Talks with my Grandad

 

Well it's been a while since my last post and that's because I’m back home for the holidays, taking a break from work and visiting friends and family. Of course I’m having a wonderful time with little time to blog, and answering the same three questions over and over and over again.

On Christmas day I had an incredible chat with my Granddad Jimmy. I don't know if I'd mentioned it before but my Granddad was actually in Japan 60 years ago during his military service. He was stationed out there for a year and a half in a town called Kiori just north of Hiroshima. He used to tell me loads of stories about it when I was little and I think it’s where my infatuation with the country grew from.

We spent a good bit of the day exchanging experiences and it occurred to me that he was actually in Japan at a very interesting time, a few years after the dropping of the A-bomb and also in the midst of the Korean War. He told me about a lot of things, many interesting memories particularly about the prisoner camps and stuff he was told by the locals about their treatment by occupying forces not long after the war. I wish I'd written more down so I decided to do a little interview which I’ve transcribed here. I hope you find it interesting よろしくおねがいします。

1.You went out to Japan by boat.  How long did it take and what was the most interesting place you stopped on the way?

It took about 6 weeks in total. I’d say Sialom (was the most interesting). The vegetation was very and well everything was nice about it. It was just beautiful.

2.What was your first impression when you arrived?

In Japan? Well we went of a night and it was freezing. That left a big impression ‘cos I thought it was always going to be hot. We arrived about March, February or March.

3.What did you spend most of your time doing out there?

I was a clerk. I was in the Royal Army A corps so I was a clerk doing men’s pay. Debits and credits. But I didn’t like it. So then another Job I got was with a Japanese driver to drive me around in one of their cabs and I used to take all the mail to all the camps.

4.Where was your favorite place to visit in your local area?

In Kiori? There was a place called Kiori house. That was where akk the soldiers went of every different nationality. It was a big place. It sold Australian beer and sake, which wasn’t very nice really. I used to go walking a lot, though I couldn’t tell you where it was. I didn’t know the names of places. We went to Hiroshima a lot as well, when we finished work around 4 o’clock.

 

5.Obviously there are many cultural differences between Japan and England. What was the biggest shock for you?
Well what we were told here about them (Japanese people) I found was very different. I found they were very honest and very open. The biggest shock I found were where morals were concerned. They had communal baths and all that. The men and the women together, that shocked me a bit. Many of them just took it for granted. They were used to it. Also I didn’t like the food. Fruit was alright. A bit of rice maybe, I liked rice.

6.Do you have any interesting memories of individual locals?

I used to speak to this marathon runner, he used to run for Japan. Well I used to try and speak to him. He could speak a little bit of English. I never knew much Japanese. He used to go to work and run and he’d take a tobacco tin full of rice and a bit of raw fish and that's what he used to have all day.

I found, well I used to work in and office and the girls were quite nice there you know. Very polite and that. The only thing I didn’t like about them is that if a bird came in the office they used to call it ‘chop chop’. They’d want to eat it and I’d want to let it go.

(I’d just like to point out here that my Granddad is a massive bird lover. For the whole time I’ve known him he’s kept an aviary in his back garden and some of my fondest memories are of visiting bird shows with him.)

7.Did you ever experience any hostility towards yourself or people with you?

No, no, no. None of that at all. I used to talk to the students, they were very open about it, about what happened and all that. But it was their way of life. So different from us you know? Army wise and their orders. If you gave up you were a coward.

8.How did you cope with the weather?

Well I didn’t like the heat. I used to get up about 4 or 5 in the morning and go for a walk before it started getting hot around 10. Then I used to keep out in the shade. Fill around 4 or 5pm, then it was a bit nicer.

We were right by the sea so I used to go with this fella yachting. One day the officers were having a race and this fella, he’d been wounded in an infantry regiment, they’d put him in charge of Yachts. One day they’d asked us to fit into the race because they were short of people in the race. We cheated and won. We took the heavy bit in the middle of the boat out, took a lot of weight off us and we flew away.

10.What did you find most difficult?

Nothing really I liked it. We used to play a lot of games, they loved baseball and played the Canadians a lot. We did a lot of athletics as well. It wasn’t that difficult really, everyday things, going to work. I never really felt I was in the army more or less I was just a clerk.

11.Any other interesting memories?

I used to go to Miyajima, maybe 3 or 4 times or more. I used to get leave to stay there of a weekend. It was handy for s like cos I knew the fella with a yacht. And we could go to Hiroshima whenever we wanted. I found that very interesting and was shocked. I never thought they (America) should have dropped the bomb, they (Japan) were more or less giving up anyway. I thought it was a disgrace.

12.Anything else?

Only about the Prisoners when the Korean war was over. they were all taken to a camp called JRBD and when you went into the camp it was full of all their (Korean) money. You could pick up as much as you want. They didn’t want to kow about anything. They dragged them down to the Ships handcuffs, MP’s as well. They didn’t want to go back.

Well that's all I’ve got hope you found it interesting and a big thanks to my Granddad for the chat. Also thanks to everyone for reading my ramblings for a year.

Akemashite omodetou gozaimasu (Happy new year). See you on the other side.