My grandfather

One day, I had a dinner with my Filipina girlfriend and her family in Davao. Her grandfather asked me at the dinner, “Was your father a soldier?” I answered, “No, he was just a boy during the Second World War.” He said, “My father fought against Japanese soldiers and got injured. He received a pension from the government.”

I’m a Japanese. The Philippines fought the Pacific War against Japan. My girlfriend’s great-grandfather fought against Japan. That’s why her grandfather was interested and asked me about it. My father was just a boy during the Second World War. My grandfather had never been a solider either. But he had been an officer of the Interior Ministry.

My grandfather was born in a prefecture in Japan. He was a policeman. I don’t know the details, but he moved to Tokyo and became an officer of the Interior Ministry. He visited Myanmar once as an officer during the Second World War and never visited other countries.

His mission was to suppress and to survey the people’s belief in Japan. He interrogated Japanese communists. He wrote a report on how common Japanese thought of the war. The report concluded that common Japanese detested the war. I supposed half of the report was what my grandfather felt.

After the defeat of the Japanese empire, my grandfather and other officers burned the documents to keep it from the US forces. The record of interrogation of communists was part of them. But, my grandfather didn’t actually burned his report on how common Japanese despised the war. 

The US forces (General Head Quarters) came to the Interior Ministry and found my grandfather’s report. They appreciated his report and asked him to cooperate on their occupation. To occupy Japan, they need to know what Japanese thought and his report was useful to them. He accepted. In return, he got reward from them. Most of the Japanese starved right after the defeat of the Japanese empire. But my grandfather and his family didn’t.

My grandfather became a policeman once again after the dissolution of the Interior Ministry. He got old, retired from police and died.

My grandfather didn’t like war. But he joined the war of aggression by suppressing people who were against the war. Despite the circumstances, his honesty and conscience remained clear because of his report. It saved him and his family from starvation later on.

We should keep our honesty and conscience clear even in an extremely difficult situation. Honesty and conscience will save us.