Mowing
While we thought we were waiting for the ship to go back to Japan, we were asked to help mowing, so we had to go. The big sickles we had to use were taller than us. We had never seen anything like them in Japan. After swinging such a big sickle up and down all day long, our arms became numb, and we could not move any longer. Yet, we were booed and under rigorous surveillance by the Soviet soldiers. It was really painful. In the beginning, they asked us to do this labor in coaxing voices, but day by day, they kept increasing our quota, and Japanese soldiers became totally exhausted by such brutal labor imposed upon them. However, our sweet dream to get onto the boat heading home kept us going, even though the labor was merciless.
September, 1945