Ms. Tazuko Masuyama is the person most associated with the former Tokuyama Village and the Tokuyama Dam. Ms. Masuyama picked up a camera for the first time at the age of 61 and has continued to take pictures of the old Tokuyama Village as it is today, destined to sink into the dam. She is also known as "Camera Grandma.
This is an interview with "Camera Grandma" about her war experience, and I think it tells a very difficult half life story. She lost her husband and brother in the war, and also lost her hometown due to the dam....
I live in the area of water diversion brought about by the Tokuyama Dam (according to plans), and I think that not only Mr. Masuyama but also the people who lived in the former Tokuyama Village have made the hard choice to support our lives.... We must not let their thoughts go to waste.
And then...
Right now, the amendment of Article 9 of the Constitution is being discussed. I am sure that in our generation there will be no one who wants to change it. Because of Article IX, we have been able to avoid war. When the war ended and I learned that the Constitution had been established and that there would be no more wars, I was happy about that.
This is a very disconcerting thought. Japan has been at peace since the Constitution was created as a result of the war, but now it is being led down the path to war again by terrorism.
It was a moment when I felt a link between the feelings of the residents who had been relocated by the dam by choice of hardship and the thoughts of my grandfather and grandmother who had experienced tragedy due to the war....
May the world be at peace...
And may Japan never again take the path to war...
■Reference Articles
Ms. Tazuko Masuyama, 88, a camera grandmother from the former Tokuyama Village, rejoices over the "No War" Constitution.(Chunichi Shimbun)
■References
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