YAMAGUCHI Rinka
11th grade, Ehime Prefectural Imabari Kita High School
"I wasn't born to be abducted."
If I were to describe Ms.Megumi’s thoughts on her behalf, I would use this sentence.
“Mother, who gently calls me Megumi-chan. Dad, who always happily takes my pictures. Naughty but cute little brothers. Every-one is my dear and irreplaceable family. I love them so much and want to see them. I’m dying to see them.”
Last November, I visited Megumi’s abduction site in Niigata prefecture. The place looked like an ordinary cityscape with a quiet residential area. However, I found signboards standing there to appeal for information about this abduction case, which evoked quite overwhelming feelings. As I walked on, the area, overlapping with the scene I saw in the anime "Megumi," caused a sudden heaviness in my stomach. Megumi's fate changed on this very road I had just walked on. Megumi was abducted while she was walking home from her junior high school. She left school with two friends at 6:30 pm and has not returned home to date. Neither the situation nor the suffering has changed. Time elapsed mercilessly, and the most terrible thing happened.
-Mr. YOKOTA Shigeru, Megumi’s father, passed away.-
The words that appeared in the newsflash shook me in an instant. He left without being able to rewrite the memory of Megumi at the age of thirteen. His tears overlapped mine.
It is not uncommon for the abductees’ family members like Mr.YOKOTA Shigeru to die before getting a chance to reunite with their loved ones. Many in Japan were unaware of this fact. Or, even if we did know, did not take action. Many people all over Japan, I assume, must have shed tears at his obituary. Nevertheless, ephemeral tears are nothing but mere sympathy. No matter how much they mean it, it remains someone else’s grief. We have not questioned the world remaining unchanged for forty-three years. We have just kept on observing it as bystanders. And now, we observe the result. The abducted side is, of course, to blame. Nonetheless, it is also the responsibility of all of us, Japanese people, to correct the situation.
There are many things that an individual can do while macrocosmically grasping the situation as a national issue. For example, you could participate in international symposiums and listen to the voices of abductee’s family from around the world. You could also post your thoughts in this way, like I am doing now. You can start with a small step. There is no limit to what you can do. In order to put an end to this issue, each and every citizen needs to be willing to collaborate with the government. Let us ask ourselves again: Are we going to silently allow this preposterous and inhumane act of "abduction" to be forgotten? The answer is absolutely "NO!" We need to make North Korea recognize and apologize for the abduction and promise never again to do such a ruthless act. A world where all can enjoy human rights as is naturally guaranteed and live life in peace should prevail. All abductees should be released and return to their hometowns as soon as possible.
"We must have been born with freedom naturally endowed!"