August is a month that is closely connected to World War II in Japan. The empire Japan surrendered 81 years ago on August 15th. Before that, Hiroshima was devastated by an atomic bomb on August 6, and Nagasaki was also attacked with an atomic bomb on August 9.
Today I’d like to share a story based on a true event. A 12-year-old girl named Toshiko used to live in Ryogoku, Tokyo with her two older brothers, two younger sisters, and her parents. Two of her brothers left home as soldiers, while Toshio and her sisters were evacuated to a rural area. However, her sisters couldn't stand being away from their mother, so they returned to Tokyo.
Unfortunately, shortly after they went back, Tokyo was attacked by a bombing of Tokyo, and her mother and her sisters were killed. Her father ran a glass factory and before World War II, he had made a glass rabbit for his daughters. After the bombing, Toshiko and her father searched for her sisters and mother but all they found was a completely melted glass rabbit which didn't keep its original shape. Since then, the rabbit had become a precious moment of her mother and sisters.
Later, Toshiko lost her father too, while they were living in Niigata prefecture. She became completely devastated and lost her will to live. Whenever she looked at the melted rabbit, it reminded her of her late parents and sisters. One day, she thought, "if I died, who would take care of my family's graves? " She made up her mind to keep living.
Fortunately, she survived the war and met her brothers again. They vowed to rebuild their father' glass factory and decided to survive by supporting and helping each other.
I read this story when I was an elementary student. It taught me that wars never create anything, and they only leave behind sadness, loss, and despair.
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What a sad story. I hope that we don't have to go through anything like that in our lifetimes.
Thank you for reading, correcting, and commenting. I agree. The story has made several films, but for some reason, you can't watch them in your legion. It's great to know what had happened from other side, so I want you to watch them.
I still remember when I saw some WW2 pictures with Zach and his father in the US. I also remember we watched a short documentary together in Japan. We all thought we shouldn't see these sensitive things together because they felt very sorry for me and I was also very sorry for them. It's just a part of history, and they didn't need to feel sorry for that, but they couldn't stand.