Couple travelling to Cairns

Unforgivable feelings towards war

An online interview with Toshiko Nihei, who moved to the Gold Coast from Japan, was made possible through an introduction from a friend who had moved there a few years ago. Toshiko moved to the Gold Coast from Kanagawa Prefecture with her husband 22 years ago in 2002. She moved there, and even after her husband passed away in 2011, she continues to live in the Gold Coast with her eldest daughter, Yukiko.

First, I asked Toshiko about her war experiences, when the Pacific War began when she was four years old.

"I was born in a rural area of Gunma Prefecture and grew up in a village of about 100 households. Even after the war began, my days were peaceful and I enjoyed fishing and running around the fields and mountains with my brother and friends. However, as the war drew to a close, enemy planes began to fly more and more, and by 1945, students had to hide under bridges on their way to school to avoid enemy planes. It has become a routine thing to do.

Then, late at night between August 14th and the day the war ended, as sirens blared loudly, my family and I headed for the air raid shelter in the garden, but an incendiary bomb fell at the entrance, so we fled to the riverbank. Looking up, the light of the incendiary bombs was exploding in the night sky like fireworks. After the planes had left, we returned home early on the 15th, only to find our house burned down. The next day, the Emperor announced the end of the war (on the radio).

As a child at the time, I cannot understand why such a thing had to happen to them on the day before the end of the war was announced, and why they targeted our rural town. However, it turned out that there was a powder store about 5 kilometers away, and the enemy planes were targeting that powder store. On their way back from there, they dropped their remaining incendiary bombs over us. I heard that.

In the house diagonally across from ours, an old lady had been found dead, completely burned and blackened while trying to protect her two grandchildren who had come to the concession from Tokyo. The two grandchildren were friends who had been playing together until the day before. I hated the war so much and was angry that I couldn't understand why these children had to die. After the war, American soldiers came in a jeep and laughed at the ruins. "I felt so frustrated that my heart was about to burst."

Even now, nearly 80 years later, Toshiko says, the image of her fleeing from the incendiary bombs comes back to her mind. Because of her painful experiences during the war, she never thought she would ever go abroad. Looking back, it was my husband's decision to move to Australia.

The couple emigrated to Australia

"My husband was born and raised in Taiwan. He was taught at school how wonderful his home country, Japan, was. However, when he returned to Japan (having returned from a foreign territory), My husband was shocked that Japan was different to what he had imagined it to be, and he told me that he began to think that he wanted to leave Japan someday.

And since my eldest daughter was attending university in Sydney, he suggested that we move to Australia, and we moved to Sydney 22 years ago. I wanted to go back, but after we moved to the Gold Coast, my husband and I fell in love with it and had a really good time here.

In front of the grave of my husband, who died saying, "I want to be buried in Australia."

Later, my husband was diagnosed with cancer, and when he was told he had only a little time left to live, he said, "I want to be buried in Australia," and went to see the memorial park near our house by himself. He told me, "I want a grave to be built here." And after he passed away, he was buried there as he had wished. I had promised my husband that I would visit his grave every day for a year, so I visited his grave on rainy and windy days. "I continue to do this, and even now, on the monthly anniversary of my husband's death, I visit his grave and eat sushi, his favorite food, with my daughter, to remember how kind he was."

When I asked Toshiko why she stayed in Australia other than as a gravekeeper, she replied as follows:

"The good weather. And the people. They don't interfere, but they're always there to help if something happens. I used to enjoy mountain climbing, but I couldn't lift my feet up on the rocks on the steep mountain paths. When I got stuck, I was surprised when a strong young man nearby offered me his thigh and said, 'Use this as a stepping stone to climb up.'

When I had a flat tire in the parking lot of a shopping center, a stranger came over and changed the tire for me. Also, when I boarded the plane, a young person quickly carried my luggage for me. People will even give up their seats for you on the train. Natural kindness is everywhere, and it's a really comfortable place to live. I feel like I belong here more than in Japan."

Pride as a Japanese

Now, how does Japan look from the Southern Hemisphere?

"Change is necessary, but I think the Japanese government will never change. Culture and traditional arts are things that need to be protected, so they don't need to change, but political issues are things that concern us. I want them to seriously consider ways to change things. I get annoyed at Japanese people who don't have that kind of awareness. It also seems like they're too obsessed with money."

Next, I asked about the Japanese community on the Gold Coast.

She performed a poetry recitation performance accompanied by her eldest daughter, Yukiko, who played the flute.

"When we first came here, the Japanese community was very active. I used to be a volunteer who introduced Japanese culture, teaching things like origami. At one point, there were a total of 20,000 Japanese people here. However, since then, as prices have risen, the number of people moving here has decreased significantly, and some people have even moved to Southeast Asia, including Malaysia."

When asked about her medical situation, Toshiko, who is a permanent resident of Australia, said she has been using Medicare since turning 75 and is satisfied with the service.

"If you use Medicare, medical fees at public hospitals are free, except for private hospitals. Bus rides are also free."

He says his daughter Yukiko, who has citizenship, sponsored him for permanent residency.

Finally, we asked Toshiko to talk about the changes she has experienced since moving to Australia.

"I've become kinder than when I was in Japan. Before, I was very argumentative, so I was very logical in how I raised my two daughters. But after moving to this country, I've come to appreciate the kindness of people. I think I have become a surprisingly kind person. On the other hand, I came to this country with pride as a Japanese person, so I have resolved never to say or do anything that would embarrass me as a Japanese person. My husband was the same way."

Toshiko gave us a very organized and easy-to-understand explanation of her experiences during the war as a child, her move to Australia with her husband who was raised in Taiwan, and her decision to stay in Australia and protect her husband's grave rather than return to Japan. The impression she left on me as an interviewer was that of a "dignified Japanese woman." And I'm sure the people of Australia will also sense her "pride as a Japanese person" from her straightforward attitude. It seemed to me that way.

© 2024 Keiko Fukuda