Each time the air raid sirens would start, Sadakazu would run outside with a shovel to dig a hole in the street in front of our home. We would hide our valuables in the hole and cover them with dirt until we heard the "all clear" signal. There was no way for anyone to know what areas of Tokyo would be hit next. After a while, Sadakazu grew tired of burying our valuables day after day. If we were going to die anyway, what did it matter?
During the bombings, the Americans had spared parts of Tokyo for future use. One of the places the Americans did not bomb was Yurakucho where the Imperial Palace, home of the Emperor, was located.
No one in our immediate family was in the military. Tadashi, who was only a year or two older than me, was too young to be drafted. Sadakazu, who was about five years older than Tadashi, was not physically strong enough for combat.
Our next-door neighbors had a son who was in the army. They were kept supplied with food by the military while we starved.
When you have nothing to eat, the smell of food cooking nearby can drive you crazy. Your stomach shrinks and you feel weak and empty as your body starts shutting down. When you stand up, the walls start spinning around you and red, yellow and blue lights flash before your eyes, forcing you to sit back down again. A military truck would come by once every two weeks and a worker would slice a single cabbage into eight wedges and hand out one wedge per family member. Maybe once a month if we were lucky, a single restaurant would open its doors and serve a little food. We would buy something and eat while standing up as there were no tables or chairs inside.
I once lay upon the floor, crying out loud to my family that all I wanted was a single bowl of rice - just one bowl - and then the Americans could shoot me dead.
Desperate for food, my brothers and I would go out in the fields searching for bright yellow flowers with pointy leaves - tampopo. After we each had picked a bag full, we would bring them home, boil them and eat.
YOU ARE READING
Forged In Fire: Stories of wartime Japan
Non-FictionForged In Fire is the true story of a young girl's childhood in pre-WW II Tokyo; her schoolgirl dreams; the violence, starvation and desperation of wartime that drove her family out of the city; and the American Occupation that shaped Japan's future...
