The Railway Man: A Review

Today, I finished the book The Railway Man by Eric Lomax. It is a true story based on the life of a Scottish POW captured by the Japanese during WWII.  Lomax carried with him 50 years of hate for the pain and torture that he endured at the hands of his captors, especially by one man in particular. I am not much of a war buff.  Nor do I really read a lot about the subject. However, I am into reading about people's lives.  This is a very moving story of a man, a good one, whose life could have ended in bitterness and hate. He chose to forgive instead.  One of my favorite actors, Colin Firth, is Eric Lomax in the soon to be relased film, The Railway Man in January 2014.  I am very excited that this story is coming to the big screen. When I saw the trailer, I immediately went to the library to borrow the book so that I would be acquainted with Lomax's story.  The books ends with this: "Sometime the hating has to stop."

Richard Heisler: 100 Views of Tokyo

 I looked at the picture, I thought that it was a photograph.

but, upon further examination

 

Shinjuku Sunset II

I was totally wrong

  

Ochanomizu by Richard Heisler

This could be Chicago or any large city 

Tsukishima

or bowls in a restaurant.



Shibuya

The artist is Richard Heisler.  He was born in New Jersey in 1973 and currently lives and works in Seattle, Washington.  A young and upcoming artist. His first exhibit was in 2001 in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  When Richard first began his career, he painted a lot of the countryside and the Amish but has since turned his focus on Japan in a new project called "100 Views of Tokyo".  He has a meticulous eye for detail. It amazes me that someone can look at a scene and then capture it by painting or drawing it.  I am speechless about the detail of all of the pictures.  I saw a few of his paintings here at the museum and thought that I would check out more of his work.  I like what I see.  Would you display this kind of art in your home?

Jimmy Mirikitani and his drawings

How can one sum up a life in a few words?  Not anyone’s whole existent can fit into a blog post. I am going to try and summarize his life.  Forgive me for trying to do so. I was deeply moved when I watched the documentary about a homeless man named Jimmy Mirikitani.  The life of Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani has been one of trauma and hope.  He was born in Sacramento, California in 1920, a Japanese American, shortly thereafter moved to Hiroshima, Japan and was raised there until he returned to the States in 1938.  Mirikitani wanted to avoid the militarism in Japan and to pursue his art, so he decided to move back to the States. His motto is: “Make art not war”.

Shortly after returning to the states he lived with his sister Kazuko and her family.  Happy times soon ended and they were forced to leave their home and go to internment camps.  Kazuko went to Minidoka camp in Idaho and Jimmy ended up in Tule Lake, California.

The government required internees to take a loyalty test.  Tule Lake became a segregation center and those who were deemed disloyal were congregated.  Thousands of Japanese Americans renounced their citizenship, along with Mirikitani. After World War II ended, Jimmy and hundreds of others were held in the camp without charge, first in Tule Lake and then in a Department of Justice INS camp in Crystal City, Texas.

In 1946, Jimmy was transferred to a frozen food manufacturing plant in New Jersey working 12 hours shifts 6 days a week.  By August of 1947 he was released. His citizenship was restored in 1959 but Mirikitani didn’t know about it until around 2002. The government’s letter never reached him because he moved so often.

 

It was in the 1980’s when Jimmy Mirikitani ended up homeless. His employer died and he was suddenly without a job or a home. Within a year, he was living in Washington Square park in Greenwich Village, selling his artwork to survive. There he continued until he met Linda Hattendorf.

It wasn't until I was grown did I hear about the camps for the Japanese here in the states.  There were over 18,000 people held at the camp in Tule Lake.  The time that Mirikitani spent there left an indelible mark on his spirit, which took a trip back to mend.  Take a look at the clip from this PBS special below.