Our Story

Reminiscences/2

Sr Paschal O'Sullivan continues her story:

As promised last December, here are some 

some more of my experiences during my 70+

years in Japan. Following one year in a

Japanese school in Tokyo, my next posting was 

to Yokohama, where I taught in both our

international and Japanese schools. Normally

this should have been a happy change, but the

constant view of the wide-open ocean made me

feel terribly lonely and homesick at times.

While it was nice to teach in our international

school, I have to say it was a real rest to go to

the Japanese school where the students were so quiet and well behaved. In the international school the students tended to be up to all kinds of mischief, so I had to be very strict to keep them in control. Still I loved both and enjoyed the marked difference.

Shortly afterwards the war broke out and we, the Irish sisters, were interned. We were not an enemy country, so why? Our Irish passports had expired!  There was no Irish Embassy in Japan at that time, though strange to say there was a Japanese Ambassador in Dublin, a certain Mr Beppu. On the Japanese side there was just a liaison officer, with little or no power. Off we had to go to the British consulate where all our Irish passports were taken away and we were issued with British ones – so in to the camp we had to go!  Of course we kept on saying that we were not enemy country, while the police said repeatedly: “we are studying the question”!

It took them two years and two months to realise that fact!

Hence six months before the end of the war, we were released to our convent in Tokyo. Of all days it happened on the 6th November - feast of the Irish Saints!  Those still in the camp rejoiced greatly with us – God bless them!.  

We were 16 Irish Sisters in all, four of whom were in hospital at the time. The 12 of us were marched back to Tokyo (quite a long walk!) with a policeman at the head and we, like little ducks, marching in single file behind him. Arriving at our convent in Tokyo, he must have been amazed, as all the sisters, Japanese, French, Italian and Spanish, came flocking out to welcome us back. It had been two years and two months since we had seen them, so you can imagine the hugging and welcoming, while the policeman must have experienced at first hand how we loved one another!

We were then given one whole week of freedom from convent rules and regulations!

To be continued…

 

 

 

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