From Al Ain 62

His eyes filled with tears. 
I gave him the amulets from  Mother.
"Mother told me to give you these. And she said you shouldn't sacrifice your life, that she wanted you back alive and well."
"Thank Mother for the amulets. But I don't know whether I will return or not. I belong to the suicide corps and I am dedicating my life to my country. If the time comes for me to give up my life, I want to do it valiantly. If that should happen, I entrust everything to you, Toshiko."
In a short while, he had to return to base.
Yukio was only seventeen years old.

It is the excerpt from The Glass Rabbit, Toshiko Takagi ."








In 1945, The Pacific War (the Great East Asian War) ended.
Toshiko Takagi published The Glass Rabbit, an autobiographical novel of when she was twelve. 
There is one part of the novel where Toshiko visits her brother who belonged to Kamikaze (suicide) corps instead of her father who was in China then and her mother who had a health problem.

I have moved twelve times in my life, and with moving often comes giving belongings away or donating things to charity. Despite this, The Glass Rabbit is something I could never give away. 
In the last sentence of the book, the author states that her brother was 17 years old at the time.
My daughter is 17 years old now. I can't believe the boys of the same age had to sacrifice their lives for their country.

There is a monument in Hiroshima with the lettering:  "We will never make the same mistake again". It is often visited by many Japanese people during summer. 


太平洋戦争、１９４５年。
戦争で家族を失った著者の、実話の本、ガラスのウサギからの抜粋。

特攻隊での、出撃まじかの、兄に
満州に行っている父と、体の弱い母のかわりに、
１２歳の敏子が会いにいったシーン。

私の人生のなかで、もう１２回の引越しをした。
その度に、いろんなものを処分してきたけれど、
この本だけはどうしてもできなかった。

この抜粋の最後に、特攻隊で、国のために、散った敏子の兄はこのとき、１７歳。

うちの娘は、１７歳になった。

自分が親になってわかる。
自分の子供が、国のために死ぬなんてことは、
考えられない。
２度と、過ちは犯しませんからと書いてある、
あの石碑をまた、見る日が近づいている。