Those Days in Muramatsu: One Woman's Memoir of Occupied Japan

Chapter 27: A Picnic

CHAPTER 27 A A PICNIC PICNIC It was an unusually beautiful day. White feathery clouds were floating in the blue sky, and the sun was shining brightly, inviting us to come out into the open. No one felt like sitting in the office. Mr. Kuno suggested that the girls go out for a picnic, because in a few weeks the snow would come and shut us in. “Let’s go!” We all felt very happy. “Perhaps we can find some chestnuts.” So we set out, seven of us girls. As we went along the street, we saw women of the town busily working in anticipation of the approaching cold. Some had taken out their warm clothes and had hung them on rope to shake off the dampness after the rains. Some were washing in the stream. By the way, this was what surprised the Americans: people of the town used the water of the river for all purposes. You could see women washing mud off vegetables while another woman a hundred yards upstream was washing diapers. “Have they got no idea about sanitation?” the Americans wondered . In front of the houses there were many kinds of vegetables spread on rough straw mats to dry. They were getting ready for the five long months when they had to live in snow. Red persimmons were hanging under the eaves of every house. When they get dry, they are very sweet and have exquisite flavor. In order to go to a small hill where some chestnut trees grow, we had to pass the barracks and the parade ground which was at the back of the barracks. As we came toward it, a jeep came from the opposite direction. Sgt. Nishi was on it. He noticed us and stopped the jeep. “I’m leaving for home tomorrow,” he said and shook hands with us. “Gokigenyo!” (Farewell) “Sayonara!” Looking after his jeep, one of the girls began. “I heard that he fell in love with a geisha girl in Sanjo and paid 10,000 yen to set her free. It was very nice of him.” It is commonly believed that Japanese “sell” their daughters as geisha girls. It is not exactly selling. When poor parents are really in need, they sometimes borrow money from the operator of a geisha house in exchange for the service of their daughter—usually about fifteen years of age. And the girl works as a maid at the same time receiving training in a geisha girl’s accomplishments—music, dancing, and so on. And when she grows old enough to be a geisha girl, she starts paying off her employer. However, it very often happens that the amount of money borrowed by her parents has so increased with accumulating interest that she is never able to pay it off—especially when she herself has to borrow money to make her kimonos—until she finds a rich patron who pays a ransom and takes her as his mistress or wife. A geisha girl set free by an American soldier was quite symbolic. The dawn of happy days for the long-enslaved women of Japan! “Kon-nichi-wa!” (Good day!) “Kon-nichi-wa!” We exchanged greetings with the guard standing at the entrance to the parading ground and walked on. When we came a little way on the hill, we saw a group of American soldiers repairing the road. As we approached, they all stopped working and called to us. 130 “Hello!” “Where are you going?” We came to the top of the hill and took our lunch. The view was open, and we could look down upon the neighboring villages where smoke was coming up from the farm houses scattered around in the fields. It was peaceful. Looking down at the landscape I remembered, as if in a dream, that only three months before we were fighting desperately against the friendly soldiers whom we had just passed by. We lay down upon the grass. It was so pleasantly warm that I began to feel drowsy. “Hello!” Suddenly a voice said. We jumped up to find four soldiers standing a few steps away. “Hello!” I said. “Oh, you speak English? I nodded. “We saw you come up and came after you.” “We have come to gather chestnuts. But it seems we are too late.” As was usually the case with those American soldiers, they took out their pictures and showed...