Discoveries from around the archipelago
It's always a happy day when a book arrives in the mail. My doorbell rang the other morning with one of Tuttle Publishing's latest offerings, The Peace Tree from Hiroshima. While we've just missed the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and the end of World War II, the message in this book never goes... Continue Reading →
My recent trip to Okinawa and the importance of 2015 as the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II made me want to highlight this relatively unknown holiday on the Japanese calendar. It's not an uplifting holiday, like many of the other celebrations I have mentioned (such as New Year's or Girls' Day)... Continue Reading →
In the latter years of World War II, as Japan was pressed back from her Pacific conquests, 1036 army pilots sortied from air bases in the southern part of Japan. They would never return. Their memories live on however, at the Chiran Peace Memorial Museum for kamikaze pilots (known in Japanese as tokko), an incredibly... Continue Reading →
Yasukuni Shrine is in the news this week. In fact, it's always in the news come the middle of August. On August 15th, Japan (and the world, for that matter) marks the day of surrender that ended the Pacific War. And every August for the past six decades, the world watches to see if the... Continue Reading →
The Hiroshima Peace Museum is a worthwhile visit in its own right but for me, the most moving moment of my visit there a few years ago was the chance to listen to a hibakusha tell his story. Hibakusha is the Japanese word for those who survived the atomic bombing of either Hiroshima or Nagasaki... Continue Reading →
