Tei

A Memoir of the End of War and Beginning of Peace

By: Tei Fujiwara

Narrated by: Nanako Water

An amazing but true survival story of a mother and her three young children. In August 1945, the Soviets invaded China and forced resident Japanese civilians like Tei and her three children (ages five, two, and one month old) to flee for their lives. At the beginning of their journey, Tei's husband and most of the men are taken away by the Soviets to work in their labor camps in Siberia. The group of abandoned women and children band together for survival. Through a hot summer and a brutal winter, crossing countless mountains and rivers, these refugees travel into North Korea, take refuge in a small town, and then try to get through the 38th Parallel before it closes and seals North Korea off from the rest of the world. After finally reaching her home in Japan, Tei wrote what she thought would be her last testament to her young children, who wouldn’t remember their terrible journey. She hoped her children would be comforted by their mother’s words as they faced an unknown future in post-war Japan.

But several miracles took place after she wrote the memoir. Tei survived and her memoir, originally published in Showa Era 24 (1949) became a best seller in a country still in ruins. Over the following decades, millions of Japanese became familiar with her story through 46 print runs, the movie version, and a television drama. Empress Michiko urged her people to read Tei’s story.

Now for the first time, English speakers have the opportunity to hear Tei's story, read by Nanako Water, the translator and a friend of the author's family.

©2022 Nanako Mizushima (P)2022 Nanako Mizushima