A+Korean+boy+living+in+Seoul+Block+A

Name: Lee Chul Su Age: 18 Gender: Male Occupation: boy, likely to be a student recruited as a soldier Appearance: kind of chubby, really short hair, and tall Location: living in seoul Personality/Quirks/Unique Personality Traits: out going, very patriotic, wants to fight against the Japan for the revenge of his parents. Cares about his sister. Family: mom and dad were killed by Japanese and later on youngest sister was taken away by the Japanese, living with grandma and little sister. Education: Finished High school earlier because I was smarter than other people. Languages you speak: Spoke Korean as main language, was also very fluent in Japan and Chinese but did not want to speak. Your main concerns at this time and in life: afraid that i might be recruited to Japan and sent as soldier. Portrait (an image that you and we can live with): family photo. Im on the right where im holding second sister who died in a accident) Due: by the end of the class in which this is assigned.

Day 1 April 1937

It was just like a usual day, Japanese soldiers roaming all over the city recruiting innocent citizens and forcing to work for them. There were screaming sounds all over the place. People were being harrassed, threatened, and raped by Japanese soldiers. Our family was scared to go out. Since with no one to work our family is poor. We barely had anything to eat for breakfast. Luckily there were some left over rice and kimchi. To save some food and money we didnt each lunch. As things looked decent later on in the day, my sister (Ja Young Lee) and I decided to go to the market to buy some food. While we were coming back we were stopped by some Japanese soldiers who wanted to recruit us they were threatening and forcing us. I quickly took out my small dagger (은장도) and stabbed them, then me and my sister quickly ran away back to our house. We were scared and our whole family hid in the addict. We were lucky because none of the Japanese soldiers came to our house. The night was peaceful. No one will ever know when this out rage is going to end. It might last forever. This whole imperial forces thing ruined my life and my family. When will they stop this war. From this event the country of Korea might be ruled over permanently. I always have to be prepared because at anytime Japanese soldiers might break in and take rest of my family from me and recruit me as a soldier. I want to protect my country and save the citizens from the cruel Japanese. I can still remember the day my parents were recruited, my father as a soldier and my mother as a slave. I also can remember the day where my youngest sister was brutally killed by the Japanese for no reason. This is the reason why I am always scared, that the Japanese soldiers would recruit my only sister left and my grandmother. I want Japan to end this quick just for the sake of Korea. The Japanese are continuing to attack China and many of the soldiers out there fighting against China for Japan are Koreans who were recruited. The society is very corrupted these days. Japanese doesn’t care about the age, if you can walk and strong enough to hold a weapon they recruit you with no other excuses. Women are recruited as slaves and are treated badly. One of my friends luckily was sent back as we was too weak. My friend told me being recruited was the worse thing that could happen.

Day 2 Mid January 1942

Today was extraordinary, it seemed weird. There wasn't much going on in the streets, everything seemed normal today. My sister went out to meet her friends. In the mean time I helped my grandma cook the side meals and went out for a walk with her. Soon my grandma was tired and she went back home and I decided to wait a few minutes in town and come back home with my sister. After I waited an hour, I decided to go to her friends house to pick her up. But she wasn't there she had already left. While I was running everywhere to find her, I finally found her being harassed by a Japanese Soldier. I couldn't hold my flush of anger, I went to him and punched him many times. Eventually the Japanese soldiers accused me and knocked me out from then I couldn’t remember anything. When I woke up I realized that I was in Japan. When I arrived at Japan it was totally different from Korea. Even though Japan was at war everything seemed stabilized. With my hand cuffs on I was harshly sent to a bootcamp center. Even though I hated the Japanese they treated us well. They gave us at least a little bit of food. Next day all the recruited citizens were trained by the army. We were also taught a little bit of English. That is when i met Akainu Hachiro. He was a Japanese soldier, who I met him in the bootcamp. He was fluent in English. We didnt talk much, after he taught me English he went off to train. Things seemed pretty similar here as well, I thought everyone would support the war and want Japan to win but that was only the case of soldiers and government officials. Normal citizens wanted to end the war and wanted a normal life. Apparently many of their families died because of the battle and not only they recruited soldiers from different countries but they also forced many of their citizens to be part of the army. It was not looking good for Japan as well. Later on more people were recruited. Some of them were westerner’s. Looked like Americans or Europeans. I wanted to go back to Korea, I am wondering what happened to my sister and my grandmother. Are they killed or are they still alive? I am worried and tomorrow I will be out against the Chinese.

Entry 3 1943 December.

For the past one year since I arrived in Japan in 1942, I was trained with the army and was interviewed with the general. He asked me a few questions, how old I was, how was my education, and my family. I told him everything. I had a hard life through out the whole year, however, it gave me more time to explore Japanese traditions and culture. Now its finally almost the end of 1943. I woke up in the morning and I was quickly sent somewhere by the generals. I had my eyes covered and I couldn’t see anything. When I arrived, I was at Tokyo University. I was confused, before I even had time to ask the general a question, he left. I went into the school building and went to the office and they realized me and gave me my schedule. First class I sat next to a guy called Uchiha Sasuke. He helped me through out the whole school day. He even got me a place to sleep. His dad was a general in the Imperial Army who went to battle in China. Uchiha Sasuke was a very smart guy and he was different from most of the Japanese students. Not that he supported the war but he also didn’t support Japans annexation over Korea. Even though his dad was a general he didn’t want to be a part of the war and didn’t support Japan to win. Despite that Japan was in the middle of a war, school seemed very stabilized. After school ended Uchiha took me around the city. Around the city area everything seemed normal. There wasn’t much going on besides Japanese soldiers walking around looking suspicious. We went to the market to buy some vegetables and rice, the price was pretty expensive since it was during a war period. While we were coming back from the market some of the Japanese soldiers stopped us and tried to draft me. Uchiha stopped them and explained to them about me. After Uchiha helped me get out of serious trouble I went back to my dorm and cooked my self some dinner. After I ate dinner I was thinking. I couldn’t believe that Uchiha didn’t support the annexation of Korea. He was a Japanese but his way of thinking and approaching to ideas was similar to mine. I wish I can still contact him even though I go back to Korea.

Entry 4 mid-late 1945

I am still living in Japan. I had lost track in time and my family. I had totally forgotten about my grandmother and my sister. After thinking about them I was eager to go back to Korea. However there was no way I can. Mean time things are just going worse and worse in Japan. The American army bombing the cities continuously, things were going chaotic. If I wanted to go back to Korea, the only choice was for me to dress as a Japanese and pretend to be Japanese and sneak in a boat that goes to Korea. I have also lost contact with my friend Uchiha. I continued to try finding soldiers to get me back to Korea. I didn’t care if it was a Japanese soldier or a American soldier or any soldier. I just wanted to go back home. Things became harder for me as many of the harbors were destroyed by the Japanese. I have a high chance of dying. I was scared at this point. I was asking every single soldier that I saw, and all they said was get lost. I was hopeless until I met Akainu Hachiro and his wife. He was a Japanese soldier going to Korea. It felt like I had seen him before but I didn’t quite remember. After thoroughly explaining my situation he had decided to let me go to Korea with him. I have never felt so happy before. Everything was going to be perfect for me. After miraculously getting a boat to go to Korea we headed off. While talking in the boat, Akainu told me on his perspectives about the war. He didn’t want to support the war. He was actually worried that the war might have continued. And while he was out fighting he was worried about his wife as well who was at home by herself. The reason why he was going to Korea was because he no longer felt that Japan was a safe place to live especially when he has a family. Soon we arrived at Korea. It was my first time visiting Korea in nearly 4 years. Things have changed so much. Korea wasn’t as chaotic as it was before. I quickly set out to find my sister and my grandmother. The first place I went to was my house. My house was still there, I dashed inside but there was no one there. All these worries came up to my mind. I waited for a few minutes and far ahead I saw my grandma and my sister carrying a bag full of food from the market. It was the best day of my life.