My Post-War Years and the Sea
Mr. Hideo Nakamura
Birth year：1929
Birth place：Motobu Town
The October 10th air raids: Rescuing the crew of a sunk warship
In July 1944, I passed the Naval Aviator Preparatory Course exam. I was waiting for my recruitment notice around October 10th. It was about the time of the October 10th Air Raids. On October 10th, a Japanese warship called the “Jingei” was bombed by the US army near my home (Motobu). That day, I was out rowing a sabani (a traditional, wooden canoe) with my friend to catch fish. When we tried to pass in front of the Jingei warship, an American fighter plane dropped a large number of bombs on the warship. Fuel spilled from the warship covering the surround sea, and the Japanese soldiers jumped overboard trying to swim away. I saw a drowning, wounded soldier and thought it was strange that he couldn’t swim despite being a Navy soldier. I thought everyone in the Navy could swim. My friend and I went to save him from drowning, and we saw that his leg was injured.
Ordered to retrieve the remains
Within about a week from then, two Japanese warships were bombed, and the bodies of Japanese soldiers were floating everywhere in the sea. A police officer ordered us to collect the bodies. It was customary for the Navy to collect bodies onto a warship and then sink the entire warship into the sea. The Navy did not practice cremation. I felt so terrible for the dead soldiers. Due to the tragic events of October 10th, the warships continued to burn for five days after the bombing.
Moved to the Japan mainland as a preparatory training student
I was 15 years old at the time. The Navy ordered me to go to my lookout post, since I would be in the preparatory course and did not have to do Navy work. I was on duty at the mountaintop lookout until October 19th. Afterward, on March 1st, 1945, I received a notice of employment for the Tsuchiura Navy Air Corps in Ibaraki Prefecture. At that time, I walked barefoot and wore shorts and light clothing, without knowing that the mainland had a cold climate.
After traveling from Motobu to Naha in a Navy truck, my life as a Naval Aviator Preparatory Course trainee began. I arrived at Sasebo in Nagasaki, then headed to Nara on a train. The third Naval Aviator Preparatory Course exam was held in Nara. Two of the examinees from Okinawa were not accepted. Those of us who passed the third exam were ordered to go to Mount Kouya in Wakayamato undergo training at a temple because Tsuchiura in Ibaraki had already been destroyed by air raids. There was no flight training and I didn’t know where the plane was kept. There was no fuel either. During my three month training period, the squad leader told us that our mission might be changed to launching attacks via suicide boat. We were then put on standby on the coast of Cape Shionomisaki in Wakayama. It was in the middle of nowhere. We stayed there for about two months, renting a private home, and waited for the suicide boats to arrive. Then the war ended.
After the war was over
After the end of the war, I stayed in Kumamoto temporarily. I took on dangerous work there, transporting coal from Shimabara in Nagasaki and bringing materials from around Amakusato companies in Minamata in Kumamoto. I worked at Sansei Kaiun Co. Ltd. After about a month and a half at that job, the seniors living with me told me that we could go back to Okinawa, so I went with him to Omura Camp in Nagasaki and left there for Okinawa.
Life after returning home
When I got back to Okinawa, I found that the town of Motobu had been burned to the ground. The government office and the police station were both gone. There was nothing left. The current government office is located where the elementary school used to be, but the school was gone due to the war.
In October 1948, two years after the end of the war, my older brothers had worked as skipjack fishermen, and my job was to collect the bait to use on the fishing boat. But since we couldn’t go fishing in the winter, I pondered ways to make ends meet during the winter months. A couple of my seniors had a sabani and a net. However, no fish could be caught on the Motobu Peninsula during that period. So we paddled it to Hentona in Kunigami Village. Six of us lodged in a village called Hama in Hentona, where we caught damselfish and exchanged them for rice. We stayed for about a week then returned home to Motobu. Then my brother ordered a boat from a nearby village and had it built. He took charge and we fished as a group of six. I was 19 years old at the time, and all five of my brothers were in their 30s. When the wind blew from the north, we rowed the boat to Kyoda in Nago, and we carried the boat from Kyoda through the mountains to Katabaru in Ginoza. We traveled from the west coast to the east coast and went fishing there. The first time we lodged for a week in a village called Matsuda in Ginoza. We observed the ocean for a week. The second time, we fished around current-day Henoko in Nago and stayed there overnight. There were a lot of fish in the waters near the port of Henoko. Also, they grew lots of rice in Henoko, so we walked through the village, catch in tow, and traded for rice. We did not exchange our goods for money. We had to carry our boat and belongings both there and back. The unhulled rice that we packed in our US army bags weighed about 70 kg. The six of us packed up the rice and we returned to Motobu. First, we carried rice in the bag to Kyoda, then, returned to Henoko again to pick up our boat. Finally, we picked up our boat and belongings and went back to Kyoda. We wound up crossing through the mountains making three round trips. When the wind blew from the south, we went to Shioya Bay in Ogimi, traveling up Okawa river from Shioya Bay by boat and then carrying our boat to Kawata in Higashi Village. We fished at Kawata before returning to Motobu. That was the kind of lifestyle we had. My brothers wondered if we could attach an engine to our sabani boat. If we could attach an engine to it, I knew that there were a lot of abandoned US army engines on Ie Island. That happened to be when entry to Ie Island opened up.
The LCT explosion on Ie Island
It was August 6th, 1948. I took a ferry to Ie Island. A US warship (LCT/landing craft tank) was anchored at the pier at Ie Port. The ferry I boarded had docked near the LCT. A US army truck loaded with bombs approached the ship, and there was a huge explosion that engulfed the entire LCT, killing nearly 105 people (actually 107). It was a very hot day, and I had been the first to get off the ship. I went to the other side of the road on the bank of the beach, which saved my life. At the time, people on the main island of Okinawa often came to look for the remains of people who had died on Ie Island during the war. People on Ie Island would search for the remains of those who died in the southern part of the main island. Everyone was gathering with their relatives. The day after the explosion, my six older brothers came looking for me on the sabani. At that time, there was no ferry to Ie Island. When my brothers came to pick me up, I was wandering around the beach aimlessly. They called out to me, glad that I had survived. The explosion killed everyone, and scattered remains on the beach. It was such a tragic event that I couldn’t bring myself to tell anyone that I took preparatory courses or that such an accident occurred at Ie Island. I never spoke of it.
Postwar “agiyaa“ fishing
The technique for catching gurukun (double-lined fusilier) is referred to as “drive fishing,” but formally is called “agiyaa.” “Agiyaa” means to force fish from the depths of the sea to the shallows. Agiyaa can only be done in winter. The water temperature is about 17-18 degrees Celsius. It is done naked and without wearing underwear. Wearing wet underwear is colder than being naked. All six of us did “agiyaa”without wearing underwear. At our home, food was plentiful, and we had rice. Other homes were still struggling, getting by on sweet potatoes. Besides rice, we ate food distributed by the US military. I ran errands at the fishery for two years. My brothers were over ten years older than me, so I had to prepare breakfast in the morning, as well as dinner at night. When selling the fish. I had to carry a lot of heavy cargo. I couldn’t take it anymore, so after doing this for about two years, I switched to working for the US forces.
Military work and “senka”
I worked at QM (quartermaster) Tengan in present-day Uruma City. My monthly salary was 150 to 250 yen in type “B” military yen. Everyone there had secured senka (war trophies.) “War trophies” also included stolen goods. Many people stole canned goods and other items from US army warehouses, selling them on the black market in Ishikawa for money before returning to their hometowns. Blankets, US-made trousers, watches, and various other objects were claimed as “trophies.” It wasn’t easy stealing cigarettes or whatever else I could carry, then hiding it and smuggling it out of the base. This is what happened during my military work period. When I was working at the motor pool (US military vehicle base), you could get an American driver’s license as soon as you were able to drive a vehicle about 10 meters. There were no pictures on the licenses. When buses started running in Okinawa, I got licenses for about 10 different bus drivers. They would hand over a piece of inarizushi (sushi wrapped in fried tofu) and ask me to get them a license. So they would tell me how to write their names in English, and I would apply for a license under those names instead of my own and get licenses for them.
Working hard as a diver
When foreign ships were arriving at Naha Port, I got a job that involved diving into the water to check the screws and the suction ability of the bilge pumps (submersible pumps). I did it for about three years. I didn’t need a special license for this job. Anyway, I was inspecting the screws for any abnormalities. I began receiving requests for fish surveys and undersea surveys from professors at the universities of Tokyo, Kyoto and Tokai because they couldn’t travel freely to Okinawa due to it being under US control. I launched a diving company and began to take on work. I did the work on my own.
A message for young people
The most important thing I want to convey to young people is that they should think about the reasons why wars occur. Fights between siblings are also a form of war. Siblings shouldn’t fight with one another. Also, I want them to plant green onions and other vegetables, even if that means using the flower pots in their gardens, so that they can learn how to be self-sufficient. I think we have to teach children these kinds of skills.
Hideo Nakamura has dived in almost all of Okinawa’s oceans for marine salvage and oceanographic research, including salvaging sunken ships. He also competed in the world diving competition as a representative of Japan and won third place.
The October 10th air raids: Rescuing the crew of a sunk warship
In July 1944, I passed the Naval Aviator Preparatory Course exam. I was waiting for my recruitment notice around October 10th. It was about the time of the October 10th Air Raids. On October 10th, a Japanese warship called the “Jingei” was bombed by the US army near my home (Motobu). That day, I was out rowing a sabani (a traditional, wooden canoe) with my friend to catch fish. When we tried to pass in front of the Jingei warship, an American fighter plane dropped a large number of bombs on the warship. Fuel spilled from the warship covering the surround sea, and the Japanese soldiers jumped overboard trying to swim away. I saw a drowning, wounded soldier and thought it was strange that he couldn’t swim despite being a Navy soldier. I thought everyone in the Navy could swim. My friend and I went to save him from drowning, and we saw that his leg was injured.
Ordered to retrieve the remains
Within about a week from then, two Japanese warships were bombed, and the bodies of Japanese soldiers were floating everywhere in the sea. A police officer ordered us to collect the bodies. It was customary for the Navy to collect bodies onto a warship and then sink the entire warship into the sea. The Navy did not practice cremation. I felt so terrible for the dead soldiers. Due to the tragic events of October 10th, the warships continued to burn for five days after the bombing.
Moved to the Japan mainland as a preparatory training student
I was 15 years old at the time. The Navy ordered me to go to my lookout post, since I would be in the preparatory course and did not have to do Navy work. I was on duty at the mountaintop lookout until October 19th. Afterward, on March 1st, 1945, I received a notice of employment for the Tsuchiura Navy Air Corps in Ibaraki Prefecture. At that time, I walked barefoot and wore shorts and light clothing, without knowing that the mainland had a cold climate.
After traveling from Motobu to Naha in a Navy truck, my life as a Naval Aviator Preparatory Course trainee began. I arrived at Sasebo in Nagasaki, then headed to Nara on a train. The third Naval Aviator Preparatory Course exam was held in Nara. Two of the examinees from Okinawa were not accepted. Those of us who passed the third exam were ordered to go to Mount Kouya in Wakayamato undergo training at a temple because Tsuchiura in Ibaraki had already been destroyed by air raids. There was no flight training and I didn’t know where the plane was kept. There was no fuel either. During my three month training period, the squad leader told us that our mission might be changed to launching attacks via suicide boat. We were then put on standby on the coast of Cape Shionomisaki in Wakayama. It was in the middle of nowhere. We stayed there for about two months, renting a private home, and waited for the suicide boats to arrive. Then the war ended.
After the war was over
After the end of the war, I stayed in Kumamoto temporarily. I took on dangerous work there, transporting coal from Shimabara in Nagasaki and bringing materials from around Amakusato companies in Minamata in Kumamoto. I worked at Sansei Kaiun Co. Ltd. After about a month and a half at that job, the seniors living with me told me that we could go back to Okinawa, so I went with him to Omura Camp in Nagasaki and left there for Okinawa.
Life after returning home
When I got back to Okinawa, I found that the town of Motobu had been burned to the ground. The government office and the police station were both gone. There was nothing left. The current government office is located where the elementary school used to be, but the school was gone due to the war.
In October 1948, two years after the end of the war, my older brothers had worked as skipjack fishermen, and my job was to collect the bait to use on the fishing boat. But since we couldn’t go fishing in the winter, I pondered ways to make ends meet during the winter months. A couple of my seniors had a sabani and a net. However, no fish could be caught on the Motobu Peninsula during that period. So we paddled it to Hentona in Kunigami Village. Six of us lodged in a village called Hama in Hentona, where we caught damselfish and exchanged them for rice. We stayed for about a week then returned home to Motobu. Then my brother ordered a boat from a nearby village and had it built. He took charge and we fished as a group of six. I was 19 years old at the time, and all five of my brothers were in their 30s. When the wind blew from the north, we rowed the boat to Kyoda in Nago, and we carried the boat from Kyoda through the mountains to Katabaru in Ginoza. We traveled from the west coast to the east coast and went fishing there. The first time we lodged for a week in a village called Matsuda in Ginoza. We observed the ocean for a week. The second time, we fished around current-day Henoko in Nago and stayed there overnight. There were a lot of fish in the waters near the port of Henoko. Also, they grew lots of rice in Henoko, so we walked through the village, catch in tow, and traded for rice. We did not exchange our goods for money. We had to carry our boat and belongings both there and back. The unhulled rice that we packed in our US army bags weighed about 70 kg. The six of us packed up the rice and we returned to Motobu. First, we carried rice in the bag to Kyoda, then, returned to Henoko again to pick up our boat. Finally, we picked up our boat and belongings and went back to Kyoda. We wound up crossing through the mountains making three round trips. When the wind blew from the south, we went to Shioya Bay in Ogimi, traveling up Okawa river from Shioya Bay by boat and then carrying our boat to Kawata in Higashi Village. We fished at Kawata before returning to Motobu. That was the kind of lifestyle we had. My brothers wondered if we could attach an engine to our sabani boat. If we could attach an engine to it, I knew that there were a lot of abandoned US army engines on Ie Island. That happened to be when entry to Ie Island opened up.
The LCT explosion on Ie Island
It was August 6th, 1948. I took a ferry to Ie Island. A US warship (LCT/landing craft tank) was anchored at the pier at Ie Port. The ferry I boarded had docked near the LCT. A US army truck loaded with bombs approached the ship, and there was a huge explosion that engulfed the entire LCT, killing nearly 105 people (actually 107). It was a very hot day, and I had been the first to get off the ship. I went to the other side of the road on the bank of the beach, which saved my life. At the time, people on the main island of Okinawa often came to look for the remains of people who had died on Ie Island during the war. People on Ie Island would search for the remains of those who died in the southern part of the main island. Everyone was gathering with their relatives. The day after the explosion, my six older brothers came looking for me on the sabani. At that time, there was no ferry to Ie Island. When my brothers came to pick me up, I was wandering around the beach aimlessly. They called out to me, glad that I had survived. The explosion killed everyone, and scattered remains on the beach. It was such a tragic event that I couldn’t bring myself to tell anyone that I took preparatory courses or that such an accident occurred at Ie Island. I never spoke of it.
Postwar “agiyaa“ fishing
The technique for catching gurukun (double-lined fusilier) is referred to as “drive fishing,” but formally is called “agiyaa.” “Agiyaa” means to force fish from the depths of the sea to the shallows. Agiyaa can only be done in winter. The water temperature is about 17-18 degrees Celsius. It is done naked and without wearing underwear. Wearing wet underwear is colder than being naked. All six of us did “agiyaa”without wearing underwear. At our home, food was plentiful, and we had rice. Other homes were still struggling, getting by on sweet potatoes. Besides rice, we ate food distributed by the US military. I ran errands at the fishery for two years. My brothers were over ten years older than me, so I had to prepare breakfast in the morning, as well as dinner at night. When selling the fish. I had to carry a lot of heavy cargo. I couldn’t take it anymore, so after doing this for about two years, I switched to working for the US forces.
Military work and “senka”
I worked at QM (quartermaster) Tengan in present-day Uruma City. My monthly salary was 150 to 250 yen in type “B” military yen. Everyone there had secured senka (war trophies.) “War trophies” also included stolen goods. Many people stole canned goods and other items from US army warehouses, selling them on the black market in Ishikawa for money before returning to their hometowns. Blankets, US-made trousers, watches, and various other objects were claimed as “trophies.” It wasn’t easy stealing cigarettes or whatever else I could carry, then hiding it and smuggling it out of the base. This is what happened during my military work period. When I was working at the motor pool (US military vehicle base), you could get an American driver’s license as soon as you were able to drive a vehicle about 10 meters. There were no pictures on the licenses. When buses started running in Okinawa, I got licenses for about 10 different bus drivers. They would hand over a piece of inarizushi (sushi wrapped in fried tofu) and ask me to get them a license. So they would tell me how to write their names in English, and I would apply for a license under those names instead of my own and get licenses for them.
Working hard as a diver
When foreign ships were arriving at Naha Port, I got a job that involved diving into the water to check the screws and the suction ability of the bilge pumps (submersible pumps). I did it for about three years. I didn’t need a special license for this job. Anyway, I was inspecting the screws for any abnormalities. I began receiving requests for fish surveys and undersea surveys from professors at the universities of Tokyo, Kyoto and Tokai because they couldn’t travel freely to Okinawa due to it being under US control. I launched a diving company and began to take on work. I did the work on my own.
A message for young people
The most important thing I want to convey to young people is that they should think about the reasons why wars occur. Fights between siblings are also a form of war. Siblings shouldn’t fight with one another. Also, I want them to plant green onions and other vegetables, even if that means using the flower pots in their gardens, so that they can learn how to be self-sufficient. I think we have to teach children these kinds of skills.
Hideo Nakamura has dived in almost all of Okinawa’s oceans for marine salvage and oceanographic research, including salvaging sunken ships. He also competed in the world diving competition as a representative of Japan and won third place.