My Love for Japan's Beauty

When I went to Japan for the first time, in 1969, as soon as I landed at the Tokyo Airport, I said to the soul of Japan, "Towards the end of World War II, you came to destroy me. Japanese planes were bombing Chittagong like anything. You were able to destroy our father's bank. It was turned into a pond. You were able to destroy our house in town. You wanted to destroy my life, but you could not destroy me. Now I am coming to destroy your ignorance."

For three months, we suffered so much at the hands of the Japanese. Always there was fear, fear. We could not sleep at night. One Japanese pilot was shot down and landed in a paddy field just three or four miles from our village.

One supreme revolutionary of Mother Bengal — Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose — single-handedly saved Bengal. He was there in Japan during the attack on Chittagong. He said to the government leaders, "What are you doing? This is Bengal. This is my birthplace." And the Japanese stopped the bombing of Bengal.

Now I like Japan so much. My love for Japan's beauty, inner and outer, can only be felt by my heart and never, never expressed in words.