Morikami Sukeji, who came to America as a member of the Yamato Colony in South Florida and stayed there alone until the end of his life after the colony was disbanded, continues to write letters to his sister-in-law and her family, who lost her husband (Sukeji's younger brother) after the war. The story takes place after May 1961. He says he wants to build a house for his sister-in-law and her family, but is shocked by the high land prices in Japan and ultimately gives up, thinking it is impossible. At the same time, he tells them that his plans to return to Japan have also disappeared.
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"Send me a newspaper from your hometown."
May 4, 1961
Mi-san (my sister-in-law), I heard that the Miyazu Hokuriku Shimbun newspaper, which had been out of print for a long time, was relaunched in January. Next time you visit Miyazu, please stop by the newspaper company (Zaizen-cho) and arrange for them to send you every issue directly. If you have back editions of 1, 2, 3, and 4, I would like you to send them all together.
Anyway, please make sure the packaging is sturdy. Otherwise it will break on the way and won't arrive. I still have quite a bit of money left over from what I sent you last time, but if it's still a new expense this time, I won't be able to pay it, so please pay it anyway. I know it's a hassle, but what do you think? Thank you.
Six months' worth of newspapers is enough. When summer comes, I miss the winter that I cursed so much. No one is more selfish than humans. The other day, I had a dream about my hometown for the first time in a long time. I dreamed that I was walking with Yoneji up the steps of the stone lantern next to Takiuma's house. I wonder if that lantern is still there.
May 10, 1961
Thank you for your letter and the seeds, Mi-san. I will not sow the seeds now because it is too hot. Instead, I will send them to a friend in Georgia, 500 miles north, to sow them in the fall.
Mi-san, when you grow old and live alone, your feelings change and you start to feel all different. You're still a child. The older Issei who came back from Japan all agreed to criticize Japan.
He said that Japanese people are extremely unkind. They won't even look at you unless you make a donation. They say that land is so expensive that you can't even build a house, and they say a lot of bad things. That may be true, but it's too ignorant to say that. For a long time, I was barely able to eat, and I didn't have time to care about other people.
It would be too selfish of someone who has done nothing for their hometown for half a century to suddenly return and be treated like a guest.
There is no land in Japan. It's obvious that it's expensive. The only place for the old folks with no money is in America. I was surprised at how expensive the land is in Kyoto. It's higher than the main areas of Miami. I'll be going there in the fall, but the others might run away.
I wanted to build you a house, so I did some research. In a high-end residential area on the outskirts of Kyoto, a 400m2 mansion and a 90m2 modern house would cost about $40,000. It comes fully furnished, has a swimming pool and a car, but I don't think I can afford it.
In Japan, "cars" are still given names from the feudal era. I wonder why they don't call them "cars" like in America. Calling them "cars" sounds nice and modern. It's better to have practical new words like this than strange new words that don't make sense.
It rained early this morning, so they were able to wash the cars well. Here, cars are left out in the rain and sun. This goes for cheap ones like mine, as well as expensive ones that cost tens of thousands of dollars. There are too many cars in this country, so the old ones are crushed and sent to Japan and other countries as scrap metal.
Mi-san, I don't have much more to write, so I'll stop here. It's the season for water melon here, so the price has gone down a lot. Kyoto is famous for water melon, so you should eat a lot of it. It's the best dish for losing weight in the summer. Goodbye.
May 10th, 7:30am
May 30, 1961
Dear Mi-san, I received your letter dated the 27th. Thank you for your trouble with the newspaper. I can't wait for the newspaper to arrive, knowing about my hometown after such a long time.
There's nothing particularly different here, but perhaps because of the heat, I have no appetite. I've been eating mostly ochazuke (rice with tea), but I'm not losing any weight. Here, the strawberries are coming to an end, but water melons are in season now, at about 35 pounds each, which retails for 1 dollar. There's been little rain this year, so they're almost too sweet. This year, the economy is poor, so everything is cheap and farmers are all on edge. The only thing we made a profit on was potato farming. I grew 10 acres last year, but the prices were so low that I ended up not digging up the last two or three acres, which was a huge loss. I didn't grow any vegetables for myself this year. It's cheaper for a single person to buy them.
May 30th evening
June 14, 1961
Rei (niece), it's been muggy for the past few days with no clouds. There are lots of watermelons, but I'm tired of them. I'm gulping down ice water. I wrote to my mother that I want to build her a house, but she said that the house we live in now is fine. Even if it's an old house with a leak, it's hard to leave if you live there for a long time.
Even if English is difficult, I will do it. Fuyuan, there will definitely come a time when you will be glad that you learned it. Masu-chan was an innocent and kind girl. She was loved by everyone at school. Even after she died, I often saw people visiting her grave. When I get home, I will also offer a branch of flowers and pray for her soul.
I used to love movies too, but now I don't feel like watching them. The last time I saw them was about three years ago, when the Japanese-American co-production "Sayonara" was released. In California and the northern part of the country, there are a lot of Japanese films being shown. I have not seen any Japanese films yet. I hate going out, so I don't go out unless I have to. I moved to Mr. Prouts' apartment a week ago. The neighbors are almost always out, and now Pinky is not around, so it's lonely. This year, we have a good mango harvest, and peaches are starting to come in.
Now, there is a commotion with Cuba and pineapples are running out. Recently, I have been worrying about writing a will. You never know when a will will be rewritten or when a person will die. Especially for a single foreigner like me, I have to be extremely careful and accept it.
In just two months I will be going to Japan. I feel both excited and scared at the same time.
June 17, 1961
To Mi-san, I would like to go to Japan by October at the latest, but one unexpected event after another is going to take time. If I go, I will have to go through the winter. It would be nice to see snow for the first time in a while. If possible, I would like to have my hernia surgery in Japan, but it will take a long time to heal.
As I said before, I hate being treated like a guest more than anything else. I would like to be treated like a shabby country man who has come to see the city. I don't want to meet anyone except on business. I will probably spend my time in the countryside and the mountains during my stay. Of course, it depends on the condition of my leg, but in any case, please don't waste any money on me.
July 1961
Mi-san, I'm still a little dim-headed these days, probably because of the weather, and I can't think straight. My back hurts a little, so I get an electric massage in the morning in bed, and the pain goes away. I'm being careful about what I eat, but I just can't seem to lose weight. I'm thinking about giving up rice, coffee, pork, and sweets.
I neither drink nor smoke. I don't like smoky things, but it's not that I can't drink alcohol, I just don't drink it. After 32 years of illness, I haven't had a drop of it. This is something that can't be expected of someone with a weak will.
Japan is also suffering from the devastation caused by the massive floods. This is the result of excessive deforestation (uncontrollable logging) during the war, and is a global trend that is causing problems.
This country, especially the southern states, is encouraging reforestation. There hasn't been much rain recently, so temperatures are still above 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius). However, in southern Florida, the temperature is the same, but it is easier to bear thanks to the sea breeze. In the southwest, New Mexico and Arizona, the temperature rises to about 100 degrees, and most of the areas are deserts like those in the Western states, with no rain or wind.
Recently, maybe because I haven't been getting much sun, my skin has faded a little. Not only Japanese people, but everyone in the south has dark skin. This is just a result of the climate, and there's nothing we can do about it. Even you guys will turn a rusty brown if you live there for a year.
The newspaper you ordered hasn't arrived at all. And it looks like the news from home that I've been waiting for so anxiously won't arrive in time.
August 11, 1961
"Sukeji had wanted to build a house for his sister-in-law and her family, but he gave up because real estate prices in Japan were higher than he had expected."
I won't return to Japan.
Mi-san, I understand your hopes for the future and your firm determination. There is no room for further discussion now. At the same time, my plan has gone up in smoke. A 3.3 square meter plot of land costs 50,000 to 60,000 yen. If we were to build a 750 square meter house, it would cost 15 million yen. That's about 40,000 dollars in US currency. Even in the US, land prices around here are high. On top of that, a 55.3 square meter house would cost 30,000 dollars, and furniture would cost another 30,000 dollars, for a total of 100,000 dollars... an unexpected amount. I'm not a millionaire, so there's nothing I can do. I have no choice but to withdraw my plan.
Even though it was done out of goodwill, I am sorry that it has come to this result. As long as both parties remain greedy, there is no choice but to leave things as they are.
At one point, I thought I would return to my hometown and spend the rest of my life there, but now it's just a fleeting dream. And the newspaper from my hometown that I was waiting for with such eagerness never arrived. I was disappointed. Today, I talked about various things with my lawyer and ally.
"You are already a thing of the past in your hometown. If you only visit the mountains because you are in love, that would be one thing, but if not, you will only be disappointed and despondent. It would be better for you to keep your hometown as just a beautiful dream, hidden deep in your heart," he was told.
I decided to write my will freely according to my own wishes, without being influenced by my relatives, even though I had gone to the trouble of going to the consulate. Recently, a wealthy man passed away. In his will, he only apologized to his unfaithful wife and children, and left most of his inheritance to churches, hospitals, schools, and servants who had worked faithfully for many years. A compatriot who had taken care of the garden also received a large inheritance.
Mi-san, the future is bleak. I finally realized that it is the height of stupidity to worry about people who don't even ask for help when I can't even do what I want with myself. When summer comes, I think of winter, and when winter comes, I miss summer. This is a human emotion that can't be helped.
Yesterday, a friend gave me a 2-foot (about 60 cm) diameter sniper, but I decided to return it because it was a little too big. I think the 1-foot one I have now is about right. I won't be going back to Japan this fall. Sorry for all the trouble.
November 14, 1961
Aki-chan (niece). Thank you for your letters. I didn't come back to Japan as I promised.
(Omitted) I won't be back for a while. It's hard to just sit around and do nothing, so I've started working in the soil again, which is what I love. The rabbits have eaten all the vegetables and flowers I've worked so hard to plant. I don't have any seedlings to replant, so I'll start again from seeds. This is the first time I've seen rabbits causing such a ruckus.
As you get older, the world gets noisy. When I'm in nature on a farm outside the city, I forget everything. Don't worry about me. We'll meet someday. Florida is a paradise, neither too hot nor too cold. Soon it will be packed with people from the north who are seeking refuge from the cold.
The economy here was in a recession for a while, but it seems to have picked up a bit. Millions of people are out of work and idle, but thanks to government subsidies they're not suffering too much.
With prices and taxes soaring, life is getting harder and harder. Japan seems to be in a bit of a recession, but it's going to be a bumper harvest so farmers won't have to worry too much. The other day I met a Japanese girl for the first time in a while. She's married and has a son. She's become completely Americanized in the last three years and seems to be quite good at English. She's going to be naturalized in March of next year, but I haven't been naturalized yet. I'm planning to take the exam when I get a little smarter.
(Titles omitted)
© 2019 Ryusuke Kawai
