Review
War is a history that people can't look back on, but it also brings permanent damage to people's bodies and minds, and even Japan, like the invading country, has cast a heavy shadow on domestic society because of war. If you have the opportunity to go to the city of Yokohama, you may have heard of a legend.
It is said that at the joint of Yokohama stands an old woman of an old age, her face is covered with heavy makeup that does not match her age, just like the dusty woman who solicited customers on the street in the Showa period.
Maybe when you hear the word "wind and dust", you will have a certain rejection of the old man, thinking that why she is not at home to raise a child when she is a lot older, but instead comes to the streets of Japan to do some inexplicable actions?
In fact, this is exactly the silent accusation of the old woman to the Japanese government during the war, she is not running for her life, but waiting for someone who has not returned, her behavior has persisted for 60 years, and she has been respected by the Japanese, that history should not have been escaped, and now only one old woman dares to come out and face it.
Displacement at an early age
The old woman's name is Mary, because of her dedication and obsession with love, Japanese television even made a documentary for her, called "Yokohama Mary", which caused a great sensation in the society after the broadcast, and let more people know about Mary's tragic life.
Mary's original name was Yukiko Nishioka, which is a very beautiful Japanese name, but her story cannot be as beautiful as the name.
When Mary was very young, her father died in the war, and her brother took the opportunity to seize all the family property and drove the little niece Mary out of the house, leaving her to live on the streets and kill herself without the slightest pity.
It was a sick society, the gap between the rich and the poor was infinitely widened, family affection was not worth mentioning in the face of money, the poor did not hesitate to kill and set fire to the gentry class, and they were abducted; and there was not only one girl who was starved to death on the streets.
Mary was lucky because she found an advertisement on the ground while picking up the garbage, and she couldn't remember the advertisement, only that they would pay a lot of money, and there was a lot of good food, and Mary had no choice at all, and if she didn't go, she would starve to death like other friends.
It was a job advertisement for a Japanese comfort agency, and Mary was beautiful and deeply loved by the store manager. Compared to the cold touch of the outside society, even if Mary later learned that it was a comfort institution, she did not want to leave, because it could give her the warmth she had lost, even if it was enough.
So later, she obeyed the manager's arrangement and carried a white umbrella behind her and dressed up in a costume to receive guests.
Originally a wealthy Japanese, Mary later began to receive American officers. Originally in Mary's heart, she could already see the head in this life, her profession ate youth rice, and who would care about it later?
Mary has long been mentally prepared, over the years she received guests also saved some money, not to mention the old age of the rich, at least can find a quiet place for their own pension. But the appearance of a man disrupted Mary's plans.
Love has regrets that have not been filled
It was a handsome American major, and the major did not despise Mary because of her status; on the contrary, in those days when the war was on the verge of breaking out, it was Mary's watery tenderness that gave the major the warmth of a foreign land; the major wanted to redeem Mary and take her back to his hometown to marry her.
However, as the war approached, the U.S. troops stationed in Japan accepted the government's call and began to retreat, and the major wanted to bring Mary back to the United States, but the army clearly stipulated that no one else could be taken home at will.
Although this article seems inhumane, it is reasonable enough, otherwise taking the size of the 300,000-strong army as an example, every American soldier brings a family member back to China, so how does the U.S. government resettle 300,000 Japanese? Are there any spies in this?
As a military commander, the major could not break his vows, and when he left, he promised Mary that he would come back to pick her up after the war, and the two would be able to live happily ever after. Mary certainly believed what her beloved said, and she had been wandering around Yokohama since she was redeemed at the Wind Moon Place, and although life was still hard, it was good that she always had expectations in her heart.
But this wait is decades. No matter how much Mary looked through, the American major never appeared again, and she had made it a habit to stand at the Yokohama joint every day with an oil-paper umbrella on her back, looking at the pedestrians passing by in the distance, but her sweetheart did not appear, and never would.
Later, forced by the burden of life, she went to engage in the old profession again to eat, but because of her age, coupled with the Japanese government's ban on the wind and moon place in modern times, Mary's life became more and more difficult, as if time was going around, and she returned to the time when she was a child.
Fortunately, in her last life, she met a good friend, Motojiro, and with the help of her friends, Mary, who was 74 years old, was sent to a nursing home, which was her final destination.
Why didn't the American officer come? Was it he who was originally a negative person, and when he returned to the country, he was blinded by the prosperity of the United States, which made him forget Mary who was far away in Japan?
This is not the case, the American major has never forgotten his sweetheart, but after returning to China, he accidentally contracted a serious illness, and finally died in the hospital due to ineffective rescue, which made Mary wait for decades, which was destined to entangle the two for a lifetime, and finally died without illness.
epilogue
It has to be said that Mary's story seriously reflects on the sick Japan of that era, the government should have guided the Japanese people to live a happy and happy life, but some careerists were obsessed with foreign wars, and did not care about the displacement of the people and were unaccompanied.
As a victim of the times, Mary's life is painful, she should have lived in a happy family, should have had that love within reach, but all this eventually vanished, which can't help but make people feel deep sadness.