The Naked Blood of the Cherry Blossoms
Page 15
Neither was the violent demonstration against the Governor in Osaka an exception. There were similar protests elsewhere. The authorities arrested several thousand, who were tried. Stiff penalties were imposed on the ring leaders.
Despite the clampdown, the urge to educate Zainichi children in Korean died hard. Some schools switched to a Japanese syllabus but maintained separate classes for Koreans. Whilst other schools became private.
The forced repatriation of Zainichi to Korea did not however materialise, and later Japan was to reverse its stance on classifying Korean-Japanese as aliens, under pressure from the new government of South Korea. This eased some of the discontentment within the Zainichi community.
The trail to find Mi-Chan stayed cold until December, when the Taegi family received a letter. The handwriting on the envelope was instantly recognisable.
What stood out was the postage stamp. It was a waving red and blue flag with a star, on a cream background with images of labourers in the background. Umma carefully opened the envelope whilst Eun Ae looked on in anticipation.
“October 1948, Pyongyang, North Korea
Dear Umma and Eun Ae,
I love you and miss you dearly! I’m so sorry it has taken so long to write, but I am well and safe here. Please do not worry. I have met Aunt Taegi. She is well and sends her best wishes.
The reasons for leaving Japan are not simple to explain, but I will try.
I was working for the American occupation authorities. Unfortunately, I had some bad experiences there. Those matters are resolved now.
I did nothing wrong, I promise.
Also, the police suspected I was distributing Akahata, and was involved in the protest against Kongo Gakuen’s closure. I would have been arrested.
I had no choice but to leave.
Fortunately, I had a close confidant in Japan who helped me move to Pyongyang until things settle down.
As you know Korea is going through rapid change under the wonderful leadership of Kim Il-Sung. There is none of the poverty and crime that exists in Japan. I am glad to see the socialist fatherland we heard so much about.
I am so sorry for leaving without warning. I will come back, but it will be in a few months.
Eun Ae, I hope everything is going well with your music. Please play for me.
Umma, I love you very much.
Mi-Chan”
Eun Ae and her mother, read the letter over and over again, their eyes red with tears and sorrow. On the one hand, they were relieved to hear the news from Mi-Chan as they had begun to fear the worst. However, on the other, there was not any return address. In fact Umma had lost contact with her sister in the war period, so they were unsure whether Mi-Chan had actually managed to find her in Korea, as she claimed.
The Taegi’s decided to keep news of Mi-Chan’s letter between them.
The police had indeed been to question them and search their cellar. Fortunately there were no copies of Akahata present, and the officers departed empty handed.
Their only hope now was that there would be another letter, or Mi-Chan stuck to her promise and returned.
In agreement with his Headmaster, Atsugi decided to invite ethnic Korean students into his music ensemble at Kobe First Municipal, which practised on Wednesday evenings. He had kept in contact with Eun Ae, and she joined along with several other ex-Kongo Gakuen students.
Atsugi acquired a flute and Eun Ae began practising it as well as the shakuhachi. They put on a stunning performance of Beethoven’s March, before moving onto more elaborate works including Haydn’s Andante from the Clock Symphony, and Gluck’s Dance of the Blessed Spirits.
Atsugi was glad to see his vision of music uniting the community become a reality.
Instead of finding another job on Saturdays, Atsugi decided to volunteer at Peace Bridge. He was mortified to learn from the Sisters there were up to 120,000 orphans across Japan. A fact given scant coverage in the national press.
Although he felt General MacArthur had betrayed his confidence by disclosing his letters to the police, the plight of the orphans was too grave to be ignored. So he felt obliged to write one final letter.
“Dear Honourable and Supreme Excellency General MacArthur,
I offer you my sincere greetings from Kobe. My name is Paul Yasuo Atsugi, I am a music teacher at Kobe First Municipal and also volunteer at an orphanage called Peace Bridge in Osaka on Saturdays.
Your Excellency will no doubt recall that I have written several letters concerning the shortage of food, discrimination against Korean nationals and other matters.
The purpose of this letter is to express my sheer frustration about the way orphans are being treated in Japan. I do not know if Your Excellency is familiar with the word ‘Furoji’ but is a derogatory word meaning ‘waifs and strays.’
There are thousands of orphans in Osaka, all of whom are starving, and barely survive on scraps and rotten food. Yet there are official signs saying ‘Do not feed the Furoji’ around the stations and other public spaces they typically congregate. I hope you will concur with me this is completely immoral, and a sign that the government has been unable to address this critical issue.
I understand some effort to establish child care facilities has been made, but these are woefully insufficient, hence why charities like Peace Bridge are swamped.
Your Excellency, please devote urgent resources to feeding and housing orphans!
However, there is an even greater problem, and it is directly the fault of your SCAP troops. I am talking about illegitimate children whose fathers are active members of your military! Peace Bridge now has over 250 unwanted, abandoned babies whose fathers are in the US army.
What policies are you putting in place to stop this happening?
I strongly urge your Excellency to devote more energy and resources to orphan care.
I am your faithful servant.
Paul Yasuo Atsugi, Music Teacher, Kobe First Municipal School, Chuo-Ku, Nozaki Dori, Kobe.”
As with his other letters, Atsugi took it himself to the post office for despatch.
There never was any reply from the General or his aides.
Epilogue
Sakamoto remained in the Yam’ichi with the Hachiman. One day late in 1948 he met one of his contacts who had connections inside the Osaka police.
“They discovered a badly decomposed body dressed in an American officer’s uniform yesterday. A male.”
“Where was it?” asked Sakamoto
“In an area of vacant ground that had been a vegetable plot. It was being dug over for development, just south of the Yam’ichi here.”
“Was the body of a Caucasian or a Nissei?”
“Caucasian, and someone tall apparently.”
“Highly unusual,” said Sakamoto. “Any other details?”
“The body was found inside a hessian bag. Hands tied behind its back.”
“Murder?”
“Shot in the back of the skull.”
“So it looks like a professional job?”
“Yes. Perhaps someone who was dealing with the Meiyu-kai and met a bitter end. However, buried with the body was a mottled leather Hermes purse, dark brown and cream in colour. Inside the purse was a message written in English saying ‘Jared Kenyon, rapist and racketeer.’”
“Anything else?”
“There were some cicada wings in the purse.”
Sakamoto shook his head. “It’s almost as if the perpetrator wanted the body to be discovered at some time. That wouldn’t be the Yakuza style.”
“Indeed not. It looks like a revenge killing.”
“How long do the police think the body had been buried?” asked Sakamoto.
“They’re trying to establish a time of death now, but it looks like it was several months ago, at least.”
“Do the police have any theories?”
“No. They’re under big pressure from the occupation authorities though.”
Sakamoto remembered the missing person poste
r. The timing matched up.
Was that the real reason why Mi-Chan had disappeared?
Characters
Haruto Sakamoto
A demobbed soldier who returns to Japan from the Pacific War.
Mi-Chan
A young Korean-Japanese woman living in Kobe.
Paul Yasuo Atsugi
A music teacher.
Eun Ae
The younger sister of Mi-Chan.
UMMA Taegi
The mother of Mi-Chan and Eun Ae.
Jared Kenyon
An American officer posted to Japan.
Jun
A teenage orphan living in the Osaka Black Market.
Sister Francine
A French missionary Sister who works at the Peace Bridge orphanage in Osaka.
Ishida
The owner of the Tengoku candy stall in the Umeda black market, previously a subordinate of Sakamoto in the Imperial Japanese Army.
Takagi, also known as Pak
A teacher at Kongo Gakuen school who hails from Pyongyang.
hana
A fellow Musume at the Rokko Garden who becomes Mi-Chan’s confidant.
Musume
A collective term for the female entertainers at the Rokko Garden
Tamura, also known as Oka-san
The manager of the Rokko Garden Musume.
Colonel James
Senior American officer at the Rokko Garden.
The Author
Kano Ishikawa first developed a love of history and politics when he was at school.
Educated in the UK, he moved to Japan over twenty years ago. Now he lives in Osaka with his wife and children. This book is dedicated to them.