Though it can be read as a standalone article, this is the third in a series on the Himeyuri Student Corps covering one of the caves used to support the Haebaru Okinawa Army Hospital. On the surface the only tell-tale…
Haebaru’s Hellish Hospital Tunnels: Haebaru Okinawa Army Hospital Tunnel No. 20
Though it can be read as a standalone article, this is the second in a series on the Himeyuri Student Corps where we follow their story to the place they first went to war, the Haebaru Okinawa Army Hospital. A…
Himeyuri Corps: Female High School Student Nurses during the Battle of Okinawa
During World War II Japan expected everyone to do their part in securing the nation’s unquestionable ultimate victory and this included teenagers. On the mainland high school students were drafted en masse to work in munitions factories turning out weapons…
Visit Suzu’s House, a World War II Japanese Home at Showa Living History Museum
An old-fashioned wooden home hidden in an otherwise unassuming modern Tokyo suburb, Showa no Kurashi (Showa Living History Museum)* normally depicts post-war Tokyo life but for a limited time its taking visitors back to World War II to show life…
Sui Iseki’s Recollections of World War II
My Recollections of World War II By Sui Iseki These are the recollections of Sui Iseki, who was a typist at the Kawatana Naval Factory, which manufactured Type 91 aerial torpedoes. Kawatana is a small town in Nagasaki Prefecture,…
Nagasaki’s Atomic-Bomb Surviving School: Shiroyama Elementary School
The Atomic Bomb Museum, Peace Park and hypocenter are Nagasaki’s most well-known cluster of sites associated with Aug. 9, 1945 atomic bombing but less than 500 meters away there’s another place that’s less known but with its own unique perspective…
Okunoshima: Poison Gas & Bunnies Island
After dragging her through multiple atomic bomb ruined schools and two days of visiting bomb-centric Hiroshima museums I took my lightly traumatized wife to an island full of bunnies to recover. The island had beautiful, natural scenery and uncountable therapeutic…
Louisiana in Shizuoka: Reenacting Summer Camp 2018
We may have been in the Japanese Highlands, but it was humid enough to be Louisiana. I was with B Company, 100th Infantry Battalion / 442nd Regimental Combat Team Reenactment Group for the annual summer training and this year’s camp…
Hidden War Brought to Light: Defunct Imperial Japanese Army Noborito Laboratory Museum for Education in Peace
In a corner of Meiji University’s Ikuta campus sits a small drab building. Well-maintained and completely non-descript it could be another classroom tucked away from the campus’ other towering facility. The only unusual thing about it is a large sign…
Yokosuka Naval Arsenal: Sarushima Battery
It’s 1854. Commodore Matthew Perry has just sailed his black ships into Tokyo bay and forced the Tokugawa Shogunate to open Japan to foreign trade for the first time in more than 200 years. The sudden appearance of…