Many old texts from the Edo Period were kept at my parent’s home, and I remember my grandmother airing things out when the weather was good. As a child I didn’t, and couldn’t have imagined the importance of these historical documents. Due to the age of the paper, the documents fell apart whenever I brushed them with my fingers. I did that for fun. I was often scolded for crumbling many sheets of these documents whenever adults weren’t nearby. These old documents were indeed valuable artifacts, so the adults would carefully bundle them back together, and put the damaged pieces back into books.

My mother was married twice. Her first husband entered the military and on his third battle, he died when the carrier ship he was on was torpedoed and sunk. My own father, too, entered the military, and after flying out from a base in Oita towards Okinawa on his Zero fighter plane, he was shot down, and was adrift at sea for two weeks before being washed ashore on an island, where he was caught. I heard, that since he was taught not to drink seawater, he instead took a chunk of wood and chewed it thinking it was a piece of dried bonito to get his mouth to water. He drank the saliva, and that kept him alive.

That was a period, when coming back alive was considered as embarrassing. By the time my father came back to Sekiyado, it was already 1947 — 2 years after the war had ended — and his entire family thought he had already died. But yet here he was, a miracle. My father was the cousin of my mother’s first husband, and when he learned she was a widow, he felt pity on her and decided to be with her. Soon after, two girls were born (my older sisters), and then me. I was their last child.

<<A life full of comfort and complete freedom>>

My parent’s home was a large farm (about 3967 sqm) with enormous rice paddies and fields. This included a house with a straw-thatched roof, a stable, and a storehouse on its premise. They owned cows and horses for farming, a three-wheeler and a large American motorbike, as well as a car. Due to his near-death experience during the war, my father was fearless, and so, he took on many different businesses such as growing tobacco, a car dealership, and other.

On one particular day, my father’s older brother, who was a fighter pilot mechanic, came to our house. He stated that he had found some airplane parts, and so, they proceeded to build an airplane from scratch. Creating everything and anything by oneself. Such were the times back then. There was even a hunting rifle at this house, and every time I was told to bring it to him, we would go hunting riding the large motorbike. We also owned 5 to 6 hunting dogs such as a Great Pyrenees as well as pointers and setters.

<<Drastic Shift in Our Family Just Before My 4th Birthday>>

On February 13, 1956, my father went duck hunting on his bike, carrying his hunting rifle on his back, just like always. It happened when he was returning. He was struck by a large truck and perished. This happened 2 months before my 4th birthday on April 1st.

I can still vaguely remember the funeral. The young man who drove the truck was there too, and our relatives were blaming him as the one responsible. I remember being both incredibly sad and unable to handle the situation, resulting in my escape from the hall where the funeral was taking place. That’s when I looked up, and my eyes caught sight of a bright red F-36 Sabre fighter jet that was flying at low altitude. In an instant my sadness turned to wonder at how beautiful it looked. I knew I wanted to pilot that jet. It was that moment during my father’s funeral that had determined the path my life would take.

After the funeral, a person came claiming that my father had a debt of 20 million yen. Although I did not know the details of my father’s businesses, all operated in profit and there was no mention of any debt. However, my mother, who never held a grudge, simply answered that we will repay the debt. Please note, this was when a single bowl of ramen cost just 45 yen. This marked the beginning of a long and painful struggle of a family that had recently lost its main provider.