"A production NICHIEI-SHINSHA" "Hello?" "Am I speaking with Mrs. Emiko Takada?" "I am Imamura, I wrote her a letter." "We want her for our next program." "She's not in?" "When will she be back?" "I understand." "Yes." "About compensationÉ?" "YesÉWhere does her mother live?" "CONTRACT FOR THE INTERVIEW" "If my daughter had only one child, I'd take it to school and then be free." "But she has three daughters!" "She says to arrange things as I want, but in this case I can't decide for her." "But I'll try to meet you." "My daughter has no time to lose." "But we need a lot of time." "Naturally if we can't finish we shan't claim any compensation." "We won't run off with the advance, we'd never do such a thing." "I know, I'm dressed badly, but we don't lack money." "We're rich, my son's a businessman." "I want a clear agreement." "We want it too." "Regarding payment, I'm a bit perplexed." "If you intend to pay us, why not write it in the contract?" "That's what I think." "But it's little money, true?" "YOSHIKURA CITY SLAUGHTERHOUSE" "HISTORY OF POSTWAR JAPAN TOLD BY A BARMAN" "In February 1958, I bought this place in Yokosuka." "ONBORO BAR" "It was run by a guy from Yokohama, a gangster." "One day he hurt a soldier and no one came to his place anymore." "The bar was at the end of an alley, so I wasn't sure it'd go well." "But at the time I wasn't married, I worked day and night and made lots of money." "When I acquired it, the place was called "Onoboro."" "I continued to call it that because I'd no money." " To change name you had to pay?" " Sure." "Drawing up new documents costs money." "But the place had stayed shut for two years." "I didn't imagine it would become mine." "Hiroshima is a pile of rubble." "Nothing blocks the view." "The atom bomb had devastating effects." "The immense heat produced killed and wounded many people." "Many survivors sickened with leukemia and died." "Emiko, where were you when the war ended?" "I was home, because school was closed for summer vacation." "Were you home when the Emperor spoke?" "I was at my neighbor's." "He was a shoemaker and his son a bank director." "We all went to his house to hear the speech." "What do you remember?" "Radio networks then weren't so developed, the reception was very shaky." "But I understood clearly that the war was over." "In the video everyone's standing to listen to the Emperor." "We too, at the beginning, we came to attention." "Because they played the national anthem." "When we understood the war was over, we relaxed." "The police were watching and we couldn't show our joy." "But it was transparent on faces." "We felt really relieved." " Did some cry?" " No, we all felt better." "We didn't show it outwardly, but underneath we were happy." "In Yoshikura did you see anyone despair like we see in the video?" "No one cried for things so stupid." "American soldiers came to Yoshikura?" "Yes." "We heard the armistice speech." "We were relieved by the end of the war, but worried about the future.." "We knew the Americans soldiers had come to Okinawa." "They advanced slowly northward toward the principal Japanese islands." "We wondered if they were dangerous for the girls." "We wondered a lot about that." "At the start of autumn," "I saw lots of American jeeps land." "They stayed several months." "They didn't create any problem." "The Americans were nice, real gentlemen." "My family ran a butcher shop that had a big garden." "The soldiers thought it was a bar and came in asking alcohol." "We were afraid and hid behind a sliding door." "There was a hole about a centimeter big which we spied on the American soldiers through." "They didn't look evil." "They always carried chocolate, soap, or other things." "They seemed likable, so we were less worried about the others." "When the festival period came, the fear has already passed." "At that time the festival took place in Kotani." "One day, while we were camping back from Kotani." "I had a fortune teller predict my future." "It was something I liked." "The seer analyzed my first and last name and said I was destined for business." "He advised me to run a brothel, despite my young age." " You were 15?" " Yes" "He advised me to run a brothel and then, reading my hand, said I'd do something abroad." "At the end of summer, you went back to school?" "No, I stopped going." "You left school?" "Why?" "Something unpleasant happened." "What?" "At the school I went to arrived a new boy." " He came from Yoshikura?" " Yes." "He told my classmates my family had a butcher shop and that we killed cows." "My best friend asked me if it was true." "I knew nothing about it, so when I got home I asked my mother." "A man can marry a woman of a social class higher than his, provided his parents consent." "We women, however, can't marry men from higher classes." "We cannot change the social class we're born into." "We have to work a lot to get a little respect." "Since I'd never be able to marry a middle-class man and didn't like to study," "I decided to work with my family and give up studying." "After summer vacation, I went with her to the station." "But next morning I saw her shoes in the house's garden." "I became suspicious." "I went to the first floor and saw she was sleeping." "I got very angry." "I hit her with a baseball bat we had in the house." "You started working?" "Yes, at the Agricultural Bank of Yoshikura" "I worked there six months." "I liked a couple colleagues." "One of them paid court to me." "I liked him a lot." "But we scarcely knew each other, so I didn't trust him much." "Did they know about your origins?" "They were from Yoshikura too, so surely they'd have known." "I knew they'd never marry me," "I thought they wanted to take advantage of me." "In that period was the passage from the old yen to the new yen." "I remember stamps were distributed to attach to banknotes." "June 27, at 9 in the morning, the ship Takasagomaru brought home 2000 soldiers from the Soviet Union." "The soldiers, crowded on the bridge of the ship, reply enthusiastically to the salute of the people welcoming them." "In the big cities, the homeless die of hunger and cold." "Everywhere people struggle against poverty and hunger." "The cities are destroyed." "Trains leaving the disaster zones are attacked." "Students invent the taxi-bicycle to pay for their studies." "At school old books are exchanged." "The black market spreads everywhere." "Tokyo swarms with abusive peddlers, but at the Shunjuku market prices are transparent." "Wholesale, piece and refill prices are indicated." "At the time did one earn a lot with meat?" "Profit was sure." "But there were various ways to make money." " You mean the black market?" " Exactly." "Unreported heads were killed and then their meat sold." "It was very profitable." " The authorities didn't brand cattle?" " They did." "But butchers had a false stamp similar to the original." "They used that to brand the beasts." "I think they did that." "My father was a butcher, just like his father." " And your mother's father?" " I don't know..." "Maybe he was a butcher too." " And your mother's mother too?" " I think so." "Then your father came..." "Originally he wasn't a butcher." "My father's sister married my mother's older brother and so my father came to work at the store." "At 14, my mother was going to high school." "My father fell in love with her, but since he wasn't studying he hadn't courage to declare himself." "He went back home and married another." "My mother wanted to be a nurse." "She started going to nursing school." "She knew a pharmacists there and got pregnant." "When my mother went home to give birth, she saw my father again." "Together they abandoned their own children and fled to Yoshikura." " When did you start menstruating?" " At 15." " When the Pacific War ended?" " Exactly." "In Yoshikura, did the first menstruation get celebrated?" "Some did, but not my family." " You helped in the store then?" " Yes." "We rented a store on Kaizan Street." "We opened a second store, a sort of branch." "I was there from morning to night to run it." "That's how I knew a policeman named Shimura." " A police station was nearby?" " Not exactly." "There was an office where interrogations were held." "Shimura went there often and so, seeing each other often, we became friends." "Then, I don't know why, we began living together without marrying." "The police watched the black market?" "Yes." " Your store was at risk?" " Yes." "That's why I stayed with him." "Really?" "I did so out of self interest." "Else what'd we have done?" "It wasn't a good premise for our rapport, but he was a good policeman and my family was vulnerable." "I thought, "If I stay with him, he'll keep me informed on police movements." ""So, if I have to give my virginity to someone, might as well be him."" "So you stayed with him to help your family?" "I'd say so." "At that time my father was denounced because during a check on the store they found a huge quantity of skins." "I went to the police station and saw he'd been maltreated." "That really grieved me, so I thought being with a policeman would have its advantages." " So, when there were inspectionsÉ" " We knew beforehand and took the excess skins to the country." "Meat was difficult to hide, but not the skins." "Thanks to him, we had no more problems." "And we profited from that." " Je furnished you useful info." " Indeed." "IMPRISONMENT OF POLITICAL DETAINEES" "At the time the Communist Part was at its peak." "The political detainees were freed." "Were there Communist movements also in Yoshikura?" "I think so, but my family didn't participate in them actively." "But my father's brother-in- law was a militant." "He spoke often of Schuichi Tokuda and Sanzo Nosaka." "SANZO NOSAKA, LEADER PF THE PEOPLE, RETURNS TO HIS COUNTRY" "But in Yoshikura no particular notice was taken." "JAPANESE COMMUNIST PARTY" "LIBERATION OF WOMEN" "The world is changed and also Japan is changing quickly." "GIVE US RICE" "DOWN WITH THE SHIDEHARA GOVERNMENT" "LET'S LIBERATE WOMEN" "The crowd, enraged, irrupts into the Prime Minister's residence." "The police fire in the air but the crowd has already gotten in." "DISORDERS AGAINST GOVERNMENT IN ALL THE TERRITORY" "In the naval shops of Mitsui 3000 workers gathered." "In Sendai 600 workers call for dismissal of Yoshida government." "In Osaka 20,000 workers assemble." "In Tokyo, in front of the Imperial Palace, 500,000 people have come to manifest with protest signs." "Let's overturn the Yoshida government!" "After prohibition of strikes imposed by General MacArthur, the Workers Committee met on January 31." "Secretary General Hase, after long debate, cancelled the strike planned for February 1." "At the Shiinamachi branch of the Eikoku Bank there were 12 victims." "On the 6th, near Hayase station, was discovered the body of Shimoyama, President of the State Railway." "A freight train ran over him and tore him in a thousand pieces." "The scenario of the massacre is bloodcurdling." "The Mitaka case shocked the world." "August 17, the train coming from Aomori derailed and overturned." "The police started an investigation." "How was life with Shimura?" "He left the police and came to work with me." "He was a good policeman, but the store didn't suit him, he didn't like that type of work." "So instead of working, he started taking walks." "He behaved badly, he beat me in front of people." "Soon I understood I couldn't count on him." "We fought over nothings." "If I said a guy was named X, he'd say he was named Y." " Was he a bully?" " Not really." "But it was clear one couldn't trust him." "I got pregnant but decided to abort." "I got pregnant again, but aborted again." "My husband behaved badly and I wanted a divorce." "My parents and in-laws told me to have a son, thus my husband would calm down." "I brought Akemi into the world, but my husband didn't change." "SHIMURA" "After school, you went straight into the police." "I knew nothing about business, but I was forced to work as a butcher." "No normal person would put up with that kind of work." "I thought I could do it." "I even worked without pay." "All the money ended up in my wife's pockets." "I was always asking her for money." "I was forced to live like that." "I think I made valid contributions to their activity." "My son-in-law worked little." "Saturday and Sunday he wanted to rest, he didn't want to touch cattle." "Six months after starting work with us he sickened with tuberculosis, and was a year recovering." "He didn't do anything particular for us." "How did they cure him?" "With penicillin." "We bought 100 tablets at 8500 yen each." "How was business going?" "My parents knew how to do." "They bought cattle wholesale and resold them." "They made a lot of money." "COMMUNIST PARTY MEMBERS FORBIDDEN IN PUBLIC WORKS" "June 6, the government accepts General MacArthur's request." "It removes from public office 24 Communist Party representatives, including Tokuda, Nosaka, Higashi." "June 7, 17 journalists are also fired." "IN TOKYO AND OSAKA EXPULSION OF 10,000 PEOPLE REVOKED" "October 13 the government revoked the removals of Communists from public office." "The government decided to revoke the law of expulsions from public offices that affected 10,000 people." "CONFLICT IN KOREA" "The Allies bomb strategic targets in North Korea, including arsenals and communication routes." "It gets called "The Korean War."" "I remember talking about it with my neighbors." "It was summer, my daughter Akemi had just been born." "People said that in case of conflict we'd have to leave the country, because the Koreans and Chinese would land in Japan." "I remember that well." "After the war, we got rich thanks to black market meats and hides." "We the Korean War we profited even more." "When was Akemi born?" "February 2, 1950." " I gave birth in the hospital." " In Yoshikura?" "Yes." "They did a caesarian." "At the time my husband had an extramarital relationship." "He was going to the Shinagaki baths and was usually treated by a geisha." "Now and then he came home to ask for money." "If I didn't give him some, he beat me." "I asked if I'd done him some wrong, but he didn't reply." "He told me" ""If I'd known what you were like, I'd never have married you."" "He insulted me, treated me like a slut." "I wanted a separation, but he feared gossip." "He said let the baby grow, and then things would be worked out." "But he continued having extramarital relations." "Being a policeman, he didn't know the value of money." "When he saw a lot of money he completely lost control." "I spoke with my family and together we decided to take a place." "We opened a pachinko game salon to be run by my husband." "I think it was 1951, because Akemi was one year old." "So Shimura became the owner of the game salon." "Yes." "The place did well." "My husband took a percentage of the winnings." "The game salon drew lots of people, so it earned well." "But this enabled him to know other women." "In revenge, I thought I should find another man." "One day I told him, "I'll have an extramarital relation too."" "He replied, "You're ugly, you won't find anybody!"" ""Yes I will," I said." "I remember there was a student who worked in another game salon." "Named Fujita." "I said to my husband, "I'll make love with Fujita."" "He replied, "You won't succeed."" ""Yes I will, even if I have to pay him," I said." "JAPAN BECOMES AN INDEPENDENT STATE" "The delegation of six members came onto the platform." "Six years after the end of the war, the bases were laid for an independent Japan." "You didn't fear gossip?" "Sure, but I hurt too much." "My husband brought his women home and had them sleep in a room next to mine." "So, ultimately, gossip didn't interest me." "I had fun and could no longer stop myself." " How did you lure them?" " Using my charm!" " I acted so he'd understand." " You made an appointment?" "I wrote him an unsigned letter." "I wanted him to think a friend of mine had written." "At the Tsukasa trattoria they made great pizza." "I suggested to him we go eat there." "That's how our affair started." "He still thinks the letter was written by my friend." "The end justifies the means." "Had I told him what I wanted, he'd not even have looked at me." " Where'd you go the first time?" " To the thermal hotel Tsumura." "At the time there were only two hotels." "We wanted to eat something good, but didn't know where to go." "But my principal objective was to be with him." " You proposed staying in the hotel?" " Yes, I was sick of waiting!" "I went with him without scruple." "FUJITA" "What did you think of her husband?" "He was a fine person." "He was polite and well groomed." "He had clear skin." "You went often to Tokyo!" "Fujita lived near the University?" "No, his mother let rooms." "They were showing "Gone with the Wind" then at the Shinkuju cinema." "We preferred to go to the movies rather than take part in the demonstrations." "Demonstrators and police collide." "BLOODY MAY FIRST" "It was 1952." "Were you in love with Fujita?" "Yes." "I liked being with him." "How can I say..." "Having a clandestine affair excited me." "I didn't tell my husband I was going to Tokyo." " Then there were no rapid trains!" " True, it took about a day." " Tokyo is far from Yoshikura." " Yes, I had to change trains." "I often made a mistake and went in the opposite direction." "I'd no sense of direction." " Fujita received you willingly?" " I think so." "WASEDA UNIVERSITY HOUSE" " Were you comfortable?" " Depending what time I arrived." "In the morning Fujita's mother was there too." "Of course I couldn't explain." " So you waited till evening?" " Yes." "Why not go to a hotel?" "I was ashamed." "I thought only prostitutes went to hotels.." "And I considered myself different from them." "OSAKA, TOKYO FIRST ENROLLMENT OF RESERVES OF THE NATIONAL POLICE" "August 23, the winners of the competition entered the service." "In full uniform they began the exercises." "ARE NATIONAL POLICE RESERVES PART OF THE ARMED FORCES?" "TOKYO INSTITUTE OF DEFENSE FORCES" "October 15, day of their institution the Defense Forces parade in Jingu Stadium." "Our armed troops defend the security of out country." "You made up with Shimura?" "Reconciled with him, much time passed." "He stopped going with prostitutes, but..." "I recall at this time my mother and father were also in crisis." "To make love, two have to want it." "The problems between me and my husband frazzled their rapport too." "It was my fault." "I went to them off, ate and got drunk." "Things were always getting worse without my noticing." "Maybe my mother sought another man just to profit from him." "I don't know if they finally were in love." "One day I got drunk and told my mother what I thought." "She replied that everyone can make mistakes." "I replied one can't go on making the same errors year after year." "She said I wasn't considering her reasons." "She repeated she'd made a mistake." "Did you witness their rapport?" "Yes, they made love in the bath." "I saw them with my eyes." "For this reason you left Shimura?" "I hadn't love him for some time." "I no longer cared about the gossips, so I decided to leave." "Masako was born in 1955." "The father was Shimura..." "Yes." " So you were making love with him again?" " Yes." "How as the game salon doing?" "Some machines were forbidden." "Clients diminished." "Many salons closed." "We thought we'd try a different activity." "At the time there were no pubs, tea shops or beerhalls." "Our place was rather big, so we decided to transform it into a pub." "It was the first time I did this sort of thing." "I told my husband I'd take a management course in Osaka, instead I went to Tokyo to meet Fujita." "I went there often and left my daughter Mami with my mother." "One day Fujita's mother invited me to a picnic" "We went to Inogashira Park where there was a little lake with a bridge." "While we crossed the bridge, with parasol in hand, she said:" ""Emiko, let's sing together?"" "I didn't immediately understand, but she sang a little song." " "Life Is Shot"?" " Yes." "She said, "I'll sing first, then you repeat it."" "She was a bit eccentric." "She was funny, and clicked her dentures." " But she sang well." " I think so." "She was likable." "One day I told Emiko that I wanted to marry my actual wife." "She kept quiet awhile." "Then went out and disappeared for about three hours." "When I decided to go look for her, I saw her coming back." "She'd died her hair red and had gaudy nail polish." "At the time there was a girl I liked a lot, named Michiko Hamamura." "She had hair died red and my sister Micchan imitated her." "My brother, fearing gossip, told her to stop, and beat her." "One day Micchan came to me." "At the time I was working in the tea room." "She told me she wanted to go away because our brother was beating her." "I told her she needed patience." "But she was determined to leave and since I was unhappy too," "I decided to follow her." "In August we went to Yokohama." "We wanted to go to Tokyo, but then decided on Yokohama." "Why?" "In our place we often heard foreigners talking about Yokohama." "My sister liked foreigners and hoped to find one in Yokohama." "According to her they were nicer than Japanese." "She knew my husband beat me." "We stayed a week in a hotel." "At the end we asked a cab driver to show us a place for fun." "In front of the EM Club was a place called Blue Moon." "The owner was an old army comrade of the cabby, so he took us there." "YOKOSUKA" "Japanese women could not go in the EM Club." "AN EX EMPLOYEE OF THE EM CLUB SPEAKS" "It was a place of prostitutes serving soldiers." "It was a sort of breakwater." "50 women worked there, it was a big operation." "Sunagawa became an extension of the American base in Tachikawa." "For 4 days, the squadron of survey specialists tried to enter the city." "After repeated encounters, the soldiers fell back." "The citizens tried to block them, burning wood and leaving manure from the fields." "There were scuffles everywhere." "The survey troops were protected by a cordon of police." "The resistance of the citizens continued." "After six months of protests the situation is still tense." "Then what did you do?" "We worked at the Blue Moon for six months." "Meanwhile we looked for a good place to buy." "But with the war over people said that in Yokosuko few soldiers would remain." "So opening a place at that time would have been crazy." "But I didn't want to go home, so I asked an acquaintance to find me a bar and he proposed "Onboro."" "When I went to see it, it seemed few people came there." "It didn't make a good impression on me." "But I didn't want to work more under a boss, so I bought it." " How much did you pay?" " Oh..." " You don't want tax inspectors!" " Don't worry." "If you say so!" "I didn't pay little." "At the time I didn't understand a word of English." "The girls taught me who worked for me." "Where were your daughters?" "When I finished work, I went out with the other girls." "We went to the other neighborhood night places." "That's how I met the barman of a place near mine." "In the place I worked, there weren't rooms for love making." "So we met in hotels." "When my family discovered this relationship, they sent me the children." " Just because you had a relationship?" " Yes." "Why?" "They were looking after my daughters so I could work at the place." "But when they knew about this man, they didn't want to do it anymore." "It didn't go exactly like that." "Akemi was very troubled, I'd had problems educating her.." "It was right that the children were followed by their mother." "How old were they then?" "Akemi 9, and Mami 4." "My companion and I rented an apartment in Hinode-cho and went to live there." "FIRST FLOOR OF ONBORO BAR" "Akemi and Mami live in the place along with other people.." "We went back to the apartment just to sleep." "Meanwhile my father and mother were breaking up." "She had a lover." "But she was very smart in business, so my sister and I invited her to join us in Yokosuka and she accepted." "She intended to run a hotel and found an intermediary to find one for her." "He found one and took my mother to see it." "She fell in love with it right away, because it was solidly built." "After buying it, she learned it had formerly been a bordello." "My mother said it wouldn't work as a hotel and decided to put some girls in it." " What was it called?" " Misuzu." "LAW AGAINST PROSTITUTION PASSED" "Many women work in the streets." "They lead a miserable life." "A regular client of Misuzu committed suicide because of piled up debts." "It was your fault and your sister's, I knew nothing about that hotel." "I bought it without knowing what it was." "You always blame others for your mistakes!" "Who went to see the hotel?" "Who fell in love with it?" "I only bought it because I liked the property." "You lived in Yokosuka and didn't know Yasuura was a red-light district?" "It's impossible you didn't know!" "MR. MIZUTANI AND HER MOTHER" "From the start, that woman wanted to open a bordello." " We have some problems, mama." " No, it was nothing like that." "When you know you're doing something illegal, you think of the consequences if you get caught." "If you commit a crime you have to pay for it." "I knew this business wouldn't last, but I'd put a lot of money in it." "So I tried to make a lot in short time." "Sooner or later we'd be caught, I didn't hide anything of that work." "The authorities looked the other way and I concentrated on the business." "While running the hotel I heard of others that were denounced." "They were all being denounced, so I decided to hurry to make money." "The authorities didn't care if I made a little or a lot." "For us it was more complicated, we also had American clients." "It was a Japanese-American market, others had just Japanese clients." "The clientele was Japanese-American, there were small fry and bigwigs." "Someone cried when they bit him!" "It was a casbah." "They told me not to worry about the police." "But I replied it was my business alone." "I even protested when we help from a councilor." "You made me ashamed!" "Basically we offered a place to meet, even if it wasn't clean work." "PHOTO REPORTAGE" "With religious songs in almost military rhythm and passionate sutra prayers they found many proselytes." "At the time the Saka Gakkai sect was in fashion." "They insisted on inviting me into their organization." "I thought if what they were saying were true, no one in the world would suffer." "In that period I met one of my lovers." "We rented a room together, but I was always afraid my husband would come." "He came to the city often with a lover." "I was still married to him then." "He asked me for money saying he'd use it for photos." "He asked me for 150,000 yen to pay for film and developing." "I was very scared of him." "One day I went to a pub with an American soldier thinking my husband wouldn't come there." "My heart beats just remembering that moment!" "While I was dancing with the Ameri- can I saw my husband in fury." "It was a big place, lots of people." "My husband dragged me out by my hair, everyone watched incredulous." "I felt shame, anger, sorrow." "I thought he'd kill me as soon as the taxi stopped." "He made me go from Mount Hara to in front of Saikei." "My husband didn't let go of my hand one instant." " You dragged her." " Yes, it was the only way." "But it wasn't just this!" "If he'd discovered I was with a bar tender, he'd have denounced me." "At that point they convinced me to join Soka Gakkai." "They said I just had to join and my desires would come true, all suffering and sadness would vanish." "I wanted to separate from my husband, so I thought I'd join Soka Gakkai." "I can say I profited from Soka Gakkai." "My desire came true, even if it seems strange to someone." "Shimura came to me with the divorce form already filled out and asked me to sign it." "Then I joined Soka Gakkai." "One day I went to the person in charge of the female section." "She told me I'd succeed in the divorce by praying a lot, but that afterward I'd meet another man like Shimura." "Finally I would no longer have to endure my husband's blows and smacks." "I felt relieved, after getting the divorce." "Often I went out for fun with the bar tender." "We went to Tokyo, to GoraÉ that is, to Hakone." "I'd lots of fun with him." "At the end he behaved the same as my ex husband." " The bar tender?" " Yes, he asked for money and beat me." "My friends said I was in a comfortable situation." "Now I wonder if it was really so." "She didn't give me money regularly." "She gave me it to live, I wasn't worried about that." "For some I was in the best situation, living without working." "The bar tender understand English well." "He spied in back of the curtain, when clients were talking." "I felt obsessed." "Finally I couldn't even speak with clients anymore." "If I did, he beat me and dragged me around by my hair." "From then I believe in Soka Gakkai." "I believe with them my desires will be fulfilled." "Someone looking from outside can't understand." "IMPERIAL WEDDING" "April 10, 1959, under a clear sky, the hereditary married Miss Michiko." "My sister was also named Michiko, like this girl, with the same ideograms." "Two Michikos, but with different fates." "While my sister worked in a pub this girl was joining the imperial family." "I talked with my sister about the enormous difference." "A commoner married a member of the Imperial family." "Instead if we'd stayed home, we'd have a normal marriage with common people." "We said, "So much money shouldn't be spent like that." "It's a waste."" " You threw a stone." " Yes." "They say that boy wasn't admitted to the university." "I think he was angry too, as I am now." "He wasn't admitted and this ceremony was too sumptuous, even if it was a wedding." "He was angry, I think." "Still today I feel angry." "Among the spectators were middleclass men and Americans." "Such thing had never happened." "To those who asked me about them, I said for us they were a decoration." " They questioned you?" " Yes." "They asked me if they divinities, I replied no." "They asked me why there was so much opulence and I replied they were decorations, we left the decorations and cleaned up." "Everyone listened incredulous." "They asked how they live and I replied with the taxes we pay." "So they asked me why we pay, if then the money gets wasted for such sumptuous ceremonies." "I replied I didn't know." "I too wondered why." "NEW IMPERIAL PALACE" "It cost 13.5 billion yen." "An enormity!" "They already had a house, it wasn't necessary." "They could have given the money to an orphanage or charity." "People mobilized from anger and resentment." "There was agitation and strong protests." "Yes, they could build a 13.5 billion yen house but this expense weighed too much on people, so they protested." "BLOOD-SOAKED JAPANESE-AMERICAN SECURITY TREATY" "Bloody clashes, wounded fall in mud." "More than 400 wounded on both sides." "Among the demonstrators also a female university student." "Michiko Kanda arrived dead at the hospital." "This death brought the anger of the demonstrators to such height, that they burned the police truck." "We often discussed these events." "We said it wasn't possible to die for 1000 yen, more or less." "You think she died for this?" "No she was only a student." "She was young, she'd fallen from inexperience, I thought." "But the Yokosuka demonstrators didn't seem to me like her, they also said: "Yankee, go home!"" "The news said they demonstrated in Tokyo against the Japanese-American security treaty." "But in Yokosuka they said "Yankee, go home."" "People wanted to get rid of the American base in Yokosuka." "A few were against the treaty and many for sending away the "Yankee."" " Go away!" " Get out of Japan!" "It's a terrible reception for Mr Haggerty." "Even a military helicopter sent to help had problems landing." "Mr Haggerty and General MacArthur finally manager to get through the crowd." "Some 300,000 demonstrators from all over Japan are arriving at the Parliament building." "Let's dissolve Parliament!" "The demonstrators march in order toward the Parliament." "Liberal-Democrat Parliamentarians escorted President Kiyose." "The situation hasn't yet stabilized..." "Your daughter Akemi was still little at the time." "She was 10 maybe." "Let me thinÉ Yes, she was 10." "She'd come from our hometown, begun school since half a year." " She didn't go?" " Yes." "I was living with the bar tender, and my daughter wasn't happy." "I didn't like that man." " Why?" " He was intrusive." "He bothered me." "I west to live with my mother after my parents' divorce." "I was very happy not to see my father anymore." " But that man intruded." " In what sense?" "He'd order me to do this and that and I wasn't even his daughter." "He'd present me to others as his daughter which I didn't like." "When my daughters came to live with me my relations with the bar tender worsened." "At 10 my daughter started playing hooky from school." "She'd no friends, school was no fun for her." "She wasn't going every day but I didn't realize it because she'd go out every morning." "She wasn't going to school." "What did she do when she didn't go to school?" "She'd go to our place or some other nearby to play." "I was worried for my mother, I feared she'd get beaten." "Why?" "My father would come often to Yokosuka to ask my mother for money." "I didn't like seeing these scenes, I was worried" "I wasn't going to school so I could watch over my mother." "I'd hide in the kitchen and watch." "If my mother told him she didn't have money, my father would beat her." "So she'd give him money." "Eventually the bar tender too behaved this way." "My mother didn't love me much because I looked like my father, but it wasn't my fault." "When I didn't go to school, mother would say to me," ""You're like your father in everything you do."" "You weren't happy to hear her say this?" "No, I was offended." "One day I asked her what I could do not to look like him." "She replied I couldn't do anything, it was a question of blood." "I decided to father my father with a knife." " With a knife?" " Yes." "What happened?" "The girls at the place saw me and stopped me." "One time a similar scene occurred, they made the knives disappear." "Akemi looked like my ex husband," "I didn't love her as much as Mami or Chieko." "She reminded me of my ex, made me mad, didn't even listen to me." "You still act this way, mama." "You make problems for me, my daughter!" "Even if mama didn't notice, she said certain things to me because I looked like papa." "They looked as alike as two drops of water." "For this reason my daughter Emiko doesn't love my granddaughter, she doesn't cuddle her and she's jealous." "The other daughter, Mami, looks like her, so she likes her." "She's always trying to make her happy." "Now and then I feel unsatisfied." "I wonder if I was right to separate them from their father." "I wonder if they feel alone and abandoned because of me." "It's the terrible moment of the attack." "The terrorist was caught in front of Prime Minister Ikeda." "For serious events the meeting was interrupted!" "The corpse returns to the apartment where the man lived 30 years." "The Prime Minister, after witnessing the assassination, prays at the altar." "I like "Osho" among Japanese songs." "As soon as I hear it" "I feel sad and cry a lot." "They have the record only in the place we go to drink." "I like the song because the protagonist came from country to city like me and worked so much without asking others for help." "I came to Tokyo, have to win at any cost." "How the Tsutenkaku Tower shines, my courage to fight shines too." "I told my sister: "Michiko, you don't have relations with Japanese men." "you don't know their worth." "Try staying with a Japanese man."" "She replied, "You say that because you love Japanese men, even if you say you'd had enough of them."" "With passage of time the bartender stopped working and starter asking me for money." "He had no limits, he was always moving around." "Finally he became like Shimura, my ex-husband." "I was tired of this story." "I didn't like Japanese men anymore." "I no longer looked for Japanese men." "My little sister happily married a man from Kyoto in a traditional ceremony." "It was a classic wedding." "My sister didn't work and had a optimal husband." "I who worked hard hadn't managed to establish myself well." "Maybe I was envious." "I wondered why it had to happen exactly to me who worked hard." "It wasn't a good idea to go on looking for a Japanese man." "So I began to save money." "At the time among the clients of the place was Ken." "He'd been coming for 7 months." "At first sight" "Ken seemed very nice." "He must have been an officer." "He was very elegant." "He was a client from some time, often danced with me." "He didn't seem a simple soldier." "I thought I'd put him to the test." " How did he behave?" " He wasn't very able socially, maybe he didn't have time for it, he didn't use particular techniques." "I don't say we was trying particular techniques!" "He'd give two bangs and finish quickly." "People had told me foreigners were very tenacious." "Maybe he was too excited." "The first time with me he came immediately to orgasm." "AMERICAN PRESIDENT KENNEDY ASSASSINATED" "November 22, 1963..." "Where were you that day?" "With Ken, I was with him." "How did Ken react?" "The President was very loved by the American soldiers." "They wondered what the future would be after the death of someone so important." "They were shocked." "Ken said something but didn't feel directly involved." " After Ken?" " After Ken I knew Jean." "He was a sailor." "He said when his ship came back to port he'd marry me." "He went off with his ship for two and a half months." "He had the right to an indemnity when he was in service, so I calculated how much money he'd have when he came back." "But the money was less than I'd expected." "I got angry and left Jean." " After Jean?" " After Jean..." "Robert." "He was part of KDU, a group of 16 or 17 people who made small bombers for missiles launched from ships." "They were training planes." "You started with him around 1964?" " Yes, 1964." "What was Robert like?" "He was thin, small, looked intelligent." "He was intelligent." "He was always studying, with books." "My place was quite thriving then." "So I didn't go there often," "I had fun going bowling." "I got pregnant." " Chieko is Robert's daughter?" " Yes." "He went back to America after Chieko's birth?" "AfterwardÉ She was born in January, he left in June." "He was with his daughter five months." " You knew he'd go home?" " Yes, we'd talked about it." " Chieko wouldn't have a father." " I knew that." "NUCLEAR AIRCRAFT CARRIER DOCKS AT SASEBO." "It's the morning of January 19, the Enterprise looks like a little mountain." "It's 341 meters long," "It's the world's largest nuclear aircraft carrier with 8 motors." " After Robert?" " Joe." " How long did Joe last?" " I stayed with Joe 3 years." "It was a longer relationship than the others." "Yes, because my daughter was very affectionate with him." "Joe had divorced after the birth of a daughter, he'd been married." " To a Japanese?" " No, a foreigner." "His daughter was Chieko's age, that's why he pampered her." "He watched her when I worked, took her for trips in the car." "Chieko thought he was her father." "She still thinks so." " After Joe?" " After Joe was Mojo." "His name was Mojo?" "Mojo said his mother was Indian." "Mojo crewed on a submarine, he only came twice a year." "He was a strange boy." "He wasn't refined and drank a lot." "I cried a lot." "I cried because he didn't care for me and went always with another woman." " The soldiers didn't talk about it?" " No, they were intelligent." " You made love with others?" " Yes, for work." "You didn't do it just for money?" "If rapport was natural, I didn't ask for money." "Mojo west back to his country November 17, 1967." "What did you do then?" "A ship had just arrived called Puebro." "Chuck came often." "Often, after relations with Chuck," "I asked him what ship he was on, but he didn't answer." "He'd bring along so many friends, there were lots of men on the ship." "I saw 80 people with rather high ranks." "I said to Chuck, "I saw high-ranking men in your ship." "Maybe they're spies." He didn't reply, tried to change subject." "Then, I think January 5, the ship left." " It was 1968?" " Yes." "After came the news they'd stopped an American ship in the Sea of Japan." "They talked about it a lot on radio and television." "I thought immediately of Chuck's ship, it was his ship." " They arrested him?" " Yes." "That's him!" " First man on the right?" " Yes, the fat one." "There he is!" "He'd the third standing." "The one looking away." "It was really him." " He was a stout man." " Yes, really!" "WAR IN VIETNAM INTENSIFIES" "Soldiers of the Vietnam government and the Americans have attacked the Vietcong." "The combatants have advanced as far as the president's residence." "Marine came in support, firing has been intense." "Was there a hospital at the American base?" "Yes." " Were you there?" " Yes, to see a friend recovering." "Soldiers coming from Vietnam are sent there." "There were no wounded solders." "It was a psychiatric hospital." "I saw a soldier open a drawer, lift up a mattress." "When my friend asked him what he was doing, he replied," ""I'm looking for my ears."" "He looked everywhere, rummaged through books, in drawers, took off the linen, the blankets." "My friend told him they were in their place, but he didn't listen." " Where was the hospital?" " It was... over there." "Recently there was a massacre in Sonmi." " Did you hear talk of it?" " No, I didn't." "There're photos of the massacre in the magazine "Asahi Graph."" "I can't believe a thing like that." "There are the photos." "I can't believe a thing like that, if I don't see it with my own eyes." "I can't trust games of chance, if I can't put my hand on the bet." "I only believe what I see with my eyes." "You don't believe photos?" "Those who write for magazines live on what they write." "So I guess what they write is more or less exaggerated." "I can't believe them." "The Americans are too upright to commit these atrocities." "I had Japanese clients too, but the Americans are nicer than the Japanese." "I can't believe Americans did a massacre." "War drives humans insane." "In a fight someone wins and someone loses." "In a fight someone kills and someone is killed." "It's wrong to start a war." "War makes victims of civilians, also of children." "They took photos after gathering children killed, they got the bodies deliberately." "I can't believe these photos." "That's the hospital." "Chieko is Robert's daughter." "It was a difficult decision to bear a half-cast child." "I don't think so, it wasn't a difficult decision." "When I was in my 3rd or 4th month of pregnancy, my parents came from home." "Mama realized immediately, not papa." "After a month even papa realized it and told my mother I should abort." "Mama told me papa was furious and I should abort." "I trusted mama more," "I could speak more easily with her and I refused." "She asked me to talk to papa and he said," ""You'll be disinherited if you give birth to a baby with blue eyes." "You won't be able to come home even if I'm sick or dying."" "I couldn't talk frankly with papa, so I said to mama," ""I've sacrificed for the house, maybe I've done nothing for you, but I've always obeyed you." "Sometimes I do what I want." "No one can stop me."" "It was an absurd situation, everyone was against it." "I was stubborn despite everyone, I said I wouldn't do it." "It was normal for our parents to be against giving birth to a half-cast baby." "If she'd been married like his sister, she'd have had everyone's blessing." "They'd have celebrated the birth of a half-cast baby." "Instead in her case the parents wouldn't accept the baby." "Were you pregnant by Ken or Jean?" "No, neither." "It was after Jean," "I was pregnant by Robert." "I was 36 then." "I wasn't young anymore, it would be the last pregnancy." "Till then I'd made only sacrifices." "I wanted to what I wanted, so I decider to have the baby." "Did you want to have the baby because it was an American's?" "No, nothing to do with that." "I didn't care if it was a Japanese's or an American's." "After the abortion of the bar tender's baby" "I'd not gotten pregnant, I was resigned to not having more children." "I was filled with joy at being a woman and seeing my stomach grow." "So I went ahead with the pregnancy." " You like children?" " Yes, I do." "They're my reason for existing." "My daughter is black." "Not to boast, but she's very intelligent." "She speaks Japanese well." "She's wimpy, Alica." "Why do you want to give her good education?" "Education?" "She's going to elementary school." "Yes, but at the American school." "I'd like her to go to university too." "If she succeeds thereÉ" "You want to have her study so that others respect her even if she's black?" "I also have a 5-year old, but I don't interfere in her life." "Parents shouldn't influence their children." "I keep after her closely." "The vice of Japanese mamas is to make their study too much." "We want to make them study even if they don't like to." "If you don't watch them enthusiastically, they don't study." "They achieve results thanks only to tour efforts." "AVORIO TOWER DESTROYED AT TOKYO UNIVERSITY" "It would be mere be the fruit of the parents' vanity." "At least Akemi and Mami will be find place with good families." "They've finished high school, but their education isn't considered that great." "Why do you say a thing like that, mama?" "Whether Japanese or foreigner today it's difficult to finish middle school." "Study is the parents' responsibility." "In February 1967 my sister Michiko married Franky, an American soldier." "He wasn't a common solider, he was an officer." "Unlike me my sister deeply believed in Soka Gakkai." "She prayed with Soka Gakkai to be able to marry an important man like a lawyer, a doctor or a pilot." "She prayed a lot at the altar, she looked half asleep." "Others said she was doing prostitution, in fact she worked a lot, she'd bought a house, was running a shop and, finally, had found the husband she wanted." "I feel much esteem and envy for her." "But sister told me not to look for a common sailor but for an officer, even if he's old." "I tried to have an affair with an officer, but it was a strain." "He'd tell me not to laugh, to keep quiet." "I had to walk without making noise." "At the end I was too tired." ""Never again with an officer!" I said." "My sister, even after settling in the United States, wrote me my daughters should choose an officer, if they wanted to marry an American soldier." "A common soldier earns little, as much as a Japanese construction worker." "What do you think of your sister Michiko's opinion?" "For me it's unbearable." "My sister and her husband behave the same way." "With my companion I talk about everything, even erotic issues." "We understand each other, laugh about things and don't think we shouldn't say things because it might disturb others." "My brother-in-law Frank doesn't want her to say obscene things, or to walk swaying her hips, or to eat so much she gets fat." "He tells her to ride bicycle for an hour or do some other sport." "And my sister obeys him, she dose what he says." "Franky is Germany and Michiko Japanese, oriental." "Franky feels inferior to other Americans." "He doesn't watt a life full of sacrifices, he wants a quiet life." "When I tell my daughters to choose an officer they answer," ""Stop it!" "We don't want to!"" "Akemi is with a low-ranking sailor, who dose petty jobs." "He likes it." "I don't choose a man for his work." "I don't care if the work he does is more noble or less," "I choose him for his character, his personality." "They don't understand me." " For you it's enough that he work." " Yes." "My companion work a lot and brings home everything he earns." "I prefer a man who works diligently, that's enough for me, but my relatives don't agree." "They don't want me to have a man like that." "Is you father interested in what others think?" "Yes." "He is." "Men are all the same." " For you even he's like that?" " Yes." "When I'm depressed..." " You man consoles you?" " Yes." "I like that a lot." "NUCLEAR SUBMARINE SNUCK AT PORT OF YOKOSUKA" "The nuclear submarine Snuck has entered the port of Yokosuka." "Around the American base the atmosphere had become heavy." "There were hospitals like Joseph's full of wounded!" "People who went just to see, not to demonstrate, got involved and wounded." "Many people participated." "I was afraid, I didn't go out of the house." "I saw ambulances pass by with the wounded." "We had to keep the shops closed, we said we wouldn't be able to live in Yokosuka anymore." "There were many demonstrations," "My daughter Akemi was almost always going to my mother's bar." "My mother phoned me often from there asking if my daughter was alive." "When Akemi wasn't with me, I waited for her anxiously." "Once she disappeared for some time." "I looked for her at my mother's, she said she'd sent her with a soldier to the military base to buy something." "Next day Mrs Barbara came with my daughter to my house." "She said Akemi had gone to her house because she was afraid to have contracted a disease through sexual relations." "I was very shocked by these words!" "Compared to this, I didn't care in the least if my husband went to bed with another woman in my house!" "I felt as thought I'd been hit hard on my head." "I couldn't believe it." "I went to my daughter's room, she was downcast." "I said, "You can't catch that kind of disease without having sexual relations." "What did you do?"" "My daughter didn't reply and I said, "Have you had relations with a man?"" "She didn't reply, didn't deny, I was sure she'd had relations." "She still wouldn't answer, so I got mad and struck her." "I asked her, "When did it happen?" She replied, "Yesterday."" "My daughter had made a mistake." "She'd lost her virginity, and thought she'd caught a disease because she didn't feel well." "Then I cried a lot." "Crying, I told my daughter I'd gone to live with her father without marrying him." "I told her I'd wanted to see her get married in a wedding gown with a man from a good family, even if I were poor and alone." "I was crying without stop also because I was pregnant and felt nervous." "I asked my daughter Akemi what she intended to do." "She replied she'd like to work in a shop and earn a living." "I asked immediately where she'd go work, she was very young." "I thought it was better to keep her close to me." "She was 15 then, maybe just 14." "It was in October." "If my daughter had lost her virginity while she was with me," "I wouldn't have reason to complain." "I had sent her to my mother's, because she liked staying with grandmother." "It can happen even when parents keep a close eye on their children." "Things happen." "She was 14." "She wasn't going to school anymore, she felt grown-up." "Maybe it happened because I felt alone and that man seemed so nice." "I'd known him for a year, I went to the movies with him and his friends" "They came of to the "Candy" club." "I'd become friendly with him." "My aunt Michiko's fiancŽ was his commanding officer." "That day I met him and so it went." "My mother would have liked to see me married with a man from a good family." "01:33:04,816 -- 01:33:07,813 I think that's something difficult to achieve," "difficult, let's say, in my condition." "Concerning tour current husband, Hoery Kimmer." " When did you meet him?" " I met him in 1962, he used to come often to my club, the "Omboro."" "I let him sleep there two or three times, but without having relations with him." "He didn't pay court to me," "I found him different from other men." "In April 1964 I started having relations with him." "At the beginning I wasn't desperately in love with him." "Then all of a sudden his ship was to go to Vietnam." "He left thinking he'd come back to Yokosuka, instead he west back to the United States." "He wrote me a letter saying he'd saved up some money, would come get me, and to prepare my passport." "I didn't believe him because a soldier at home can say anything." "Hoery came back to Japan at the end of November." "He'd saved $1500." " Where did you get married?" " In America, in Las Vegas." "Hoery thought I was 36 0r 37." "I was afraid because of my age and asked him if it were a problem." "He replied age didn't matter." "Now too he tells me not to worry about it." "He's sweet!" "I was telling him again the other day," "in our family we're all contrary, he's a man with little foresight." "When my daughter is 50, he'll be just 30." "I don't think a foreigner can stay married with a woman older than he." " His daughter will return to Japan?" " Yes, she will." "Weren't there other reasons for going to live in America?" "I'm sick of dealing with my people, my relatives." "But even if I'd like to," "I can't cut them off definitively." "But by going far away I don't have to hang out with them anymore." "That's why I decided to leave." "JAPANESE AIRLINES PLANE HIJACKED" "To tell the truth, I wasn't obliged to marry him." "But that's how things went." "I knew another man, named Joe, who also asked me to marry him, but he didn't convince me." " But for me it was the same." " It was enough he was American?" "Yes, I preferred an American." "I wanted American citizenship." "Citizenship could help me, so it wasn't necessary that it be specifically Hoery." "Yesterday I went to Tachikawa." "Now it's not what it used to be, nor does the Yokosuka base have a future." "I've earned enough." "With this money I can make more in international circles." "America is big." "Even with a little capital, I can achieve big results, but I'm human, I can make mistakes." "I could go back to Japan without money, but I don't want to." "They say it's easier to run a bar in America than in Japan." "It's not necessary to supply the girls, you just need two or three bar tenders, the girls will come on their own." "The license to sell whisky seems very expensive to me." "I could request the license from the authorities and then sell it." "I intend to study this possibility in America" "Yokosuka is a city of sailors." "Many are looking for an apartment to rent." "If I had 30 apartments to rent for $150 each." "I'd make $4500 a month." "Will the madam of the Omboro look for another man in America?" "Me?" "My husband is young, maybe someday he'll want to leave me, I don't know when." "I don't know if I'll find another, maybe yes, if a good chance comes by." "Hoery is young and I think he'll find another woman." "What would you do?" "In that case, I'd separate from him." "I wouldn't like to, but I'd divorce him, keeping what's due me." "Whatever happens, I shan't give up till I become an American citizen." "When everything's mine, I'll outwit him." " You'd go back to Japan?" " I think not." "I think I'd do business with old Americans." "I don't want to go back without having succeeded." "Don't you ever get tired of looking for men?" "No, I tell everyone," "I want to have relations till I'm dead, until I have enough money to buy young men too" "Until I'm dead, I shan't stop loving someone." "I don't want to have less success than my mother." "I'm happy the club is mine now, but I want clients who are mine alone." "I want to see how well I can do." "I want to surpass my mother." "I wonder if I won't end up hating my mother by wanting to surpass her." "I'd like a quiet moment to look inside myself and to look after the people around me." "THE END." "STORY OF POSTWAR JAPAN." "PRODUCERS" " HORIBA NOBUYO, OGASAWARA MOTOO." "DIRECTION" " IMAMURA SHOEI." "PRODUCER" " ISHII REUO." "ASSISTANT PRODUCER" " TAMADO YOSHIO." "SOUND RECORDING" " HASEGAWA YOSHIO, AKATANI SENICHI." "SPECIAL EFFECTS" " SUGIZAKI YUJIRO, SASAKI HIDEYO, OJIMA YOSHIO" "MUSIC CONSULTANT" " WASHI TOSHIRO MUSIC" " IBE HARUO." "EDITING" " NIWA MUTSUO, SUGIMOTO NORIAKI TITLES" " MURATA EIGA"