1924年1月5日に東京で生まれた幸島昭夫は、同年6月23日、東洋人排斥法発効の約1週間前に渡米した。彼は、現在の「シリコンバレー」の中心地の外れにあるラズベリーとトラックガーデンの農場で育った。第二次世界大戦中、彼はサンタアニタ、その後ハートマウンテンにいたが、一世であるため「敵国人」と分類されたため陸軍に拒否された。終戦後、彼はウィスコンシン大学を卒業し、陸軍語学学校で日本語を学び、日本と韓国で勤務した後、日本と極東について研究するためにコロンビア大学の大学院に通った。
コノシマ氏は、故ハイラム・フォン上院議員の報道官や労働安全衛生局の情報専門家などを務めた後、1995年に退職した。彼には成人した子供が3人、孫が4人いる。現在は上海生まれの中国系アメリカ人の妻と暮らしている。彼は、甘やかされ、叱られながら暮らし、新聞を読み、アメリカや世界の他の国々が今どこへ向かっているのか考えながら、快適な退職生活を送っている。
2010年10月更新
この執筆者によるストーリー
Epilogue
2010年11月16日 • アキオ・コノシマ
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
2010年10月29日 • アキオ・コノシマ
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
2010年10月22日 • アキオ・コノシマ
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
2010年10月15日 • アキオ・コノシマ
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
2010年10月8日 • アキオ・コノシマ
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
2010年10月1日 • アキオ・コノシマ
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
2010年9月13日 • アキオ・コノシマ
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
2010年9月6日 • アキオ・コノシマ
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
2010年8月30日 • アキオ・コノシマ
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 …
