Reference News Network, December 29 report: Japan's "Mainichi Shimbun" website published a report written by journalist Utsuka Takeshi on December 22, titled "Once Received Food from Chinese People While on the Run, Now Worried That Japan Might Again Head Toward War." The following is the translated report:
Eighty years ago in Northeast China, autumn winds blew and the cold began to set in. Naito Reiko (89 years old, living in Kita-ku, Kyoto) and her family were constantly on the move, often hungry. At that time, she was only nine years old and begged for food from house to house. Her mother had spent all the money she had. Naito recalled, "I got steamed buns from the Chinese people and shared them with my family; they tasted really good!"
In January 1944, Naito's family left Kyoto, Japan, and moved to Jiamusi, Heilongjiang Province, near the Soviet border. Naito's father was a member of an organization responsible for managing the "Kamikaze Group," and the family lived in a spacious house, enjoying a life without worries. However, their lives took a sharp turn one and a half years later. In August 1945, her father received a conscription notice. The day after he left home, on August 8th, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan. On the morning of the 9th, under urgent notification, "Kamikaze Group" members hastily gathered without even dressing properly.
Jiamusi was a city with many Japanese soldiers. In the school where Naito studied, the teachers were replaced by soldiers, who would slap children if they didn't like what they saw. On the day when the "Kamikaze Group" evacuated Jiamusi to avoid the Soviet attack, the Japanese soldiers also disappeared. "The army did not protect us. We were abandoned by the country," Naito recalled.
In August 1946, Naito and her younger brother returned to Japan with her father and went back to their hometown in Kyoto. Although they faced a difficult period after the war, Naito eventually graduated from university and worked at a company engaged in Sino-Japanese trade. She visited Jiamusi and Changchun multiple times during holidays.
Naito also has a woman deeply in her mind — Hashigawa Teruko. Hashigawa took the name "Rikugawa Hiko" in China. During the war, Hashigawa sounded the alarm against Japanese militarism, broadcasting anti-war messages from China. She witnessed the tragic consequences of the Japanese military's invasion, and firmly joined the anti-Japanese movement. In addition to anti-war broadcasts in Japanese, she also wrote articles in Esperanto, continuously condemning the atrocities of the Japanese army.
Although Naito and Hashigawa never met, Naito longs to understand how she could have been so resolute in maintaining her anti-war stance.
Hashigawa now rests in Jiamusi. In mid-October 2025, a reporter visited Jiamusi, where the temperature was around zero degrees Celsius, and the snow had not yet melted. A 60-year-old cemetery keeper said, "Every year, there are Japanese visitors coming to pay their respects." The Chinese government evaluates Hashigawa as a "internationalist soldier," and the tombstone is about two meters high, solemn and respectful.
The keeper invited the reporter into the office when saying goodbye, and enthusiastically shared steamed buns, salted eggs, and hot soup. In the cold weather, this warmth was touching.
On November 7, Japanese Prime Minister Takahashi Asako made remarks regarding Taiwan, stating that "Taiwan's affairs" might constitute a "national survival crisis situation." After that, Sino-Japanese relations rapidly deteriorated. The Chinese side pointed out that historically, Japanese militarism repeatedly used the so-called "national survival crisis" as an excuse to launch foreign wars.
Naito pointed out that Japan once also used expressions such as "there is an inseparable relationship between the defense of the country and the survival of the people" to try to justify its establishment of the "Manchukuo." The danger implied by narratives such as "national survival" and "people's survival" should not be ignored.
Now, Naito is most worried about the future of her four grandchildren. Nationalistic sentiments are rising, and defense budgets are increasing every year. If the Constitution Article 9 is revised again and conscription is restored, will Japan not possibly head toward war once more?
Whenever the weather turns cold, Naito always remembers the taste of the steamed buns she ate in China. She said, "At that time, the Chinese people themselves were already struggling, but they still gave us steamed buns, vegetables, and clothes. We were able to return home alive because of the kindness of the Chinese people." The reporter also couldn't help but recall the warm steamed buns given to him in Jiamusi, and the face of that kind man remains unforgettable. (Translated by Ma Xiaoyun)
Original: toutiao.com/article/7589086271473975849/
Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.