TAKEO HIRANUMA official website

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　Once again, it will soon be August 15. For someone who was born before 1935, the day August 15 in 1945 brings him back a special memory. In other words, someone born in 1935 was already ten years old at that time, so he must have understood vaguely what had happened on that day. In the special TV program for the end of the war memorial day feature, I saw the announcer ask the young people at the Shonan Seashore, "Do you know what day August 15 is?" I was surprised to see that most of them could not answer towards the question immediately. Moreover, they answered after a long serious consideration that ' fireworks show' is held on that day. I guess easily that TV station must have done it on purpose, however, I am anxious about the lack of awareness of the youth born after the War.
　Now I try to think back on my own August 15, 1945. It is natural if I wouldn't remember the day since I was just a six-year-old boy just like others who were born in 1939. However, August 15 is an unforgettable day leaving an intense impression on me. My grandfather was then chairman of the Privy Council, and he eventually insisted on his opinion at the meeting with the Emperor in attendance to accept the Potsdam declaration to maintain its National sovereignty after the war. That is why he was made a target of hatred from the entirely resistant side.
　I wrote to him calling him 'grandfather' in the way I used to, although Kiichiro Hiranuma never married. My mother was the granddaughter of Kiichiro's elder brother Yoshiro Hiranuma, who was the former president of Waseda University, and she received lots of attention from Kiichiro since she was small. I succeeded Kiichiro Hiranuma. (Takeo Hiranuma is legally adopted as a legitimate child of Kiichiro.) My memory of August 15 in 1945 began in bed on the second floor of the house located in Nishiokubo at that time. Since my father was in Yokosuka in the navy as a sailor who had received two promotions. I lived with Kiichiro, Mr. and Mrs. Iida who were my maternal grandparents, my mother and an elder sister.