I was born February 27, in Takasago City. I had an older brother; he was eight years older than me. We were very different. We never fought because my brother was stronger when we were young. I was mischievous as a child. I tricked my mother once. I burned an orange peel, and because it looks like coal, I showed her and she became angry. I don't remember how the war started. I was going to go on a picnic and it started to rain. I thought there would be no more picnic.
I ate my lunch a little. The weather improved and I continued the picnic. My brother was called by the military. He was skinny. He weighed only forty-two kilograms. I thought Japan would lose the war because he wasn't able to fight. When I finished school, I was a barber, so when I joined the military, I cut hair for the senior officers. Because of this I was given bread and tobacco. I was sent to a school to learn anti-tank operations, where I participated in drills and trained for six months.
This was in Ono City, Hyogo Prefecture. I learned also how to hide myself in my surroundings. I learned to dig a hole and when a tank went over to get beneath it. In the mornings, I did these drills and in the afternoons, I paved roads that had been destroyed. I did these things for two years of the war. I was a foot soldier. I had no experiences driving a tank. I only learned to destroy them.
I had no days off. When an officer informed me that the war had ended, I wasn't sure what would happen next. Whether I would stay where I was or be allowed to return home. Some other soldiers and I got together and tried to leave, but the railroads were destroyed.
I walked several hundred kilometers and arrived back in Takasago on September 4, On October 8, I went back to the barbershop where I had worked. It was very busy and I was able to start there again. I did this profession until I was sixty-eight years old.
