5 Month Trip

Christopher Houston Jan 2000

When I left Tokyo in January 2000 after my 5-month stay, Mrs Hirusaki, my host mother, presented me with four beautifully prepared photo albums of my visit. The last picture, showing me and her saying 'goodbye' at Tokyo Airport has the inscription "To my lovely son. Come back every time to your Japanese home." Those sentiments sum up the whole value of the experience. I had left Great Britain as the grandson of a Prisoner of War of the Japanese who had died in Hong Kong after a year of captivity and returned the adopted son of a Japanese family. I stayed in a suburb of Tokyo with the Hirusaki family: he was a banker, with fluent English; his wife ran their immaculate home and the son and daughter were a student and concert pianist respectively. They all made me incredibly welcome, took me on trips and introduced me to every facet of Japanese life. I came to adore the food and thought the sleeping arrangements were great. I attended Waseda University High School where I made many friends; I had a personal tutor for Japanese. I had to give several short talks in Japanese and on my last day delivered a 30 minute one in Japanese on the Japanese treatment of Allied Prisoners of War. At the end a lady came and said "I'm sorry" - the greatest gift I could have received. Among many memories is the November 11th when I made my own way by public transport to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery outside Tokyo. The ceremony was very moving. I found the graves of several men of my grandfather's regiment and had a long discussion in Japanese with a Japanese veteran. I was very impressed by the beauty of the site.

japanese version

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