Akio Konoshima
@akilidaNacido en Tokio el 5 de enero de 1924, Akio Konoshima llegó a Estados Unidos el 23 de junio de ese año, aproximadamente una semana antes de la fecha de entrada en vigor de la Ley de Exclusión Oriental. Creció en granjas de frambuesas y huertos en las afueras de lo que ahora es el corazón de "Silicon Valley". Durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial, estuvo en Santa Anita y luego en Heart Mountain, rechazado por el ejército porque, como issei, seguía clasificado como “enemigo alienígena”. Desde el final de la guerra, se graduó en la Universidad de Wisconsin, estudió japonés en la Escuela de Idiomas del Ejército, sirvió en Japón y Corea y luego asistió a la escuela de posgrado para estudiar Japón y el Lejano Oriente en la Universidad de Columbia.
Konoshima se jubiló en 1995 después de haber trabajado, entre otros puestos, como secretaria de prensa del fallecido senador Hiram Fong y especialista en información en la Administración de Seguridad y Salud Ocupacional. Tiene tres hijos adultos y cuatro nietos. Ahora reside con su esposa, una chino-estadounidense nacida en Shanghai. Está cómodamente jubilado, recibe mimos y regaños mientras vive, lee los periódicos y se pregunta hacia dónde se dirigen ahora Estados Unidos y el resto del mundo.
Actualizado en octubre de 2010
Historias de Este Autor
Epilogue
16 de noviembre de 2010 • Akio Konoshima
Life: …the sequence of physical and mental experiences that make up the existence of an individual…from Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary. Father would have liked the simple ceremony at the cemetery where his ashes were being interred. The group was small: just family and a few friends. Jo’s father was 92 years old when he died; his mother had passed away a short year and a half before. None of his father’s personal friends were there, all having already died or …
A Soldier is a Soldier - Part 5
29 de octubre de 2010 • Akio Konoshima
As he sat alone, Jo scanned the room. In the dim light of the room's lone bulb, he could see a scroll with Chinese calligraphy in the room's alcove with the Japanese word "Manzoku -- fulfillment." A rural work scene was painted on the screen which partitioned the room; the house's rough-hewn center beam -- more than a foot and a half square -- was covered with a dark stain, maybe from the soot of the open fire in the …
A Soldier is a Soldier - Part 4
22 de octubre de 2010 • Akio Konoshima
The hon-ke (family home) stood on a rise at the start of a small vale. In the twilight, Jo could make out rice paddies; flat rows of vines, probably yams; hedgelike rows of tea plants; and low fruit trees on the side. Close up, the house seemed much larger than it had when he and Isamu saw it from the river ferry. The thatched roof was about two feet thick. In spots where the mortar had chipped off of the …
A Soldier is a Soldier - Part 3
15 de octubre de 2010 • Akio Konoshima
The flat wooden deck of the river ferry was small. Jo, his duffle bag and small back pack, and Isamu and his mo-ped, took up a third of the deck space. Two steel cables, anchored on both banks of the river, straddled the ferry while a third was attached to a two-cylinder motor, which popped and smoked as it was revved up. The ferryman, in an old pair of denim coveralls and wearing a conical straw hat, could have been …
A Soldier is a Soldier - Part 2
8 de octubre de 2010 • Akio Konoshima
Two hours later -- the road's ascent seemed endless -- the bus finally moved into a small valley. To one side, narrow-gauged railway cars, which looked like toys when compared to the freight cars at home, stood intermixed with flat-bottom gondolas, some stacked with lumber, others empty. In a far corner lay twisted rails, other debris, and the stubbed remains of a steel radio transmission tower. However, no signs of the war could be seen as the bus moved through …
A Soldier is a Soldier - Part 1
1 de octubre de 2010 • Akio Konoshima
June 25, 1950: North Korea invades South Korea. The United States was convinced that the Korean War made an early peace treaty with Japan imperative…President Truman announced in mid-September, 1950, that the United States intended to begin informal discussions with the Allies on the question. (Hugh Borton, Japan’s Modern Century.) Jo studied the other passengers on the bus. Could any of them be a relative? The farm woman in baggy, unbleached denim workpants, a pin-striped blue blouse and a graying …
Flo - Part 3
13 de septiembre de 2010 • Akio Konoshima
It was not until the initial block meeting was ending that Jo noticed Flo and Hideo at one of the front tables, talking to Flo's two brothers and people Jo didn't recognize. Jo could not hear what they were saying, but he could see the shaking of heads and animated hand gestures. More block meetings, again often late into the night, followed. Though Jo had made up his own mind, the turmoil among his friends continued as they agonized over …
Flo - Part 2
6 de septiembre de 2010 • Akio Konoshima
The winter of 1942-43 at Heart Mountain was severe, or maybe all winters there were that severe. At 20 degrees or so below zero moisture would freeze on the hair in Jo’s nostrils when he breathed in. That Christmas brought the first deep snow—about a foot—that Jo was to experience. If anything, though, the winter harshness seemed to have made the romance between Flo and her boy friend that much cozier. Jo noticed, for instance, that while walking outside in …
Flo - Part 1
30 de agosto de 2010 • Akio Konoshima
January 29, 1943: A War Department press release announces the registration program for both recruitment for military service and leave clearance. February 6, 1943: Army teams were scheduled to visit the 10-WRA administered camps…to register all male nisei of draft age. Each had to complete a special questionnaire, designed to test their “loyalty” and willingness to serve in the armed forces. Had things gone as they normally would have (if anything about camp living could be called normal) Flo probably …
