LOUIS BURKE | Culture | Contact
Local sales manager Kerine Wright (24) has had a hard time convincing her grandma Olive Murphy (84) that Japan is a safe holiday destination as her nana continues to not trust the Japanese.
Planning on visiting Japan for only the third time this year, Wright states her grandma’s experiences as a child during World War 2 forged lifelong opinions about the East Asian island nation that have not been reversed 73 years, 200 Mario games and two atomic bombs later.
“My nan used to constantly remind me that if it wasn’t for John Curtain we’d all be speaking Japanese,” stated Wright.
“She had her first stroke when she found out we learnt Japanese at school.”
Witnesses state Nana Murphy recovered slightly from her stroke upon learning the school history curriculum did cover the horrific treatment of Australian soldiers in Japanese POW camps.
“See what I mean?” she asked her grandchildren.
“They’re a cruel race.”
Wright states that while she does not believe her Nana to be a hardened racist, she finds it somewhat hypocritical her Nana does not hold the same animosity for Germans, who it’s safe to say also did some fairly illegal things in the war.
“She’s making progress. I managed to get her to stop saying things that’d make my toes curl. Finally.”
More to come.
