Original by KODAMA Toyoko
Manga by kanabun

　　　　

“I want you to sketch what I saw.”

A grandmother’s experience of being a driver as a young girl, drawn as a manga by her granddaughter and published on the web.

After published, this piece was mentioned on the newspaper, and when published on

the internet by August 2016, it achieved 220,000 accesses. A calm and moving piece of

work about the desire to “disseminate” a message. This piece was also specially published on

the book, “A Bombed Train 75 Years of Travel,” which follows the Hiroshima Electric

Railway and the streetcars that were exposed to the atomic bombing.

　　

(Annotations by the original author, KODAMA Toyoko.)

※1The dormitory was a two-story wooden building. The one closer to the gate was Pine

Dorm and the other on the west side was Bamboo Dorm. In between the two, there was

an annex with the dining hall and bathroom. Buildings were well fenced by concrete

around the back. I believe because the building was full of women, a man once tried

breaking in so there were glass shards on the top of the walls.

　　　

※2 Students wore black hats like turbans on trains, which they made during class. It

was designed by their teacher, SASAGUCHI Masayo. As I remember, we changed from hats to turbans to hatbands. The Collar was detachable. We used to dry them on

the windows after washing. We also used to press our uniforms under the futon (Japanese traditional style of bedding) while we slept.