A Japanese woman's tribute to a remarkable Singaporean.

This orbituary ad (below) appeared in ST on 2 Feb. Mr Jimmy Chew died on 1 Feb, aged 88:

What struck me was the array of medals on his chest, indicating that he was a wartime veteran. But, as far as I am aware, none of the English-language press did a story. Only the Chinese press did.

Then, a Japanese school teacher from Tokyo, Mrs Yoko Natsume, sent a letter to ST, which was published today (16 Feb). I will let her tell her story about this remarkable man...

Japanese teacher's gratitude to Singaporean POW

I was saddened to learn of the death on Feb 1 of Mr Jimmy Chew, 88, a World War II prisoner of war (POW) during the Japanese Occupation of Singapore.

A group of Japanese high school students and I owe him a debt of gratitude for describing to us his personal ordeal ("Remembering the thousands who lost lives"; Dec 9, last year).

Yesterday marked the 70th anniversary of the Occupation and many Singaporeans must have bitter war memories.

Unfortunately, relatively few Japanese of my generation or younger are familiar with the Occupation, when an earlier Japanese generation inflicted untold misery on the people of Singapore. It was not until I had a chance to live in Singapore in 1992 that I learnt of the suffering inflicted by the occupiers: renaming Singapore "Syonan-to", forcing Japanese culture on Singaporeans, and committing many atrocities.

All Japanese citizens remember Dec 8, 1941 as the day of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in the United States.

But there is little mention in Japanese history classes of the simultaneous strike on the Malayan peninsula and the subjugation of Singapore.

When I returned to Japan in 2002, I was convinced that my fellow Japanese, especially the younger generation, should learn about the dark years of the Occupation because we cannot close our eyes to the past.

I organised study tours to Singapore for my students, which included visiting a survivor of the Occupation.

Mr Chew willingly accepted my request and for six years until his death, he invited me and representatives from my school to his flat each March to share his experiences as a POW of the Japanese.

He courageously relived the dark years to inform and educate us. His telling inevitably filled us with guilt and remorse.

Yet, he would assure us unfailingly that while he remembered the suffering, he no longer harboured ill feelings towards the Japanese. He said he realised that the Japanese must have suffered in their own way; that the trauma and absurdity of war made victims of both Singaporeans and Japanese.

His remarks never failed to move us.

Now that Mr Chew is no longer with us, I feel it is my duty to pass on what we learnt from him to my fellow Japanese. May he rest in peace.