The Japs were here before the war Read about the pre-war Japanese community in Singapore

By: Lam Pin Foo MS MONICA CHOON has battled against time for the past 30 years to locate her Japanese father in Japan through various means, but without success. The 52-year-old Singaporean and customer services manager of a travel firm was a new-born baby when her father, who worked as a civilian aircraft maintenance technician at Kallang Airport, was sent back to Japan after World War II ended in 1945. Monica Choon's parents, Tham Chee Fong and Kenji Murai. They married in 1944 and he was repatriated back to Japan after the war ended Her mother, Madam Tham Chee Fong, who died in 1981 at the age of 61, was a typical Cantonese woman who was brought up in Chinatown here. Her parents fell in love after meeting at Madam Tham's cafe at the Happy World Amusement Park, which was popular with Singaporeans and Japanese. They married in 1944 despite apprehensions of relatives and friends about the mixed marriage. They lived with Madam Tham's family in Guillemard Road, with many Malay neighbours. Ms Choon was born a month before the war ended. Her mother did not give her a Japanese name because of high anti-Japanese sentiments then. Instead, she gave her the surname Choon, which was the Cantonese transliteration of the name of her father, who is Kenji Murai, from Hokkaido. Murai, who will be 82 this year if he is still alive, came to Singapore with the Occupation Forces in 1942. He failed to return home from work one day, after the war ended. His wife looked for him without success, and was finally told that he had been sent to the camp and would be repatriated to Japan shortly. Her letters to Murai's home address in Hokkaido were returned unopened. She never heard from him again but was sure that he was prevented from communicating with her by his strict parents who were against his marrying a foreigner. Ms Monica Choo...Dad was a gentleman, devoted husband and doting father Ms Choon did not know about her Japanese father until when she was almost six years old, after being taunted by neighbourhood Malay boys that she should go back to Japan. From the mid-'60s onwards, she tried unsuccessfully to trace her father. In desperation, she enlisted the help of her former teacher at Maris Stella, Ms Teresa Teng (now Mrs Panchini). They went to the Japanese Embassy and were told simply that, as there were many such cases, they were unable to help. In late '80s, her plight moved a Japanese airline official who, after several personal inquiries in Japan, verified that someone, with name and antecedents corresponding to her father's, had died in 1986, leaving three sons. Although compelled to accept the fact that her father might be dead, she still hopes that it was a case of mistaken identity. "I have never forgotten my promise to my mother that I would do my utmost to find my father. If I did find him, I will look after him as a filial daughter should. "My fervent hope is to meet my Japanese blood relatives as they are now the only tangible link to strengthen my Japanese roots. "My father was a gentleman, devoted husband and doting father. He was very handsome and had a distinguished and benign air about him. His features were not typically Japanese, and he was a six-footer." Her father was also kind, as he would give their neighbours his government rations of rice, sugar and cooking oil, which were much sought after at inflated prices in the black market. Ms Choon, who is married to Mr Jeffrey Low, a senior executive based in Vietnam, has two daughters. Her father's last-known address is Kusirosi Koto Bokityo, Hokkaido. She can be reached on tel: 390-1873 or 765-9053, or pager 9580-0737. First published in The Straits Times, Feb 25, 1998 Next: She finds her dad Previous Moses' start page Chee Beng's start page Nura's start page Leslie's start page Copyright © 1998 Singapore Press Holdings. All Rights Reserved.