March 11, 2025
TOKYO – During the Great Tokyo Air Raid on March 10, 1945, incendiary bombs rained down mercilessly, even on children. While many lives were lost in the flames, classmates were also separated. Earlier this month, two former classmates met again for the first time in 80 years. Graduation certificates that were delivered to each of them led to the reunion of two women who had survived the Pacific War and are now 92 years old.
On Friday, Akiko Masaki of Mitaka, Tokyo, gave a talk about her experience of the air raid to children at the gymnasium of Koume Elementary School in Tokyo’s Sumida Ward. “I couldn’t breathe because of the flames and smoke,” she said. “I was terrified, thinking I was going to die when burning wooden beams fell on me.”
Looking at her, Saku Yamamoto nodded at her words. Yamamoto of Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, is a former classmate of Masaki.
During the war, Masaki and Yamamoto attended a school in Honjo Ward, present-day Sumida Ward. As sixth grade elementary school students in September 1944, they took refuge along with other students at a temple in Chiba Prefecture to avoid air raids. They rarely had a chance to take a bath. They caught pond snails and ate them to ease their hunger.
Shortly before their elementary graduation in March 1945, the two returned to Tokyo but were soon caught in the Great Tokyo Air Raid.
Masaki and her four family members fled through the flames. She still bears scars on her back from burns caused when she was struck by glowing hot charcoal. Her whole family survived, but their house was completely destroyed in the air raid. They took shelter at the home of their relatives in Suginami Ward, Tokyo.
Yamamoto and her five family members all escaped safely together, but their house near her school was burned down. She said she cannot forget the countless bodies she saw at that time. They eventually evacuated to Shizuoka Prefecture, where their relatives lived.
Although graduation was approaching, their classmates were dispersed to various places. A month later, graduation certificates, as well as letters from their homeroom teacher expressing concern for their safety, were delivered to Masaki and Yamamoto by mail.
Written in neat handwriting, the certificates stated that they had graduated from the elementary course of the school. The certificates had creases that would not have been made had they received them in person at a graduation ceremony.
The eras changed from Showa to Heisei and then Reiwa, and Masaki donated her graduation certificate, which she had kept for many years, to the Sumida Heritage Museum in July 2020.
“I struggled with math and some other subjects, as I couldn’t learn at school during the war,” she said. “I want people to know there were such children.”
Meanwhile, Yamamoto learned in January this year that the museum was collecting materials related to the Tokyo air raid. She then contacted the museum to donate her graduation certificate, as she thought, “If I die, my graduation certificate will become just another piece of paper.”
Yamamoto’s graduation certificate caught the attention of Seishi Ishibashi, a 42-year-old curator at the museum. As he thought the two might have been classmates, he checked the school register and photographs from that time. He became certain and was surprised to find these two women were former classmates, especially in the year of the 80th anniversary of the Great Tokyo Air Raid. He subsequently arranged a meeting for Masaki and Yamamoto.
After being reunited at Koume Elementary School on Friday, the two visited the museum, where they got swept up in conversation. In front of Yamamoto’s creased graduation certificate, which is on display at the museum, they asked each other such questions as, “Where did you go to escape from the air raid?” and “We couldn’t have a graduation ceremony, but we were very happy to receive our graduation certificates, weren’t we?”
Some of their classmates died after incendiary bombs struck on that day 80 years ago, so they were unable to receive their graduation certificates. Masaki and Yamamoto expressed hope people will think about all the children who went through such suffering at that time.