Chie Abe & Denis
Graham
Page - 3
 Chie, age 3 - with her brothers. |
Regressing a bit, Chie was a sickly child during her first few years of life. She didn't learn to walk until after she turned two, but she remembers being amused at other children falling down while they were learning to do so. While living in Mizusawa, on the northern end of Honshu Island, they lived in a large house, and the snow fell so deep that it reached the roof. |
Although only four when she left Mizusawa, Chie well remembers living in northern Japan. During the winter they would build snow rabbits, instead of snowmen, with her brothers, Masaomi and Masahiro. And during the summer, she remembers the landlords of thier house giving her honey from the hives they kept. Because of her numerous illnesses, she also remembers it as a time of huge needles always being poked into her.
After the family moved back to Fukuoka and her father was working in Okinawa, Chie was enrolled in a Catholic missionary kindergarten. Her memories are of the nums being mean and cold hearted. The children were not allowed to wear shoes, and the floors were highly polished. If a child slipped and fell, they were punished. And from them telling her that she would go to hell if she didn't do as she was told, Chie often had hellish nightmares.
It was at this Catholic mission that Chie first came into contact with Americans. Not only were some of the nums American, but so were some of the children, two boys and a girl were in her class. The boy had blue eyes and blond hair, and Chie thought he was the cutest thing she had ever seen.
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Chie attended 1st and 2nd grade in Fukuoka, but 3rd grade was in Kokura, where her father was now working. Her father was becoming an alcoholic and her parents were fighting almost constantly. When her father lost his position as an engineer, he began taking whatever jobs he could and began drinking even more. After about a year and a half her parents separated, and with her mother and brothers Chie moved back to Fukuoka. Chie was nine when on May 16, 1955 her parents divorced. To support her children, Chie's mother opened a dress shop in the city, which she kept going until about 1962. After the shop closed, Kiyoko moved into an apartment downtown and worked as a seamstress there, leaving the children with her step-mother, her father having died in 1959. Although she saw her children often, it is believed that Kiyoko had a boyfriend at the time and was only at home with the children on weekends. |
 Chie (far right) - age 9 |
Chie was very close to her step-grandmother, who was also her aunt. When her biological grandmother died, her grandfather married his wife's sister. Her grandmother had died before Chie was born, so her step-grandmother, Teru, was the only grandmother she ever knew, and since her mother was away most of the time, she was also a badly needed mother figure for Chie.
Chie did very well at school and received many awards and medals for her scholastic and artistic talents. When she was twelve or thirteen, she even won third prize in a national drawing contest.
She also had a pet during these years, a white cat named Bebe (beebee). Bebe was a pampered pet, who wouldn't eat anything unless it was cooked. Chie once crocheted a red bib for Bebe, but she lost it. Afterwards, Bebe would steal any bit of red cloth she found and could carry, even from neighbor's homes.
 Chie - age 15 |
Chie was for the most part a typical teenager. She liked Rock 'N' Roll music and her teen idol was American pop singer Ricky Nelson. She liked new clothes, especially shoes. And like most of her friends, she enjoyed American movies and movie stars over Japanese ones. One of her favorite stars was Clark Cable. It was during her middle teen years that her mother was living in an apartment downtown, some three miles from where Chie lived. Missing her mother, Chie would walk those miles two and three times a week to visit her. |
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Chie had began learning English during middle school and was taught it through high school. She graduated from Joshi High School in 1964 and continued taking English classes on her own. After leaving high school, Chie worked filling orders for a textile company for about six months. She then became a secretary for the Fukuoka branch of Honeywell. |
 Chie - age 18 |
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