Site 17: High School
His mother recalls the bombing of Hiratsuka, when the city burned to the ground.
Themes:
1. HIRATSUKA BOMBING
2. bomb shelters
3. charcoal bus
4. Japanese teens
5. pre-war photos
EXTERIOR: HIGH SCHOOL
Professor Miyagawa meets his mother at the high school.
PROFESSOR MIYAGAWA
July 5; 11:33 am. Day three. I hope I’m not getting off track, but I can’t stop thinking about the stories my mother told last night, so I’ve asked her to let me interview her about the war. We’re at the high school, exactly where her high school once stood. I’m nervous. I don’t want to bring up painful memories for her, but I need to learn about her history, our history.
MRS. MIYAGAWA (PART 1)
MRS. MIYAGAWA: B-29 bombers flew right over Hiratsuka on their way to Tokyo. When they came, sirens would go off and we had to turn off all the lights. We went into the bomb shelter when it seemed really dangerous. On the day Hiratsuka was bombed, I was sleeping on the second floor of my Suka home. They were shouting, “Wake up! Wake up! The bombing has started!” When I looked out the downtown area was all lit up with fire. I knew that everything would be burned, so I wanted to take something with me. I grabbed whatever was on the desk. When I looked later, it was a pair of scissors. I wish I had taken something more valuable.
MRS. MIYAGAWA (PART 2: NOT IN CURRENT SHOW): We ran into the pine forest by the beach. When the bombing stopped and it was day break, we went back to the house. There was nothing left. back then we didn’t have white rice. We ate brown rice. At night, my mother would put the brown rice in the pressure cooker and start cooking it in the morning. That day when we returned from the pine forest, the brown rice was cooking from the heat of the bomb.
MRS. MIYAGAWA: I graduated the year the war ended, so that was Showa 20. I started school in Showa 15. I don’t know what the western year would be.
PROFESSOR MIYAGAWA: Well how did you get to school?
MRS. MIYAGAWA: First I took a bus from Suka to the Station and then from the Station to Hadano. The war began and the bus was fueled by charcoal because we ran out of gasoline. In the back they burned charcoal. But there were fewer and fewer of them. The Ministry of Education called and told us, “It’s too luxurious to take a bus. You have to walk.” I don’t remember how long it took, maybe 40 minutes, but it was fun. Everybody walked together and talked along the way. There was a marine base on our route. We saw handsome officers walking around. We had a crush on them.
HIGH SCHOOL
High schools in Japan aren't all cramming for the college entrance exams. Sports are very important, as are all kinds of activity clubs. Of course, those kids who are really aiming at the top universities are probably not the stars of these after-school groups, because they indeed are grinding away to prepare for the exams. But most young people are not going on to college -- only about 40% are -- and they can take time to discover new interests, entertainment, jobs and each other.
There is also a range of schools. Remember that you test into high school, so how you do in those entrance exams determines the academic quality, pressure and standing of the school you enter. There are specialty schools too including agricultural high schools, technical schools, beauty schools and night schools for those working during the days.
For those in the higher ranked academic schools, work does dominate life. Teachers are hard-pressed to finish the curriculum established by the Ministry of Education, and in addition, many children go to after school private cramming classes to supplement regular school, or have a home tutor help them study.
Some who don't make it into the school of their choice in the first round of exams take a year off after high school to study full time for the next year's exams. The exams are given by each university and are not standardized across Japan, so taking exams for several schools may involve a lot of study and expensive travel as well.
Some city hotels near universities have special rooms set aside for exam-takers (and an accompanying parent) who can eat special exam-appropriate foods, study in special rooms, meet with hotel-hired counselors, and take vans to the exams. One hotel even had a room set aside for tension-release, in which you could throw plates at an effigy of the Minister of Education. -- Corky
FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHS
“I went to the [Hiratsuka] museum,” said Shigeru, “but they don’t have many photos of the burnt out city. The curator said they don’t have many because pictures were not allowed to be taken during that period for fear of being called a spy. Pre-war pictures burned during the bombings. In fact, most family snapshots burned. The only photos that survived were formal snapshots kept in the bomb shelters.”
HADANO
City in Kanagawa Prefecture, about 9 miles west of Hiratsuka. Today it is a major center of the tobacco trade.
CHARCOAL
Before the war the US had exported oil to Japan, but placed an embargo on oil after Japan seized Manchuria in 1931. By the end of the war, Japan was plagued with shortages of nearly keeping its military supplied with fuel. Charcoal was a cheaper alternative for civilian transportation. In buses like the one Mrs. Miyagawa describes, charcoal was burned in the back part of the bus.
Bonus Field Note
LAST NAMES
When you use a persons last name only, it is normally followed by one of the many types of honorific titles, such as:
“san” - this is a basic form used for both men and women.
“sensei” - literally means “teacher,” and is used to address lawyers, doctors, writers, artists, politicians, etc.
“kacho” - title for the managerial class. There are several other titles used among this class in business, based on rank within the organization. It can get quite complicated, especially when executives from one company are visiting another company.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology © 2006 Visualizing Cultures
