"Reflections" from August 15, 1945

2024/08/07

I used to hear often that Americans remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard about three events: the attack on Pearl Harbor, the assassination of Kennedy, and the moon landing. For Japanese people, wasn't August 15, 1945, that kind of memory? These brown scraps of paper tell us what Japanese people thought on that very day. They are "reflections" written by Army soldiers who were given paper on that day. The person who had them write these was Tadao Koshiro, who studied at Keio University from the Yochisha Elementary School. While a student, he was mobilized into the Army and was serving as an instructor for new recruit training in the 1st Air Survey Regiment in Hamamatsu at the time.

There are 40 "reflections." One person wrote, "I will work as hard as I can as a member of the industrial warriors," words that evoke post-war Japan. Another wrote in large, cheerful letters, "I am very happy," which is surprising. The presence of many awkward characters and terrible typos vividly reflects the backgrounds of the new recruits. The response featured most prominently, while written in neat handwriting, is logically chaotic with the end of the sentence crossed out, filled with confusion.

Koshiro considered himself a "Keio BAKA" (Keio fanatic) and went to great lengths for his alma mater, playing a central role in the "Showa 19 Mita-kai" alumni group from its formation until its dissolution. Although he couldn't drink a drop of alcohol, he was a person who naturally loved gathering people and socializing; he even formed an alumni association for the Fujimi Sanatorium where he was hospitalized for tuberculosis for a time after the war, and his Yochisha class reunions eventually turned into gatherings where widows would have tea with him.

Even after turning 90, Koshiro always dressed neatly, wore a hat, and came to Mita alone. While saying without a smile, "Living a long life is not all it's cracked up to be," he graciously accepted many requests to give lectures to students about pre-war Hiyoshi and military life, and after finishing his talks, he would hand out his phone number to students (mainly female students). Then, one day shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic, he brought this bundle of paper scraps to me with a bit of pride.

These "reflections" exist because of Koshiro, who was full of curiosity and wanted to see what they would write. Because he was an officer who made them feel they could write anything, the responses are frank. These are rare records of the spiritual history of the Japanese people, and they also reflect the image of a soldier who was very much a Keio graduate and not at all like a typical soldier.

(Takeyuki Tokura, Associate Professor, Keio University Fukuzawa Memorial Center for Modern Japanese Studies)