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Coming to Saipan is coming home
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Posted on Sep 04 2019
Kensei Kamiunten, 87, has moved on from the ravages of war but not from Saipan, which is the place he calls his first home. (Bea Cabrera)
Japanese national Kensei Kamiunten was born in San Roque in 1932 before World War II broke out. This is why he considers Saipan home and comes back to the CNMI as often as possible.
“I have always felt that Saipan is my first home and Okinawa second. …That is why the desire to come home every year is strong,” said the 87-year-old.
Kamiunten is a member of the Micronesia Repatriation Association from Okinawa. Every year, he and several members that have close ties to Saipan come here to perform “ireisai” or memorial service to the many Japanese families that died on Saipan and Tinian during the war.
For Kamiunten, though, the annual trip to the CNMI is more personal. “I come back because my heart belongs here. …Whenever I am here, I go back to San Roque and walk on the same streets that I walked on as a child. A lot has changed but not the glimpses of memories that I have of the past,” he said.
Over the years, he has maintained his relationship with his childhood friends. “There was Gregorio Camacho, Joe Tudela and Santiago Camacho. They have all passed away but I stay close to Gregorio’s son and his family,” he added.
The Marianas was occupied by the Japanese after World War I. When U.S. forces came to Saipan on June 15,1944, to claim the islands, Kamiunten’s life changed. “When war broke out, I was more scared of the Japanese soldiers,” he said. “I saw people lost and displaced, people jumped from cliffs and my paradise was slowly getting destroyed. …I lost my father and siblings and, at 12 years old, we were told to return to Okinawa.”
This year is the last official visit of the MRA to Saipan but Kamintuen hopes that the younger generation will continue the tradition of visiting the CNMI.
“If I am still in good health, I would love to come back next year, the following year and for as long as I can. …I hope the younger generation would continue trying to create an island without a war, a world with no war and continue to pray for peace,” Kamiunten said.
