Holiday time - Thailand

Eat, Prey, Love – Right here .....

So whilst most people on their 30^th birthday are celebrating a glorious ten years of living in their twenties; an era mostly care-free which is usually filled with travels, studies, career, saving for something, going through a few loves, learning from mistakes, and then even some - have found that soul-mate and committed their life to them.

Well, my sister on her 30^th birthday smiled, and hopped on an aeroplane for the first time. This is how I have come to get where I am today – Phuket, Thailand, and we arrived late last night.

After a long-term (6 yrs) relationship that was very far from the best (that’s being kind), my sister realised know matter how much you love a person, or nice a person can be, there is just some things that will never change in them.

My sister broke up with her boyfriend November last year, and has never felt lighter or more independent in her life.

It has being exactly 26 hours travelling with my sister, and I have loved absolutely every single minute. Watching her experience a new world for the first time is an absolute joy. Her calmness and curiosity on the people, language and country, has being very enjoyable to listen and answer.

We have two weeks of adventures (yoga, massages, shopping, swimming, snorkelling – eating) – she doesn’t know what I have install for her ;)

As I this is a beautiful experience, once in a lifetime moment and because I love to write - I am going to write an article on the trip, and hopefully have it published. I will keep you all updated. But for now we are going to start this Thailand adventure with breakfast by the pool.

P.S - Yes, I plan to work on the book whilst I am here.

xx

Boarding the plane

Arriving in Bangkok

Journey begins

Leap day, leap of faith

Today is a leap day, and only happens once every four years.
  

‘Fairy tales can come true, it can happen to you’. I received this in a fortune cookie mid last year. I can’t remember the exact time, I think I was having Thai with a few friends. However, I found it in the pocket of my white blazer three months ago, and have kept it on my computer since, a small reminder to not stop trying.

Today, I put into the postbox the signed form that will enable the start of the investigation into finding the descendants of the fallen Japanese soldier.

Two days ago (27^th February 2012), I received a reply back from the letter I addressed to the Japanese Ambassador, Mr Shigekazu Sato on the 16^th February 2012. I was taken by complete surprise, when I received such a positive response. 

The Japanese Embassy is forwarding all the information about my grandfather, the Samurai Sword and the photographs he found, onto the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Japan. They will then commence, and conduct an investigation into tracking down the Japanese soldier’s family.

As I was reading the reply, I was preparing myself for bad news, presuming they couldn’t help. However, as I kept reading it, bad news never came. I read the email three times, just to make sure I understood that what I was reading, was infact true.

The investigation to find the soldier could take anywhere up to 6 months - to a year. For the first time since I started this journey, I felt that this dream and fantasy of returning the sword, and taking my grandfather back to Japan may actually come true. A leap of faith x

Reply from the Japanese Embassy:-

Dear Ashleigh,

Thank you very much for your enquiry in relation to the Imperial Japanese Army sword and war photographs in your possession. The Embassy would like to express its sincere gratitude to your grandfather for his decision to return the above artefacts to the family of the original owner, and would also like to convey its appreciation for the amount of effort that you have made in tracing the origins of the sword and the information provided on the reverse side of the photographs.

The Embassy takes particular interest in artefacts retrieved from various locations across the Asia Pacific, and does provide a service by which, at the behest of the current owner, any heirlooms or other items of personal value can be returned to the original owner, their relatives, or any descendants wherever feasibly possible.

In order to facilitate a search for the owner and/or his or her relatives, I have attached a “Request for Investigation of Lost Articles” form.

I have taken the liberty of filling out the form in as much detail as possible based on the information that you kindly provided in your letter.  If you could complete the final section which deals with your intentions vis-à-vis the article(s) should any surviving family members be located, this would be much appreciated. The submission date section at the beginning of the form can be left blank.

In addition, the photographs that you provided with your letter will certainly be of great use, however if it is at all possible, if you could also include as many digital photographs of the sword (including the hilt guard and tang) and war photographs as possible when you return the form, this would also be greatly appreciated.

After receiving the photographs and form from you, we shall send them to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Japan as a diplomatic cable requesting the initiation of an investigation into the artefacts’ original owner.

Please note, however, that the process of investigating the original owner of the artefacts and any living relatives or descendants can take some time, in most cases between six months to a year.  Your patience in this matter would therefore once again be very much appreciated.

We would like to thank you for your enquiry and for providing us with such extensively researched and detailed information. I trust that this response has been of use to you. 

If you require any further information or clarification, please do not hesitate to contact me at or by telephone on .

Sincerely,

_______________________________

| Researcher
Political Section - Embassy of Japan
112 Empire Circuit
Yarralumla ACT 2600

Phone: 
Fax: 02 6273 8073
Web: http://www.au.emb-japan.go.jp/
Email: 

Good & Bad News...

Bad News

In regards to my previous post, ‘Opening of the Samurai Sword’. I received an email back from Daniel McGlinchy,  (Duty Curator at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra). He was able to identify what the number ‘66’ on the sword meant. Unfortunately, the number was in no way linked to the officer who carried the sword. The number was simply an assembly number, and relates to the manufacturing of the sword. When the guards on the swords were made, they had several spacers either side, they were all numbered the same as they belonged to one set of mountings that fitted to each individual sword, and each sword would have a different number.

Good News

When I was at my uncles last month, he noticed that one of the pictures my grandfather found was actually not a photograph, it was infact a postcard of the soldier, we had never noticed this previously. Then when I looked at the back of the second photograph, we discovered the postcard and photograph actually had two identical stamps.

I photographed the stamps, and sent them to Daniel McGlinchy. Daniel, had them decoded and they read the following:-

‘Nada Group [Borneo Garrison] (top section) Kuching (Borneo) Kempeitai (Japanese secret police, on right side) Passed Photo inspection by Inspector (on left side) Nemuto. (the red stamp).

It’s basically a passed censorship stamp of the photo on the postcard. During the war for both sides, keeping troop movements, and the movement of each force a secret was very important. There was a slogan used during WWII that helped remind people not to pass information too freely, the slogan was "Loose Lips Sink Ships". Because it was so important not to let out information that might reach enemy forces, letters and photographs were censored for specifics such as locations, battle content and the names and whereabouts the soldier was going.

When a letter had been censored, the person that censored the letter, would usually, put a censor's stamp (usually on the lower left corner), and sign (usually, but not always), or initial near or on the stamp.

Ranking of the soldier

We also had a closer look at the Japanese soldier’s uniform. We were able to identify his ranking by matching the patch on his collar. His collar insignia was exactly the same as below, which was a Captain ‘Rikugun Taii’. 

With the above information, I was able to send a letter to the Japanese Embassy for assistance to track down the family of the Japanese soldier. Hopefully I hear some positive news in due course.

When life gets hard - you can change it

A great friend sent me this beautiful and inspiring video clip. A small reminder for us to live our dreams, be creative - life is short.

Click here to watch

Music in the Forties........

It's incredible how life still continues no matter what events are happening in the world. Whilst people were still suffering the effects of the Great Depression, and the beginning of a Second World War, music kept playing... 

Billie Holiday - Strange Fruit

Louis Armstrong - When the Saints Go Marching In

Judy Garland - Over the Rainbow

Glenn Miller - Moonlight Serenade 

Qantas Soya Competition

I recently entered an extract from my novel into the The Qantas Spirit Of Youth Awards. The competition was for writers aged between 18 - 30. The prize is absolutely amazing. You receive a fully-paid trip to The Pen World Voices Festival in New York this March 2012 ! Also,  a professional mentorship with internationally acclaimed author of The Book Thief, Markus Zusak, and plus $5,000 cash! Fingers crossed xx 

Click here to see my entry

Opening of the Samurai Sword

Yesterday, my uncle and I, opened up the tang (handle) of the Samurai Sword my grandfather found in WWII, the sword that my Uncle and I are trying to restore.

It wasn’t until after our visit to Canberra and speaking with Daniel McGlinchey, who was Duty Curator when we visited the Australian War Memorial, that we knew the handle of the Japanese army sword could be removed. Mr McGlinchey advised us, that the majority of swords have a marking on the blade to identify the arsenal or blacksmith it was made by. In some cases the swords may even have a family badge (mon) on the handle, though our sword did not. Mr McGlinchey then gave instructions to my uncle on how we could open the sword ourselves. Knowing this information, I got excited and very optimistic that a treasure or some sort of writing could be hidden in the sword, and just like a fairy tale, it will give us a hint to who the soldier was.

To unlock the sword, we went over to my uncle’s cousin’s, house. His cousin, Stewart is a carpenter and my uncle felt much more comfortable with him unlocking the sword, then he. With it being in a fragile state and over 70 years old, he didn’t want to damage it in anyway.

Miraculously it was only a small wooden peg that kept the heavy metal blade attached to the tang. Stewart, carefully chiselled a small piece of wood to knock out the peg. In the car on the way there, I couldn’t help to be curious of what could laid underneath the handle.

Within thirty seconds, just like that the peg was knocked out and Stewart was sliding the tang off the blade. Unfortunately, when we opened the blade there were no engravings, or folded pieces of paper with the soldier’s name on it. The only markings we found were the number ‘66’ imprinted on the tsuba (hand guard) of the sword. I am not sure what these means, but hoping it can lead to something….

I was a little disappointed, when we didn’t find any monumental, lead changing markings. But I felt an immense amount of belief from my uncle. Writing this book, has been an adventure so far. However, a major challenge in itself for me personally. A lot of doubt of whether your writing is good enough plays on your mind, and, if your ever going to finish it. But when I unexpectantly overheard my uncle speaking very positively about me writing this book, it was really lovely to hear and immediately, I had a tremendous amount of motivation and confidence to keep going with this and not to give up. It is amazing what one can do, when someone believes in you. Soooo, I will be finishing the book this year, it will be done for my uncle, grandfather and myself. Even if just the three of us read it, I will still be happy, knowing I followed my grandfather’s advice - “You have to follow your dreams, as you never know where they will lead you !”.

Stamp we discoverd - '66'

My little cousin, a creature of curosity - Rhys Thomas Prosser (my uncle's son).
Adorable picture I captured of him being a little man.