天津・北東アジア平和軍縮フォーラムでの発言(9月20日)

Ladies and gentlemen. I, first of all, would like to express my sincere gratitude to you, as I have been invited to this special meeting held in Tianjin, a special town for me. I have a special history on this town. I was born in May,1941, 6 months before the Pearl Harbor Attack occurred. My father was an activist in Japan against the War, and therefor imprisoned for 2 years and 8 months. Of course, there is a long story on him, but today I omit all of them as I have no time. After being released from the prison, I was born in due course, but our life must have been quite harsh. He decided not to make any business with the living people, as special police didn’t allow him to do so. Thus, he started the Funeral Organizer, which got high reputation as his philosophy was “Monks give relief to the dead. To the bereaved family, morticians do so.” But quite unfortunately this idea didn’t promise the profits. The funeral parlor encountered bankruptcy. But, life is not always severe. Sometimes spring comes after a hard days of winter. A Japanese gentleman, whose father’s funeral was held by my father, was so moved by the sincere rituals that he, happened to work in the Japanese Embassy in Beijin, stretched his hand to save my family, and we, father mother and I, 2-year-old boy came to China. Otherwise we could not have had survived in Japan. We settled at Shijiazhuang and my father worked as a director of water supply system. In those days the war ended, and we, with the new-born baby brother, evacuated from there to Sasebo, Japan, via, (Oh, what a coincidence!), Tianjin, where we are now. We came back to Japan on a landing craft. I still remember the thousands of Japanese people are laying their bodies on the iron-floor of that warship. So, for me this town, Tianjin, is the mother-town of my life. But for the Chinese people’s merciful help for us, not only my family but also many other Japanese people who returned back from the Continent and other areas, would have hardly lived the post-war lives. With this sort of sentiment, I went to the Bohai Sea near Tianjin and had a glance of the harbor last night. Japan committed unbelievable atrocities to the people, especially to those of East-Asian areas in the first half of twentieth century. We, Japanese people and the state of Japan, should never forget this. But, I would be grateful if you understand even in Japan at that time, there were many people who were so unhappy for the plight and fought to get rid of this harsh history. I really hope that our meeting will achieve splendid fruits in the history of East-Asian countries. Thank you.