of the very southern end of mainland Japan. This is our 10th year anniversary living in Kyushu and we have made more than a dozen visits, including our Golden Wedding Anniversary last year. We have taken our son from New York as well as our granddaughter from Santa Barbara and they both just loved that beach. There is a small island called Tsuno-(horn) Shima in front which protects the Nishinagato Beach from the outer Genkai Ocean, from the sometimes fierce winds and waves from Siberia. A bridge was built seven years ago and crossing it feels like driving over the Chesapeake Bay. The color of the ocean is emerald green and gorgeous. I can only compare it to Nago Beach of Okinawa or the Phuket Island beaches facing Andaman Sea. You see nothing but the wide-angled open sea from the Resort Hotel and the hot springs of the hotel.

These are the Summer Memories I treasure.