Chapter 2: Michiko's parents
The person who set up Nisshin Seifun (Nisshin Flour Milling) was Michiko's paternal grandfather. In the 19th year of Showa (1944) June, he passed the company to his 3rd son, Michiko's father, Hidesaburo Shoda because his other children had all achieved success in other fields.
Hidesaburo Shoda was born in the 36th year of Meiji (1903) in Tokyo. He was a graduate of the then Tokyo Business College. He majored in British economic history. Graduated in 1927. Then he entred Mitsubishi and worked for 2 years. Then he started all over again in his father's company. After WWII, only three factories out of the various factories survived. Under Hidesaburo's leadership, he set up the revival committee for his father's company. He rebuilt the bombed factories and with the help of American technologies, he upgraded everything. Once again, he brought good profit to Nisshin in a near-destroyed country. The Prime Minister of that time,Yoshida Shigeru, even asked Hidesaburo's help in giving ideas to solve food shortage in Japan. Hidesaburo later became the president of Japan's Seifu Club (Flour Milling Club). Since 1955, Nisshin largely expanded it's operations. Nisshin's employees were estimated around more than 3000 in numbers.
Shoda's family became one great wealthy family by Michiko's grandfather and father's effort.
However, Michiko's father's most luckiest part of his life was that he was married to Michiko's brilliant mother.
3 years after Michiko's father graduated from college (1929), he married Miss Fumiko Soejima. Fumiko was born into an elite family. She was born in the 42th year of Meiji (1909) in Shanghai, China. She lived in Shanghai with parents and 5 siblings for 16 years. She could speak Chinese and had good understanding of the Chinese culture. At that time, Fumiko's father worked for a Japanese organization called "国联会社" (sorry, I just don't know how to translate this into English, it was an organization controlling the Japanese resources to be transferred to China) and was also president of one of the three largest cotton companies' Shanghai branch. Fumiko's family resided in a four storey Western house with two Japanese maids and one Chinese cook. Their lifestyle was very comfortable. At that time in Shanghai, there were alot of Japanese power and there were also Japanese primary schools. In 1923, March, before the Kanto great earthquake, Fumiko went back to Tokyo with her family. They resided in Tokyo and Fumiko enrolled in Futaba Girls Senior School. Everyday she wore navy blue uniform, braded her hair, always looking clean and fresh. She enrolled in the 5th grade mid-year. At that time, she was already a beautiful girl. Futabal was not only a welknown school, it was also a Westernized school with Christian-denomination. There were often sermon services congregations which attracted alot of married women from the upper-class of Tokyo. Michiko's paternal grand-mother was one of them. She quickly discovered this excellent girl. Through the school's principal, Fumiko and Hidesaburo married. At that time, falling in love with eachother was not an essesential requirement. As long as the family background was good and good personality, leading to marriage was generally not difficult. Hidesaburo was an excellent man who achieved alot in life and who was quite educated, on the otherhand, Fumiko was pretty and sweet and intelligent. The guest who attended their wedding all praised that they were so matching!
After Michiko's parents got married, they went to Germany and lived there for 2 years. It was a period of romantic time. They had a son born in Berlin. Then they decided to go back to Japan. During that time, the world was facing economical crisis, but Shoda family did not get affected as the Shodas did not do risky business and plus the foundation was firm. So as a consequence, they lived a happy and stable life.
Fumiko was a good wife and mother. She later bore her husband 2 more girls and a son. She cared alot for her children. As a consequence, her children was all very close to her when growing up. Ever since kindergarten, she would guide and maintain her children's good habits and good academic result. She made the whole family's atmosphere a pleasant and loving one. As a consequence of Fumiko's guidance, the two sons all graduated from Tokyo University and the two daugthers graduated from Seishin University.
Her elderst son is now a high official of Japan's Central Bank and her younger son is now the President of Nisshin Seifu.
Out of her 4 children, Michiko was most excellent. As a result, she was the most troublesome one too. Her younger daughter, Emiko, was long ago engaged to an executing share-shareholder of Showa Electronics (rough translation). He has got a good family background. Emiko married after Michiko. So as a result, as the sister-in-law of the Crown Prince Akihito, Emiko had to get permission for marriage from the then Imperial House Agency. Showa Electronics (rough translation) was a company with long history. So it was great choice for Emiko!
When Fumiko's children was very little, Japan faced her historical hardship. Everyday, there were emergency news from the frontline and enemy's planes dropped bombs. Her eldest son was not even 15, lived in his high school. Husband, Hidesaburo was in Tokyo protecting his company. Fumiko fled to the countryside with the then 10 year-old Michiko, 4 year old Emiko and 2 year-old youngest brother. Fumiko, from her memory, said it was a difficult journey, so many people died horrifically, her children was so lucky that they were not at all hurt.
Fumiko married Hidesaburo when she was 19 year old. At the end of WWII, she was then 36 year-old. Fumiko was good at organizing family affairs. She wanted everything to be perfect, it was tiring for her. In social circles, the comments which were given to her were high. People said "her conversation was good, reasons were logical and complete, she was just like an upper-class madam of the Meiji period appearing in the Showa period". All these good comments were nothing comparing to her caring husband. No matter how busy Hidesaburo was, he would always came back home every evening to have dinner with his family. As a result, Michiko once said that her parents were much more happily married than married couples who dated immensely before getting married. The children's academic interest were immense and often Fumiko would play piano from classical works of famous European composers in the living room after dinner with her husband and children gathering around her.
This family's dramatic change to their lifestyle came about when Michiko married into the Imperial Family.
Initially, different former braches of the Imperial Family objected to Michiko and Akihito's marriage. They started hurting Shoda family with their hurtful words. They even protested to Fumiko and even commented that she was an inconsiderate Shanghainese. Though Shoda family objected to the marriage too and had did their best to prevent the marriage, they still, in the end, had to consent to the marriage.
After Michiko married into the Imperial Family, news came out of the Palace that Michiko's condition was really bad to the point of physically and mentally were breaking down. As a consequence, people would tell Fumiko about these things where-ever she went till she could no longer take them. From then on she stopped coming out of her house because those former Imperial family member were still viewing her as enemy. Fumiko finally got ill. Because of ill-mood, she finally got gastric ulcer till 1986, July, entred hospital. In 1987, Feburary, her illness got worse, Michiko was very worried, but couldn't visit her mother often because she couldnt go out without the police cars accompanying. In 1988, 20th May, Michiko received the news that her mother was gravely ill. This time, Michiko went to see her mother whether or not the police cars were following. At her mother's hospital bedside, she kept on calling her mother. Mircally, her gravely-illed mother regained her consciousness. They chatted affectionally. Michiko left. After a period of time (didn't mention how long), 2 days after Michiko and the then Crown Prince Akihito paid a visit to some kind of prefecture, Michiko received the news that her mother's condition was getting worse. She knew it would be the last time. But when she and her children arrived the hospital, Fumiko was already dead. Fumiko was 78 years-old.
At the time of Fumiko's death, Hidesaburo was still very healthy. With the death of Fumiko, Hidesaburo was even more lonely. Ever since Michiko got married, he lived a careful life. Everyday after work, he would try to minimise his extra-business affairs and went home straightaway. He stopped drinking alcohol and even stopped playing golf. Other than working, he would read books in his library. In the past, in-laws of the Imperial Family were regarded with ultra-high respect, possessing great power. However when it was Hisadeburo's turn, the reporters weren't even able to get a photo of him. He made sure no one would be able to comment anything negatively about him. Michiko was his favourite, whenever he missed her, he would look at the Blossomless fruit tree (i dont know the technical word for it) that Michiko planted shortly before she got married.
Hisadeburo's health were always excellent. Though he passed his company to his youngest son to manage, he still acted as honorable president till 8 years after his wife's death. He fell and entered hospital (1996) and his health declined. In 1999, 18th June, he died at the Tokyo St Lukes International Hospital. He was 95 years-old. He was a good husband, a good father and a good businessman. Michiko at the side of her father's body, mourned for a long time.