Tadashi san

Tour guide and story teller

OK, this one is from last fall when I took a Sunrise Tour bus to Nikko. Its a remarkable ancient place in the mountains and further away from Tokyo than Mt. Fuji. The tour guide on the bus was a 70 year old man with a soft voice: Tadashi san. I could tell right away that he was interesting because the first site he pointed out occurred when we had been driving for about 2 minutes. We were still in Tokyo and crossing a river. Tadashi san pointed out many blue tarpaulin covering... something all along the banks of the river. Turns out these were the homes of the homeless. "Yes, in Japan, we have our troubles too." During the two hour ride, he mentioned some of them too: the government bureaucracy, the average age of farmers in Japan is 65, Japan will not be able to grow enough rice for its people, the "working poor" who could not make a sustainable wage, too much money spent on the military, and on. And on. None of these stories was said with anger or bitterness. And these were interspersed with amusing light hearted stories too. I mostly remembered only the negative stories about Japan.
When he started telling stories about war, I was awe struck. He told of when he was seven years old and living in Tokyo. WWII was nearing an end. He was told that American soldiers would come and eat the children of Japan. In order to prevent that from happening, he must fight the American soldiers. He was given a bamboo pole that was sharpened at one end and he practiced using it. I'm paraphrasing here, but Tadashi san said something like, "Can you imagine a little boy fighting an American soldier? Of course it is an impossible situation for the child and the soldier too. That is because the child and the soldier will both end up being victims. I am lucky that I was not a victim." He then told us about his uncle who was in China during the war. "My uncle was a casualty of war even though he was not killed. My uncle was given a sword and he had to prove his worth by killing a Chinese prisoner with it. He did use the sword as he was told and every day since then, my uncle saw the face of that Chinese prisoner. My uncle would have nightmares after the war about him and every day would say prayers for him and ask him for forgiveness. Oh. At this time, we are approximately 30 minutes from Nikko. Many years later, my uncle was flying to China and the plane crashed. I am sure that he saw the face of that Chinese man just before he died. And I am certain that he met with him after he died too. This is why there should be no war; everyone who fights in war is a victim."
I will have to pull out some pictures from Nikko with Tadashi san. On the trip home, he showed everyone how to make a samurai hat made of origami. I remember his stories on this trip more than I remember the wonderful sites of Nikko.