I had been thinking of the Pearl Harbor Historic Sites as the facilities for international visitors to testify how cowardly Japan was in the so-called surprise attack in 1941, but I was wrong. The Sites were for setting the distorted record down in their mind on one hand and for concealing the U.S.'s numerous war crimes on the other hand.
It dates back about 20 years ago that I knew about the submarine, Bowfin, which is now permanently moored at Pearl Harbor. After receiving my Ph.D., I was asked by the authorities to work at a small municipal clinic in a deserted village for three years. Luckily, then, I got to know a veteran surgeon who was more than 20 years older than me. He closed his clinic in Kobe after the big earthquake, and started working in the adjacent village. It was a great serendipity to know him. Though our ages were far apart, we clicked together and often went out for a drink. One day, I heard about his former job as a whaler's doctor over whale meat from Kochi Prefecture. When he was young, he had worked on a whaler, the 2nd Tonan Maru, for some time. His story was really interesting and fascinating. I'll show you his book, which was written at the suggestion of the Kobe doctors' association to which he had belonged.
By the way, the name of his whaler was the 2nd Tonan Maru. I asked him if there had been a 1st Tonan Maru, as I felt that "the 2nd" implied the existence of "the 1st." To my surprise, the first-generation Tonan Maru was sunk by a U.S. submarine and the same submarine sank a passenger ship which was taking more than 1000 schoolkids from Okinawa to mainland Japan to save their lives from the U.S.'s terrible indiscriminate attack. The passenger ship was the well-known Tsushima Maru (link). Finally 1476 were killed, including the captain and the other 23 crew members who had chosen to share the fate of the ship. The kids survivors of the attack were only 59. I knew about Tsushima Maru at that time. (The numbers of the victims are quoted from here).
After a while, I knew the name of the hateful submarine, Bowfin, and that it survived the war and was now moored at Pearl Harbor as a museum. I got to want to get on it and pee on it or kick a part of it. I got on board. I've seen inside a cutting-edge Japanese submarine. The inside of the Bowfin was way more cramped and the outer shell was thinner. The reachable depth would be at most 100 meters. In the cockpit, several kids were enjoying peering into the periscope by turns. When my turn came, I didn't feel like looking into the periscope, as I recalled that the periscope had got the image of Tsushima Maru, though it's not the periscope but the war that is responsible. I got mixed feelings in Bowfin after 74 years.
While I was writing this entry, I became eager to see him, the veteran surgeon, but he's already passed away. I'll visit his grave to report my act of kicking Bowfin, though I wasn't able to pee on it.(grin)
対馬丸記念館
http://tsushimamaru.or.jp/
これまで、真珠湾歴史地区は日本による真珠湾攻撃を記録に残し、かつアメリカ国民と旅行者に日本が如何に卑劣な攻撃をしたかと言うことを知らしめる施設かと思っていたが、どうやら違う。アメリカが行った数々の戦争犯罪を隠しつつ、大東亜戦争全体の記録をとどめるものだと感じた。
さて、ここに係留されている潜水艦ボウフィン号だが、この潜水艦を知ったのは実は２０数年前にさかのぼる。ちょっと昔話をする。２０年ほど前、田舎の診療所に勤務していた頃、神戸から隣村に赴任していた外科の大先輩と仲良くなった。震災後、医院をたたみ、若い頃から考えていた無医村での医療を始められたのだ。年齢はかなり違うものの意気投合して月に数回は近くの居酒屋で仲間を集めて呑んでいた。あるとき、高知から仕入れた鯨料理を味わいながら、先生の捕鯨船の船医時代の話を聞いた。話の全てが新鮮で、引き込まれてしまった。神戸医師会に所属されていた頃に医師会からの勧めでその経験をまとめたものが下記の写真にある本。
さて、先生が乗られていた捕鯨船は第２図南丸という。第２とあるからには第１もあるのかと尋ねた。この船は大変伝統のある船で初代図南丸は戦争中に米軍の潜水艦に攻撃されて沈んだという。更に先生は続けた。同じ潜水艦が沖縄から本土へ避難する大勢の子供達を殺したのだと。あの対馬丸である。対馬丸をこのときに知った。学童疎開船で１０００人以上の子供を乗せていた。最終的に乗員・乗客合わせて１４７６名が死亡し、このうち対馬丸の乗組員は西沢船長以下２４名が対馬丸と運命をともにした。一方で、生き残った児童はわずかに５９名だった。（対馬丸記念館 http://tsushimamaru.or.jp/）
その潜水艦はボウフィン号という名で、戦後まで生き残り、真珠湾に係留されていることをしばらくして知った。是非とも乗船して、小便を引っかけるか(失礼)どこかその一部を蹴飛ばしてやりたくなった。そういった事情を背景にボウフィンに乗ってみた。日本の最新鋭の潜水艦に乗ったことがあるが、さらに狭かった。そして外殻の薄さにも驚いた。おそらく１００メートル程度しか潜れまい。操縦室では子供達が潜望鏡を覗いて楽しんでいた。この潜望鏡で対馬丸を見つけたのかと思うととても覗く気にはなれなかった。戦争が悪いのであって、この艦は職務を全うしただけではあるが、７４年が過ぎて今この船に乗っている自分がいて、複雑な気持ちがした。
この記事を書いていてまた先生に会いたくなってきた。鬼籍に入られてしまったので、墓参りにでも行こうかと思う。本当は小便をひっかけてやりたかったが、蹴飛ばしてやったと報告もせねばならないし。(^o^)
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