Remembrance "O.K., Gruel Is Good"

By MICHIKO MATSUURA

Then the wife of an imperial navy officer, she is now, at 79, president of Japan's League of Women Voters.

In January 1942 we moved to Kamakura, southwest of Tokyo. A teacher there asked my three-year-old son, "What will you do if the enemy attacks?" He replied, "I'll kick them." That's military education for you. They were teaching that a kamikaze ((divine wind)) would blow Japan to victory.

I was always wondering if things were going the right way. I always tried to feed my husband rice, while the rest of us had rice gruel. Once the older boy complained, "Gruel again?"

My two-year-old son responded, "We have to eat gruel or else we'll lose the war."

"O.K., gruel is good."

"Yes, it's like chocolate."

"It's like kompeito ((a hard sugar candy))."

Neither knew what chocolate or kompeito tasted like.