China, Children of Hope Primary Schools and I

Introduction

I am 72， born in the Year of the Tiger. This year is my own Japanese zodiac year. I had the pleasure to contribute to Voice of Friendship in both 2000 and 2005. This time， again with much gratitude， I offer an article reviewing the friendly course I have traversed， however insignificant it may be.

The first I remember China was in 1945， when I was a first-grade pupil. Japan suffered war defeat in that year. Those who had earlier joined the Japan Settler Regiment* and emigrated to Manchuria and Mongolia returned to Japan in succession. A woman with two small children moved into the staff office of our village elementary school because she had nowhere else to live. “That woman”， my mother told me， “had no choice but to leave the baby who had died on her back by the roadside on her way back to Japan from Manchuria.” Soon afterwards， a program Looking for Family Members was broadcast by NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) announcing all day the names and basic information of relatives who had lived in Northeast China including in Mudanjiang， Harbin， Xinjing (now Changchun)， Fengtian (now Shenyang) and Dalian. This program lasted for several years. Talking about the Japan Settler Regiment， I must go back in history. Around 1915， the then Japanese government adopted an erroneous national policy of aggression and blatantly launched war. It set up a rogue state of Manchukuo (i.e. Manchuria) and organized 270，000 Japanese into the Japan Settler Regiment to emigrate to China’s Northeast. These settlers forced local peasants off their land and out of their houses， bringing untold sufferings to the country.

I was very lucky to work as secretary to Kazuo Shionoya， a member of the House of Representatives when I grew up and entered society， and was engaged in the Japan-China friendship movement together with him even before the normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and China. In 1972， Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka visited China and diplomatic relations were finally established. Later during the Chinese leader’s visit to Japan， I also did my bit as a member of the secretariat of the welcoming committee. In 1975， I headed a secretaries’ delegation of the Dietmen’s League for Japan-China Friendship to visit China as guests of the China-Japan Friendship Association (CJFA). The “cultural revolution” was still underway then. “In agriculture learn from Dazhai”， was the call. So we visited Dazhai and the people’s commune. It was my first visit to a foreign country and I was deeply moved by the socialist construction in China.

Years later， my daughter went to study in Nankai University (Tianjin). In 1985 she visited Shanghai， where she was asked by an old man: “Are you Japanese?” She got a slap as soon as she answered “Yes”.

“Some one dear to the old man must have been killed by the Japanese army”， my daughter told me after she returned to Japan. I believed that from this incident the old man wanted to remind me that I should make greater efforts to promote Japan-China friendship. From then on， I made up my mind to work for this cause all my life.

Becoming a Student of Chinese Language

In 1999， after I retired， I came to learn Chinese at the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications (BUPT)， starting my life as a mature student. Among my classmates， there were Japanese， Koreans and Indonesians who were in their twenties. Naturally they made rapid progress in their studies. I worked very hard trying to keep up with them and made painstaking efforts after class to finish homework such as recitation and composition. I spent altogether one year and eight months at the BUPT. In 2003， I went to study at Dalian Jiaotong University at a friend’s suggestion. I said to myself that I came to China with the aim of promoting friendship. Since I had not made much progress in classroom language learning， I’d better teach Chinese students Japanese and learn Chinese from them. I noticed then that there were many students majoring in Japanese in every college， but there were not enough Japanese novels in the libraries to go around. The students all knew about Japanese writers such as Yasunari Kawabata and Ryunosuke Akutagawa， but had not read their works. So， I called on friends to donate books to the Japanese language department. Their enthusiasm exceeded my expectation. We donated 2，000 books respectively to the BUPT and Dalian Jiaotong University. By the way， when I studied at the latter school， demonstrations against Japanese interests were taking place in China. Radical actions appeared in Shanghai， but the students in Dalian were relatively sober-minded. It was during this period that I suggested to Mr. Yu of the university Office of General Affairs that we plant a cherry sapling symbolizing Japan-China friendship in the campus with the money donated by the students of my class， and got his approval. We named the tree Japanese Students Friendship Commemorative Cherry. Today， the cherry tree decorates the beautiful campus with its blooming flowers every May.

Donating to Hope Primary Schools

In my heart， I have always wanted to conduct more friendly exchanges in China’s Northeast， for many people of the Japan Settler Regiment had lived there， and in particular I cannot forget that bereaved woman who had to live in the staff office of the village elementary school. I had many friends in the China-Japan Friendship Association and quite a number of them were from the Northeast. So I told Mr. Xu Jinping my wish to donate to a Hope primary school. I learned from him that a primary school in Shuangyang District， Changchun City， worn down by the passage of time， was to be reconstructed. Changchun was the capital of the puppet Manchukuo state. I immediately agreed to donate money for the construction. In 2003， the school was rebuilt and put into use. It was renamed Shise Primary School for Sino-Japanese Friendship. In early September， Mr. Xu and I went to Changchun to attend the school’s opening ceremony. This village school is about 90 minutes drive from Changchun. I felt excited to see the bright eyes of the 250 pupils and happy that my dream came true. In the evening of that day， Vice Mayor An Li hosted a banquet in our honor. She asked what I expected of these children. I replied that I hoped they would like Japan and want to visit Japan when they grew up.

Two years later， through the introduction by Li Tiemin， the second Hope primary school involving my donation was completed in Fangzheng County， Harbin City and was named Shahezi Shise School for China-Japan Friendship. Fangzhen County is located between the cities of Harbin and Jiamusi， where the Soviet army launched an attack on the Japanese army at the end of WWII， resulting in nearly 5，000 Japanese settlers dying of starvation and severe cold. Local people built a cemetery for them. Every autumn when I visit the school， I always go to the cemetery， placing mineral water， incense and Sake I have brought from Japan before the tombs as sacrifices. I feel relieved by doing so. Shahezi Shise Hope School is close to a coal mine and children of the miners all go to this school for their elementary and secondary education. When the construction was completed， 150 children had eager anticipation. But， later， the mine was closed due to an incident. The number of students decreased year by year. There were 16 students in 2008 and only three last year. Despite this， I think I am destined to donate to a Hope school in Fangzheng County， for this was the starting place of my friendship movement.

Contact with Children

The two Hope primary schools and my Alma Mater — Yokoyama Elementary School and Mizukubo Elementary School — maintain contact through exchanges of children’s paintings and compositions. I often carry with me children’ works from the four schools traveling back and forth between Japan and China like Santa Claus， and I enjoy doing so. The two Hope schools all bear the two characters“至誠 (Shise)”. In fact， that was the name of my second son who died in a traffic accident. Seeing the children of these schools today， I have a feeling of being amongst family.

I am now in Japan teaching Chinese to learn Japanese. One of my students is a war orphan about my age. She was adopted by a Chinese couple when she was one year old. She has no memory of her natural parents whatsoever. Whenever she thinks of her adopted parents who have already passed away， she cannot hold back her tears. Today， I still have one wish， which is to open a Japanese school in China’s Northeast one day. I will be the headmaster， teaching young people to learn Japanese while discussing with them history and life.

I don’t want to say that I am “already 72”， but “only 72”. I will continue to visit China in my remaining years and carry out friendly activities within my ability so that that unfortunate period of history will never be repeated between our two countries and the friendship between our two countries will last from generation to generation. In 2015 when I am 77， I will write again for Voice of Friendship.