» Read the Japanese version of this story

Author: Mina Khoshnevisan
Storyteller: Mina Khoshnevisan
Community Language School: Japanese Community Language School
Main School: Jannali East Public School

The story of grandmother Yasuko.

YASUKO
This is a story of Yasuko, whom I think of as my real Grandma. She was the mother of a foster family that my mother stayed with when she first came to Australia.

Therefore, Yasuko is my adopted Grandma. When World War II finished, Yasuko was working in a city called Kure, Hiroshima. Kure was a small town full of foreign soldiers. Yasuko met her husband there, and they married on 24 January 1955. Apparently, she was the 555th Japanese to marry a foreigner.

Arrival in Australia
She first came to Australia when she was 31 years old. She traveled by a ship called “TAIPING”. It took two weeks. During the trip, she looked after a baby whose mother got seasick.

Her first impression of Australia was “beautiful”, especially the red roofs. My parents lived at Bondi Beach. There was no rice or Asian egetables available then,so they ate meat and potatoes. About 10 year after her arrival, long rice became available.

As there was no English school like we have now, she learned English by chatting with the workmates in the battery factory where she was working at the time.

TODAY
There has been lots of happy experiences that she can think of. Some of the most memorable ones are of the times when my little brother and I were born. Today she is very happy to be living in Australia.