Reunion after 16 years
I last met Auntie Tamao in 2009 on the 13th anniversary of my Uncle Katsu’s death. I hadn’t seen her for 16 years, even though we are related, but after consulting with my sister and wife, I decided to go see her. I contacted my auntie’s eldest daughter and she replied, “I’m sure she will be pleased to see you, so please do. For Wakayama, Katsu, the younger brother of his father Tomisaburo, is his uncle, and Nakamura is his uncle-in-law. Nakamura disappeared from the public stage after appearing at an event two years ago and moved into a nursing home. Some women’s magazines and other media reported that he was suffering from cognitive decline. On October 12, Wakayama visited the facility where Nakamura was staying.
He said, “I had a lot of fun and was very happy.
Nakamura suddenly pointed to a photo on the wall. Wakayama looked around the room and saw that Nakamura was surrounded by a variety of photos. On the wall to the right, facing the entrance, were pictures of her and Uncle Katsu in a movie, the two of them when they were married, and Auntie Tamao’s parents. On the wall to the left were photos of Auntie and her husband and their children. Auntie pointed to a black-and-white family photo taken long ago at the zoo in Kyoto and said. “We had a really good time. She also said, “That’s what Papa (Masaru) said to me at that time. She also said, “Even though my husband made me suffer so much and sacrificed everything, I never heard her complain about Uncle Katsu or talk about the bad things he did to her family. Nakamura spent more than 20 years paying off the 1.4 billion yen debt that Masaru left behind when he passed away. But her suffering was not limited to this; her eldest son, T.Karino, passed away in 1919 at the age of 55. When Auntie told me that she still loved Papa, I thought that people could love each other so much. All the painful memories are gone, and Auntie is now only in the memories of the happy times she used to have. I think there is a happiness there that we don’t know about.”