Records of the Storytellers
“So, I wasn’t the only one.”
A Dialogue between Shige (85), Tomi (90), and Kaji (89)
(Excerpts from 3 participants out of a group of 7)
- Shige (85):
- I was only fifteen back then. Still just a child, really, but I was mobilized as a student and sent to the front lines. The battlefield… it was beyond anything I could have imagined. The sight of soldiers being shot, the faces of those who died inside the caves—they still appear in my dreams to this day. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night, shaking from a nightmare. It’s been over seventy years since the war ended, but it’s been like this the whole time.
But, you know… this is the very first time I’ve ever spoken about this to anyone.
(He exhales deeply, followed by a moment of silence)
Coming here, I realized for the first time: “I wasn’t the only one.” - Tomi (90):
- Yes… I understand. I couldn’t talk about it for a long time, either. I felt like I wasn’t allowed to. I couldn’t even tell my own family. Whenever I tried to bring up the war, people would make a face or quickly change the subject…
But since I started coming here, I finally felt like, “It’s okay to speak.” It took me sixty years to get to this point, though. - Kaji (89):
- I was exactly the same. After the war ended, there was such a strong pressure to “not speak of it anymore.” It was an era where we were told not to cry, to just stay silent.
But now that I’m trying to talk like this, those feelings I couldn’t put into words back then are finally coming out, bit by bit. I was hesitant at first, but now, this has become a place where it’s okay to let out our Chimugurisa—that deep, heart-wrenching pain we carry. - Shige:
- Just because I’ve talked about it doesn’t mean the dreams will stop. But… the weight in my chest feels just a little bit lighter.
- Tomi:
- That’s why, you see, this is that kind of place.