Photo/Illutration A letter from the young airman, written on Aug. 8, 1940, shows his wishes for Sugimoto's happiness. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

For many years after World War II, Chieko Sugimoto, a 98-year-old resident of Koka, Shiga Prefecture, kept a box full of letters stashed away in the storeroom of her home.

She had the box marked "Military Mail: Do Not Read" in her own handwriting, wanting to keep this a secret from her husband and three children.

In spring last year, however, one of her grandchildren let the cat out of the bag, so to speak.

A bundle of love letters, stamped "Military Mail" and "Censored" in red ink, emerged from the box.

Widowed and in her 90s, Sugimoto no longer saw any need to keep her decades-old romance a secret and decided to tell her family about it.

Her sweetheart was an airman six years her senior.

At that time, Japanese students were instructed to write letters of encouragement to soldiers on the front, and he was the one assigned to Sugimoto.

As they corresponded, they developed special feelings for each other.

He wrote, "Every time you send me a letter, you enclose a beautiful flower petal from your hometown. Thank you so much."

He noted on another occasion, "I look at your picture at least once a day. It makes me feel as if you are speaking kind words of comfort to me from your photo album."

They saw each other in person only twice.

In one letter, he expressed his readiness to marry her. But after he volunteered as an airman, his resolve began to waver.

"Please forget me," he wrote. "But I will forever continue to hold onto your image in the deepest depth of my soul."

In the winter of 1940, he died in a fatal plane crash on his way home from Taiwan. Sugimoto was 17.

"Romance was taboo back then, but I suppose he was my first love," she recalled.

There were 38 letters in all, which Sugimoto donated to the prefectural peace museum. I saw them there.

The young airman was resigned to his fate and lived his life in fast-forward mode. My heart goes out to the couple for their all-too brief and poignant romance.

"I pray that you will live a happy life," he wrote to her.

Japan of that era tends to be depicted as a society united under an overpowering sense of loyalty and valor.

But even in wartime, people did fall in love and wept for their lost beloved.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Aug. 12

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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