<Begin Segment 4>

[Translated from Japanese]

TY: Gion-machi in Hiroshima-ken, what kind of town was it? Was it more like a small town or a large town?

AT: No, it was more like a medium town. At first, it was a village, but, I mean, the number of houses in the town. Probably it became a town with all the shops on the streets, to make the story short. The Gion-mura became a town. It became a town. Then, the village next to us was called Furuichi, and it also became a town later on. When a village becomes a town, they have to clean the town, including the town hall building and shops. They were taking care of the town by doing such things as splashing water on the street so that it wouldn't be dusty. I think those kinds of things happened. I don't know too well since I was a child. We only cared about being able to attend schools that we liked while the change was happening. There was the Keiken Railroad [Ed. note: mistaken for the Keiben Railroad] running behind my house, and although it wasn't an electric train, I said I was okay because I felt like I had walked there before. Now it became nicer again.

DG: What kind of things did you do when you played with your friends.

AT: I just said it. We played with beanbags, threw balls, and played house, and there were boys in the same class. Five, six of us played together, and we told a boy to be a dad in a house. It was fun back then.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.