Re:THE POSTHUMOUS WRITINGS OF MY FATHER-IN-LAW---recollection from the end of World War II to 1953

<Part 4>

Later, some Japanese soldiers were put inside our cell, having been attacked and captured by Chinese troops at their hiding place in the deep mountain of Senzan. Seven or eight people were packed in the small space. We could not go to sleep with our legs piled up on each others.

When my legs were covered by others, I moved them from that position and put them on the others legs again. But they were soon covered again. While repeating the same actions all night, I saw the dawn was breaking. Among the other troubles we suffered in jail, there were also bedbugs. My wife brought me Daifuku-mochi, a sweet bean- paste cakes and some other sweets. I shared them with the cellmates.

One day a Chinese soldier came in and told me to get out. I wondered where I was going to be taken. After being questioned in a room with several soldiers, I was allowed to go home. I was very happy, finally going home after the almost ten- day detention. My family was very surprised when they saw me.

Later I learned that I had been suspected of being an enemy spy. They thought I had guided the attack on the building which I had visited when I asked to be taken to my factory. However it turned out to be just an excuse to make money. I figured out later that my company had paid the money for me to be released. I was the first among our company to be captured by the military administration, called Pahro, followed shortly by some others.

I made a report of my safe return to the company president, who was also arrested later on that day and kept under detention. He was not well at the time, suffering from a cold, and his wife followed to take care of him. After a short time, she killed herself by using potassium cyanide which she had taken with her secretly. I heard that the president had been seen somewhere but it remained unconfirmed. We had no way to know when and where he was killed, but we knew he was dead. Some other executive officers were brought somewhere, followed by the general administration manager and the welfare manager as well. We had no idea where they had been taken off.

Our daily life continued even in such harsh conditions. We tried to make our living by doing this and that. I sold my valuable belongings to get cash. My wife baked cream puffs to sell to the wealthy people at a famous hotel, called Shinga-en. Her business went sufficiently well and the cakes became quite popular there.

The power supply and water service were then suspended. We had to go all the way to the newly-dug well early in the morning, stocking it in the bathtub for the day. Candles were too expensive for daily use, so we burned oil for light.

With repeated battles between the Koumintang and the communist armed forces, some Japanese citizens were forced to help either side of the medical soldiers, only to be unreturned their homes. We carried Tatami-mats to the basement, when the battles got fiercer, to avoid stray bullets, and stayed there all day long. After hearing no other gunshots outside, we sometimes looked out through the basement window and saw some soldiers bodies left on the ground. We couldnt identify which side the bodies belonged. We remained helpless day after day.
It was a very trying time.

by Anmitsuhime

To be continued to Part 5