On the Day August 6 1945

Rev Kiyoshi's Wife and Daughter Vaporised by Little Boy

In the spirit of Christ, one man made the difference to how we see Japan in World War Two

Khen Lim




Image source: thepeoplenews.com

Born in 1890, Kiyoshi Watanabe became a Christian surprisingly with the blessing of his Buddhist family and it all began one day with his elder brother tossing a ‘Christian religious’ book at him, taunting him to figure out what on earth it was about. It was the Bible and the young Kiyoshi was spellbound by what he read. 

No matter how incredulous the stories were of Jesus, one verse stood out for him: “Man shall not live on bread alone but on every word that comes out of the mouth of God” (Mt 4:4) and with that he went searching for its meaning. The problem was that in Nanataki, Japan, there were no Christians he could seek to ask.

Upon finishing his high school in his hometown, his parents allowed him to seek employment at a larger city nearby while he attended night school there. There he chanced upon a Lutheran minister, Yamauchi, and seized the opportunity to ask him to explain. 

Realising that he had to turn his back on his family’s Buddhist leanings, simply made the task a difficult one for him and that was why when his parents paved the way for his baptism, he must have been taken by surprise. Even more stupefying was his unbelieving elder brother who paid for his enrolment at a theological seminary.

During his first stint as a pastor, Kiyoshi met and married Shigaru but dysentery struck their first two little daughters and their early death made them lean on the Lord in grief and solace. Following the birth of their fifth child, Shigaru died. Left in utter devastation, Kiyoshi never questioned God but instead, learned to place his trust in Him come what may and with that, he did a culturally abominable thing by raising the baby on his own.

A Lutheran funded girl's school in Japan, 1926 (Image source: 30monthsinjapan.blogspot.com)

In all that time, Kiyoshi had pastored Lutheran churches for thirty-five years. Sometime in 1935, he took up an offer by a sister in America to attend Gettysburg Seminary, meaning leaving his family behind. It was there that he wasn’t only warmly accepted but he gained his famous ‘Uncle John’ moniker, which he later wore with great affection.

Upon his return to Japan, his last pastorate was in Hiroshima. By then, he found himself in the middle of a country preparing for war. Despite the Japanese government’s plan to make all churches operate under a single state-sponsored denomination. Inevitably, Kiyoshi’s Lutheran church in Hiroshima was forced to close in September 1941. 

At some point around that time, he married Mitsuko, a headmistress at the Good Samaritan kindergarten in Hiroshima and together, they had a comfortable home on Takasho Street in the middle of Hiroshima, which was some 150 miles from his work. He then turned to teaching English at a school for teenage girls in a town called Kumamoto. But this was all just a preamble to Japan entering the Second World War.

Sham-Shui Po POW camp, Hong Kong (Image source: america.pink)

In February 1942, Japan attacked Pearl Harbour and Kiyoshi’s two sons, Shinya and Shigawo were surreptitiously conscripted. In the same month, the 51 year old reverend was summoned by his government to act as an interpreter for the military. He was duly assigned to the Sham-Shui Po POW camp at the Bowen Road Hospital at Stanley Camp, Hong Kong. 

There, he saw for the first time, cruelty by his own people and it horrified him. He witnessed enough torture to make him sick. He would fall on his knees in the bathroom, sobbing and crying out to God to help him.

Through his agony, he never forsook his beloved Japan. He would never contemplate betraying his own country but then he also found himself at the crossroad of decision-making. Vested in his Christian morals, Kiyoshi understood he needed to help his country’s enemies even if it conflicted with the interests of the army he served. In his desire to help, he was ostracised. His politeness towards prisoners earned him the wrath of his own countrymen who threatened him with violence.

One day while working at his desk, a pretty young English housewife named Nellie Lee hurried into the office looking to talk to the Camp Commandment about wanting to see her father and husband. On a wing and a prayer, she’d suspected they were detained by the Japanese. Despite her pleas, Lieutenant Sakaino, the Commandant, ignored her but none of this had gone unnoticed by Kiyoshi who later, took down her name and address and then quietly promised that he would be in contact.

Prisoner-of-war internment at the Stanley Camp, Hong Kong (Image source: wikiwand.com)

Because of his six-day week, Kiyoshi had only one day to do anything outside of his work. At the earliest possible Sunday, he went to see Nellie on a visit that would forever change his life. Surprised to see him in his army fatigues, she greeted him cautiously, not knowing what to expect from a Japanese military officer. After the initial nervousness, Kiyoshi settled in her living room where he met Nellie’s three girls, Junie, Wendy and Barbie. Kiyoshi – now known as ‘Uncle John’ – offered assistance in easing the hardship suffered by the POWs at the camp.

It was also then that he noticed the mother and her children were themselves in need of help. This was not at all a surprise because severe food rationing in Hong Kong made eating a luxury and a scarcity to many. For those with means, food was available on the black market but at crippling prices. Kiyoshi took it upon himself to smuggle food out to help alleviate hunger in the Lee family. He also gave them whatever money he could spare after the allowances he had sent to his own family in Hiroshima.

Eventually Nellie arranged for Kiyoshi to meet Sir Selwyn-Clarke, a doctor and director of Hong Kong’s medical services. With this arrangement, Kiyoshi was able to gain access to vital medical supplies and all the basic needs that the camp POWs were in dire need of. Yet none of this took away the serious element of danger involved. Even though he tried convincing himself that he would become accustomed to the risks, the very thought of getting caught constantly unnerved him and with that, following the completion of each such mission, Kiyoshi would suffer convulsions and then fall ill.

Yet none of this derailed his intentions. He continued to stake his life on giving the necessary help and comfort that meant so much to the others. In his pastoral role, Kiyoshi would often preach from Luke 10:25-37, the Parable of the Good Samaritan in a reflection of what his intentions were in the risks he was so willing to take.

But because of his notable kindness towards the POWs, Kiyoshi ended up being transferred from one camp to the next. This would go on and on not only because the authorities despised the gentle treatment he accorded the prisoners but also because of his Lutheran background, which he had tried desperately to keep under wraps. At the same time, he refused orders to beat up the prisoners and for that, he was sent to work at a prison hospital. Because his kindness continued at the hospital, he was then despatched to a work camp.

British soldier guards Japanese Colonel Tokunaga Isao, 1945 (Image source: indypendenthistory.tumblr.com)

One day, Colonel Tokunaga Isao, the Head Commandment of the entire Hong Kong prison system, demanded to see Kiyoshi. In near-uncontrollable screaming rage, he said, “You make me feel contaminated, Watanabe! And I feel unclean just standing beside you. To call you a swine would be an insult to the pig. But Mr Lutheran minister, you have reached the end of your road. Get your miserable belongings and get out of the camp but leave your uniform here so I can burn it! Soon the Kempeitai will come for you when you least expect it. For everyone now knows that you are a traitor to your country!”

Note: Colonel Tokunaga was one of five who was later put on trial by the British courts for war crimes committed at Sham-Shui Po and Kowloon, Hong Kong from January 1942 to August 1945. He was found guilty in six of nine charges brought against him. He was sentenced to death by hanging but was commuted to life imprisonment.

Stripped of his uniform and now stricken with fear and trepidation, Kiyoshi pleaded with the Lord to give him the strength, wisdom and courage to keep going. Having his life miraculously spared so many times during the four years of war, there had to be a reason, he thought, though he was none the wiser to know why. 

The fearsome Kempeitai (Image source: listverse.com)

At this point of his life, he was caught in between a rock and a hard place. On one side, he was condemned and hated by his own people. He was given the death sentence by the Kempeitai, which can mean hours before he would die a horrible death. On the other side, he was despised by the Chinese for simply being a Japanese officer though they knew little about what he truly did for the POWs. He was a filthy traitor to one and a detestable enemy to the other.

Through his ordeal, he told his wife nothing in the letters he wrote home. Yet he would never forget to petition God for the safety of each of his family members. His earlier experiences with the fatality of his first wife, Shigaru, and two of his little girls, had given him plenty to worry about when thoughts of Mitsuko and the two daughters filled his mind. He was so used to Mitsuko’s almost daily correspondences that when they stopped all of a sudden, his concerns heightened.

Rev Capt Bill Downey (Image source: atomicheritage.org)

On this day, August 6, seventy-one years ago, in 1945, across the Pacific, a Lutheran chaplain Rev Captain William ‘Bill’ Downey (d.1994) prayed for the crew of the Enola Gay B-29 Superfortress bomber, saying softly, “We pray thee that the end of the war may come soon and that once more we know peace on earth,” not knowing there was a hugely destructive seven-ton Little Boy in its belly.

Note: Downey, who later was promoted to colonel, became pastor of Fox Point Lutheran Church and under his leadership, became one of America’s largest and most affluent Lutheran congregations. He died in late September 1994 at the age of 78. His widow, Gladys was invited by retired general Paul Tibetts to attend the bomb group’s reunion the following year to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the bombing that changed the course of world history.

'Little Boy' (Image source: enolagay.cz)

At 8:16am about 1,900 feet altitude, unbeknownst to Kiyoshi, the first atomic bomb dropped on and destroyed the city of Hiroshima. From that day, it didn’t take long for a letter to reach him, written by his daughter, Kimi, informing that her mother Mitsuko and sister Miwa were no more. Both were apparently at home on Takasho Street right at the heart of Hiroshima when the bomb detonated. 

Kiyoshi’s family home, his beloved wife and daughter had completely vaporised, leaving no physical signs behind. Looking back at that tragic event years later, Kiyoshi remembered Job 1:21, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the Name of the Lord be praised.”

As the war grinded to a halt, Kiyoshi remain uncaught. The Kempeitai stood no chance to capture him, let alone have him executed. With his life spared once again, Kiyoshi continued his ministry right into his ripe old age. By then, he had become a true living legend among the prisoners of war in Hong Kong who all knew of his Christ-inspired humility, kindness and gentleness.

Recommended Reading:

Nolan, Liam. Small Man of Nanataki: The True Story of a Japanese Who Risked His Life to Provide Comfort for His Enemies; E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., New York, First Edition; January 1 1966 (161 pages).

Edgar, Brian. Boris Pasco – ‘One of the Nameless Ones’ in ‘In the Dark World’s Fire: Thomas and Evelina Edgar in Occupied Hong Kong 1941-1945;’ https://brianedgar.wordpress.com/2012/12/20/boris-pasco-one-of-the-nameless-ones/

Owen, Cecil. “Uncle John” in The People News Online, September 2006; http://www.thepeoplenews.com/September06/page18.html

Selwyn-Clarke, Sir Selwyn. Footprints, the Memoirs of Sir Selwyn Selwyn-Clarke; Sino-American Publishing Company, Great Britain, 1975 (189 pages).

Emerson, Geoffrey Charles. Hong Kong Internment, 1942-1945: Life in the Japanese Civilian Camp at Stanley; Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Studies Series, Hong Kong University Press, June 2 2010 (268 pages).

Totani, Yumi. The Prisoner of War Camp Trials in ‘Hong Kong’s War Crime Trails’; Suzannah Linton (editor), Oxford University Press, September 26 2013 (304 pages).

Linton, Suzannah (Associate Professor). Hong Kong’s War Crimes Trials Collection; HKU Libraries Digital Initiatives, Hong Kong Research Grants Council, The Department of Law, The University of Hong Kong; December 25 2010 (http://hkwctc.lib.hku.hk/exhibits/show/hkwctc/documents/item/61)