Can You Weep Over Passing of an Elephant?

Yes, we can - rather those who have lived day-to-day with her in sight wept over the passing of a grandma elephant Hanako at Tokyo's Inokashira Natural Park, May 26. At 15:40 that day, Hanako inhaled a long, deep breath and died. She was 69.

It's a long, saddening and yet heartfelt story. A short while after the war, when the whole country was in the depth of nothingness, a female elephant, only a child's height tall, landed at the port of Kobe all the way from Thailand.

Entertainment-hungry children of Japan welcomed Hanako like a gift from heaven. A special train was arranged to bring Hanako from Kobe to the Ueno Zoo, Tokyo.

Hanako was given such a hearty welcome for good reasons: for one thing, nothing is better a baby elephant to sooth the young minds in war-torn Japan and also for a saddening story of many animals dealt with amid frequent air-raids.

The Ueno Zoo had three elephants during the war: John, Tonkey and Hanako. For fear that they might desert amid air-raids, the zoo management let them starve to death. People never forgot Hanako had to die that way.

So, the baby-girl elephant had no sooner arrived the Ueno Zoo than they named her Hanako in memory of the pitiful Hanako who died foodless.

For years thereafter, Hanako and an Indian elephant "Indira" were gems of the Ueno Zoo. Then in 1954, after Hanako moved to the Inogashira Natural Park, her life started following adverse turns.

A tragedy occurred. One midnight, a drunkard strayed into her compartment and she stepped on him to death. It was one of those misfortunes but she was suddenly labeled "a man-killing elephant". Another accident ensued four years later as a caretaker died on her account.

Hanako, 13 then, was chained "for life".

Then a new caretaker, Seizo Yamagawa by name, arrived a while after, and saw her chained. Very much moved, Yamakawa resolved to unchain her no matter what. Yamakawa devoted his time to Hanako and managed to help Hanako regain herself.

People near the park remember all such stories of Hanako. The day Hanako passed away, not a few mourners came to the park to bid her farewell.
(Nathan Shiga)