Found in Translation

Love Is a Battlefield
Tetsu Nakama made a living from translating love letters for more than half a
century. Japanese by birth, he learned English in school after World War II
ended, with the prospect of eventually gaining employment at a U.S. military
base. But that changed when his cousin brought him a letter from a U.S. soldier
to a bar hostess in Koza (today’s Okinawa). He agreed to translate the love
letter from English into Japanese.
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He must have had a knack, because more requests for love letter translation
started pouring in. He translated in both directions, billing his clients a total of
50¢—equivalent at the time to a daily wage for a menial worker—to translate a
postcard and a two-page reply. At first, he had mixed feelings about helping
build relationships between U.S. soldiers and women from Okinawa. His
memories of being attacked by U.S. planes as a child remained vivid. However,
one letter at a time, he began to see that many women were falling in love, not
just with the American men, but with the dream of a new life amid rather grim
conditions. Many of them had lost their former husbands and families during
the war. The bicultural relationships gave them hope of escaping not only from
poverty but from painful memories.
Nakama started his business in 1957. As time passed and the Vietnam War
grew in intensity, the number of requests for letters grew, and so did Nakama’s
business. At the height of the war, up to thirty women would visit Nakama’s
office per day, bearing letters from their beloved soldiers. Nakama’s eyes saw
letters from mothers reporting to their sons’ lovers that they had been killed in
battle. He also sometimes saw young women smile with delight upon reading
his translations and learning that their dear boyfriends’ lives had been spared.
Fifty years after Nakama translated his first letter, he was still actively
translating—albeit far fewer love letters than when he first started.
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In the
Internet age, letters that go through the postal service are far less common than
in the past. But the need for translation of loving written messages continues.
Couples with hearts in their eyes will still defy any barrier in order to be
together. That includes language.