Yashi Nozawa

Don't Be Afraid of Air Raids Yashi Nozawa

About This Book This is author's memoir, covering the period from spring of 1942 to the end of the same year. At that time, he was eleven years old boy and believed that it was Japan's most glorious period throughout 2600 years of the long Japanese history. The time was the early part of the Pacific War, and it corresponded to the darkest time of the United States in the modern time. A few months ago, the Japanese surprise attack on the Pearl Harbor destroyed a major part of the Pacific Fleet. Then Japanese Imperial Army occupied most of colonial territories of Western countries in Southeast and Northeast Asia within a short time span. As you know, Japan lost the war, and the United States Armed Forces occupied Japan later. There were many documents about the experience of the war, but most of documents dealt with battles and post war situation of Japan. Almost no document exists about Japanese condition during the wartime. The author has lived more than fifty years in the United States, and many occasions, people asked him what he had been doing during the war. To answer such questions, the author decided to document his experience before too late. The author knows that many Japanese are reluctant to talk about the war experience, especially to Americans. So, the author started to record his own activities during the war in frank and candid languages. Since the author already passed his eighty-year's mark, he may not live long enough to complete his entire memoir. He decided to publish his memoir in a piecemeal fashion as a collection of short stories. This is the first one, and the second one will follow within a few months. Contents of this book are the description of activities of a typical young schoolchild. He spent most of his time for plays and studies, but he was not immune from the impact of the war. His reaction to the war situation will be refreshing to many readers. Some readers may feel repulsive about his behavior. Anyway, the author hopes readers will enjoy the story in this book.