As today marks the 69th anniversary of Japan's unconditional surrender on Aug. 15, 1945, it is all the more important to learn and hand down to future generations the reality of war, including both the suffering experienced by Japanese and the suffering Japan inflicted on others — most of them other Asians — in its wars in the 1930s and '40s.
These efforts should serve as a cornerstone for preventing our nation from being involved in war and for maintaining and building peace. Such endeavors are indispensable in view of the dwindling number of Japanese who actually experienced war. It is now estimated such citizens account for just 20 percent of the nation's population. And some of them were too young during the war to be able to meaningfully pass on their experiences to younger generations.
As of the end of March, survivors of the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki numbered 192,719, falling below 200,000 for the first time. Their average age is 79½, and some of them find it increasingly difficult to share their dread of war and the horror of a nuclear attack.