BarcelonaWars do not start overnight. Sometimes, reading a history book seems like it, but they are simmering. In 1932, when much was still left for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese athletes were not well received at the Los Angeles Games. Imperial Japan had already attacked Manchuria using bad arts and the Americans disapproved of the policies of their neighbors on the other side of the Pacific. The Japanese living in the United States already received insults from time to time. Some broken glass, some aggression. That’s why when military Takeichi Nishi won gold in the equestrian jumping competition in Los Angeles, they received him as a hero.
Nishi, however, managed to be received by the Americans as well. First they received him coldly. But after a few days he was already invited to the mansions of Charlie Chaplin or Douglas Fairbanks. Instead of being a sadistic military man, Nishi was a charming man. An attractive man in a made-to-measure uniform, always with riding boots from the French brand Hermès. He spoke languages, knew everything and was friendly. And yes, he was a wonderful rider who told everyone how in 1930, during a trip to Italy, he had seen a horse fall in love with him. He bought it and christened it Uranus. With him he would win gold at the 1932 Games.
The son of an aristocrat, Nishi did not have an easy life, although he never lacked money. The mother was a domestic worker, and once she gave birth, her father kicked her out. His father was a member of the government and took him to the best schools, where he always carried the pressure of the surname. But when he was a teenager, his father died and he was given the title of baron. Nishi entered a university where European methods of education were used and traveled again and again to the Old Continent. He had opted for the military career and entered the cavalry. He was sending to embassies in France, Italy or Germany, where he competed more than once with Uranus.
With the start of World War II, Nishi was sent to China. The imperial army disbanded the cavalry corps, so it ended up first directing tanks and then defending the island of Iwo Jima. His letters, to both family and old friends, would create the legend of a soldier who did not hate his enemies. A man who if he could, would have resolved diplomatic conflicts by horse racing, wearing his French boots, which he wore when death found him in the final battle on the island of Iwo Jima. His character, in fact, inspired Clint Eastwood’s film Iwo Jima Cards.
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