昨年の9月下旬から10月下旬まで古巣のノースカロライナ州に滞在していた時に、サウスカロライナ州のギャフニィというところで牧場をしている友人のDr. Larry Tateを訪問しました。奥さんのLindaさんから、来年は一緒にアラバマ州に住んでいる彼女のお父さんに会いに行こうと誘われていました。第二次世界大戦後の1947年と1948年当時17才で米軍兵士として沖縄と東京に駐留したので、今は91才で体が弱ってきているが私と会って当時のことを話しができれば喜ぶ筈だからと言われました。私も終戦直後の沖縄や東京の様子を直接聞ける貴重な機会だと思って、是非そうしたいと答えて、楽しみにしていました。
ところが今年の5月初めにLindaさんからメールが届いて、お父さんの心臓の機能が20～30%に低下して体調が悪いので、私が訪問する10月まで生きていられないかもしれないので今のうちに手紙を書いてほしいと言われました。
早速手紙を書いて航空郵便で送ると同時にコピーをメールに添付してLindaさんにも送信しました。以下はその時に届いた礼状と私の手紙のコピーです。
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| 宛先 | motoyama335 motoyama335@aol.com |
Thank you for the letter to my father. I will print a copy of the email for us to have. I recalled also that his wife does get email so I forwarded the email to her to read to him. I will call him in the morning and get his response.
My daughter is moving closer to us. She bought a house in the town of Spartanburg which is 30 minutes from here. I have been very busy helping make improvements to the house. Also working in the yard. I love my flowers and shrubs. I will send a picture when more is blooming. Laurie is planting his corn, watermelons and green beans. It was a very rainy winter but has been a pleasant spring.
We look forward to your visit in the fall.
Have a great day,
Linda Merchant Tate
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May 7, 2019
May 7, 2019
Mr. Charles
Merchant
○○○○○
○○○○○
Chunchula, Alabama
36521, USA
CC: Linda Merchant Tate
CC: Linda Merchant Tate
Dear Mr. Merchant,
Your daughter Linda Merchant Tate, whose husband Lawrence G. Tate is a good friend of mine since we used to work at Toxicology Program of North Carolina State University around early 1970s, told me that they would take me to you in October of this year when I make an annual visit at North Carolina and South Carolina. I was very much looking forward to that opportunity so that I can talk to you and learn from you how it was like in Okinawa and Tokyo shortly after the end of WW2. Linda mentioned that you were there in 1947 and 1948.
I was born in 1942 in Pyongyang, North Korea (Japanese colony at that time). My grandfather (my mother’s father), born in 1905, had a 2,000 ha apple orchard in Kangzhou, a town near Pyongyang. I heard that he is the one who first planted apple trees in Korea. Those apple trees were brought from Aomori Prefecture (northern part of Japan), which originally came from the US. Although my grandfather and our family felt no reason to escape from the area at the end of WW2 for they were welcomed and appreciated by local Korean population there, they were advised better to escape as soon as possible because Soviet Union troops were capturing Japanese and sending them to Siberia as forced labors (sort of slaves). Later on it was revealed that great many of Japanese sent to Siberia were killed of hunger, malnutrition and sickness. When my grandfather decided to escape the area, a principal of Korean horticultural school came and asked him to donate the apple orchard to the school. He agreed and signed the paper. By that time the Korean peninsula was divided at 38 degree line by the US and Soviet Union troops. To avoid being captured by the Soviet troop we had to walk through mountains for many days and nights. Women and girls cut their hair short and dressed like men so that they would not be raped by Russian soldiers. Since I was only three years old, it was impossible to walk through mountains for many days and nights. I was lucky that my elder sister, 12 years older than I, and another lad of a family friend carried me on their back alternately, or I could have been left behind in North Korea and become a war orphan. It was fortunate that our family could finally cross the 38 degree line without being captured by the Soviet Union troop, reach a port, get on a boat, and return to Japan.
My family lived in
Miyazaki Prefecture of Kyushu (Southern Ireland of Japan) until I was 3rd
grade in elementary school. Life then
was very hard for all Japanese, because so many overseas Japanese population
returned from former colonies (Korea and Taiwan) and Manchuria, did not have
houses to live, jobs to work, clothes to wear, and foods to eat. Rice, main food for Japanese, was rationed
and we could barely survive on sweet potatoes etc. I remember we often saw B29 flying in the sky
and US soldiers walking in town. Being
so hungry, many kids including myself followed them and begged for foods. They were kind to offer us chocolate and
candies. School kids were fortunate that
they could have as lunch a bowl of warm milk and a loaf of bread at least once
a day. I believe they were prepared from
powdered milk and wheat flour given by the US.
We moved to
Saitama Prefecture (neighboring to Tokyo) when I was 3rd grade (10
years old) in elementary school. I
remember there were many disabled veterans standing or sitting on the ground
near railway stations or parks begging for money. My mother used to offer whatever the amount
of money she could afford, because she felt these guys fought the war for the
country, and got wounded (some of them lost their arms or legs), but did not
have enough support from the government to live. My father decided to immigrate to Brazil when
I was 6th grade in elementary school. The Japanese government at that time was
encouraging the immigration as a way to solve the overpopulation problem and
Brazilian government was welcoming Japanese immigrants to develop the
country. My brother joined him later and
my sister also joined him later. I was
also going to join him after graduation of Chiba University and do agriculture
in Brazil. That plan did not materialize
because later on I changed my mind and decided to become a scientist.
That is how I
ended up going to North Carolina State University for graduate studies in 1969
at the age of 27 and meeting Lawrence G. Tate, Linda’s current husband, later
on. We did fishing together quite often
when both of us were living in Raleigh, North Carolina. I was with my family, consisted of my mother,
wife, and two children. One of my
children, Patricia, was born in Raleigh and now lives in Santa Monica,
California with her American husband Don Hughes and three children. My son, Tetsuhito, lives in Japan working as
Professor in English at ○○○ University in Tokyo.
I lived in
Raleigh, North Carolina from 1969 through 1978, and again from 1982 through
1983 as Visiting Professor, altogether for 10 years. When I was there I was teaching Karate after
school and served as president of Martial Art Association of North Carolina
that I organized. It was fun to teach
Karate to over 2,000 students from various walks of life in the US during 10
year span. That is why I am still
keeping good friendship with some of the American students even after 40 years
since my departure from the US.
After returning to
Japan, I worked at Chiba University for 30 years and retired in 2008 at the age
of 65. Then I worked as visiting
Professor at Tokyo University of Agriculture for another 5 years until I became
70 years old. I have been visiting the
US almost every year for about one month in October to enjoy reunion with my
Karate students and good friends from NCSU days.
When I first joined NCSU as a graduate student in 1969, I met Dr. Frank E. Guthrie who was program director at that time. He told me that he served for the WW2 as a US Marine. He said that he went to Iwo-Jima and showed me his office sign written as “Lieutenant Guthrie” in Japanese. Obviously he stationed in Japan after the end of WW2 as a member of the Occupation Forces. He also said that he served for Korean War too. One thing he told me at that time and I can not figure out even now is “I helped you twice.” One time is clear because he specified that he helped me from North Korea taking over Japan. But he did not specify the other time. I can no longer ask him because he passed away many years ago. I imagine what he meant might probably be that he helped Japanese people by providing foods such as powdered milk and wheat flour that I actually had as school lunch when he was in the Occupation Forces after the end of WW2.
I am very much interested in seeing you in October of this year if possible and learn from you how it was like in Okinawa and Tokyo shortly after the end of WW2. Since Linda told me that your heart condition is not doing well, I decided to write you this letter in advance. I hope you do not mind reading such a long letter from me. It will be wonderful if I can hear from you.
Please take good care of yourself so that hopefully I can visit you in October.
Naoki
Professor Emeritus of Chiba University
○○○○
Matsudo-shi, Chiba-ken 271-0092, Japan
Phone/Fax +81-○○○
Cell phone +81-○○○
E-mail: motoyama335@aol.com
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それでもアラバマ州に行くかどうかは、ノースカロライナ州に行ってからLindaさんと相談して決めたいと思います。
