Hisae Sawachi told the war to young peopleAugust 8 at 8:17
Seventy-eight years ago, a 78-year-old girl knew nothing about the war.
Non-fiction writer Hisae Sawachi (14).
He has written many works on the theme of war.
He has painstakingly examined the lives of each war dead who are not recorded in official records, and has told them what the war brought to the people.
High school students visited Mr. Sawachi this summer.
What were the words spoken there?
(Social Affairs Department, Reporter, Ryo Tomita)
Hisae Sawachi Message to the generation that has never known war
Mr. Sawachi was visited by high school students in mid-July.
Five students belonging to the Azabu High School's Philosophy Study Group visited Sawachi's home in Tokyo to learn more about the war.
"I think it's going to get stiff, but don't get stiff," Sawachi said gently, inviting the students in.
"During the war, I didn't know anything."
Sawachi first talked about his experience when he was a teenager like the high school students.
During the war, she attended a girls' school in former Manchuria, now northeast China, and was entrusted with the role of communicating about the war situation in the school.
Hisae Sawaji:
"You were very enthusiastic, and I was called the 'Jisho Clerk,' and every morning at the morning assembly, I would report on what the fighting Japan had done. But the truth wasn't told, now that I think about it. I'm going to tell you what the newspapers are saying, but I don't know where my decision to think it was a good fight comes from. But we were reporting that we were winning good matches every day. All I can say is that I was a really stupid girl when I thought about myself during the war. I don't know much about war, I don't know much about it, but I thought I had to die in it."
The war ended when I was 14 years old.
I remembered that day vividly.
Mr
. Sawachi: "I was at the shrine that day to participate in the disbandment ceremony of the mobilized troops, so I didn't listen to the Tamane broadcast Japanese Japan. So when I asked the captain who was walking with me, "You say that Japan lost," he said, "There must be a battle team training that means that you should not be fooled by hoaxes," and I was convinced. And when I got home, my father was there and he said, 'The war is over.' At that time, I thought I had to die so much, that I had to win this battle, but I didn't react. I didn't really understand it myself. I thought I knew things as a 14-year-old, but looking back now, I don't think I knew anything."
"Battle of Midway" Tracing records and materials over a period of seven years
Under his militarism, Sawachi said he did not understand what war would bring.
After the war, he became an editor for a publishing company before becoming a writer, and began writing works that questioned what war was.
One of them was "Record: The Battle of Midway" published in 1986.
Starting with the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japan Army expanded its power and suffered a major defeat against the Americans at the Battle of Midway in June 1942.
The loss of four aircraft carriers and others triggered a change in the course of the Pacific War.
About 6 years ago, when Sawachi tried to research the battle, he said he was confronted with the fact that even the number of people killed in the battle was not accurately summarized.
Mr. Sawachi: "I thought that if it was a well-known war like the Battle of Midway, there would be more materials, but when I went to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, they said, 'It's not here, if you go to the local government, there will be one.
' So I couldn't turn my back and say, 'I'm going to stop.' Anyway, I thought I'd find out how many people died. I couldn't escape."
Sawachi spent seven years tracing records and documents to identify the names and ranks of 7,3418 war dead in both Japan and the United States.
Through questionnaires and interviews with the families left behind, he depicted a life that suited each individual.
The process was very painful, he said.
Mr
. Sawachi: "I have a feeling that I may have done a terrible job of seeking the whereabouts of nearly 3500,<> people, because everyone thinks it's over, but in the questionnaire they asked me to write down everything specifically about my only child and some of my siblings, and I heard that what had been quiet once was stirred up again. When the questionnaire came back, I thought, 'Did this person die in such a family?' and a storm broke out in my heart. But I was able to do it because I didn't know, and I want you to answer what you don't know. That's why I made this book without giving up until the end, hoping that you would answer it."
A young man who says that he has changed after reading the work
His "Record: The Battle of Midway" was highly acclaimed, including the Kikuchi Kan Award, and was republished after 37 years.
Some of the high school students who visited Sawachi said that after reading the reissue, their attitude toward the war dead changed.
Ryuki Fujita, a second-year student.
His great-grandfather, a crew member on a Navy submarine, was killed off the Marianas in 2.
His remains and belongings were never returned, and he rarely heard from his family, as he did not know when or how he died.
Fujita asked Sawachi what the generation that had not experienced war should do.
Ryuki Fujita
: "Seventy-eight years after the end of the war, while the memory of the war is fading, I strongly felt that each of the war dead has a family, a life, and is a human being. 」
Mr
. Sawachi: "There are things that we could not have imagined for people who have actually experienced the war, so it is better to really listen to them. If it's hard to listen to your relatives, just listen to the person next to you. If we can talk to each other, I think we'll learn a lot more. There's a lot written about the war, but there are things that are surprisingly unknown. But if you don't hurry up, no one will know about it. Maybe there are people who are still old now but know this."
"I think the war will start the moment everyone is silent."
Another student asked:
Another student
: "It may sound rude, but for example, if I take action against the war, I wonder if it makes sense."
Mr
. Sawachi: "I think that if everyone is silent, the war will start at that moment. On the surface, there is nothing, but I think the war will start the moment everyone is silent. It's become an era where people don't raise their voices. You're silent, aren't you? If you speak up, you will stand out, so everyone is starting to think about how that kind of thing will bounce back to them. Then it's better to be silent. The fact that there will be a war somewhere forever means that even those who are raising their voices are in vain, but if you give up and stop saying it, then everyone will be silent. No matter how hard you say it, you don't know if it will reach you, but you have to speak up."
For about two hours, Mr. Sawachi shared his experiences and thoughts.
He concluded by saying:
Mr
. Sawachi: "I'm already 92 years old, but if I live this far, I can't think about the rest of my life.
Reporter
for the Ministry of Social AffairsRyo
Tomita, who joined the Nagasaki Bureau
in 2013, covered war-related issues and problems related to cultural properties, centering on the atomic bomb. After working in the Science and Culture Department, he continues to report on war and peace in the Social Affairs Department.