Post #20: Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's writings of Tomoe

 

Word Count: 288

Tetsuko Kuroyanagi’s excerpt comes from her time and life before the War. She was shown on a daily television program called Tetsuko’s Room for many years. The majority of her memoirs from when she was young were published a lot later in her life. They called it Totto-Chan: The Litlle Girl at the Window, which is what we read in the excerpt. She went to a progressive school called Tomoe and they were encouraged and opened up to the type of response and dance to music. It sadly did not last long since the school was destroyed in 1945. 

Totto-chan is represented as a very unique individual throughout her school life. She is very unconventional. As represented in her school drama, she is doesn’t quite fit into the mold that everyone fits when it comes to picking parts for the play. Originally, she is supposed to play Yoshitune but can’t remain still during a scene. This also occurs in a scene where is made to be a monk but then gets too jumpy. Eventually she goes outside and tries to perform a play by herself. Later on in the passage “Tea Party”, Ryo-chan, the janitor, has to leave to fight in the war. He was liked by all the children and was described as a good and helpful person. Because a farewell party would be depressing, the headmaster decided to have a tea party. The tone of the story shifts greatly from here as the end of the chapter has Ryo leaving and noting the fate of Tomoe being blown up by bombs, as written, “His departure coincided with the arrival of the American airplanes. They finally appeared in the skies above Tokyo and began dropping bombs everyday”.