Tag - wwii

 
 

WWII

A carrier-based Type 52 Zero fighter marks the entrance foyer of Yasukuni Shrine's Yushukan, a museum that tells a more nuanced story of Japan's experience in World War II than the controversies around the shrine might suggest.
LIFE / Travel
Aug 8, 2025
Tokyo’s WWII museums hold diverse views on war and peace
From detainees in Soviet labor camps to last-ditch efforts to develop miracle weapons, the capital’s war museums tell a multitude of stories of a country in crisis.
Students at the Taira First Elementary School in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, learn about the World War II "mock atomic bombs" during a special class given at the school in July.
JAPAN
Aug 7, 2025
People work to pass on stories of U.S. 'mock atomic bombs' dropped on Japan in WWII
Over 400 people were killed by 49 of what are also called "pumpkin bombs" that the U.S. dropped on Japan between July 20 and Aug. 14, 1945.
People pay their respects for the victims of the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima on Wednesday, the 80th anniversary of the attack.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 7, 2025
Why Hiroshima must keep being commemorated
The anniversary is generating a wave of commemorations and renewing the arguments for and against the mission.
Three teenage student nurses (from left: Karin Ono, Asuka Kawatoko and Hinako Kikuchi) face the aftermath of the atomic bombing of their hometown in “Nagasaki: In the Shadow of the Flash.”
CULTURE / Film
Aug 7, 2025
‘Nagasaki: In the Shadow of the Flash’ honors young nurses thrust into hellish nightmare
Searing and based on true accounts, Jumpei Matsumoto’s drama follows teenage girls turned wartime caregivers as they navigate the unthinkable.
In Kyoto, the former headquarters of the Imperial Japanese Army's 16th Division is now the home of the Kyoto Seibo Gakuin school, one of the city's several remaining signs of World War II.
LIFE / Travel
Aug 7, 2025
Saved from the worst, Kyoto still bears scars of war
Contrary to popular belief, Japan’s ancient capital was not completely insulated from the consequences of war that devastated much of the country.
The Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, is on display at the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum in Virginia after restoration in August 2003.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 6, 2025
Were the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings necessary?
Was it necessary to drop the bombs on civilian population centers to demonstrate the power of the weapons?
A woman prays at the Peace Memorial Park ahead of the memorial service to mark the 80th anniversary of the world's first atomic bomb attack, in the city of Hiroshima early on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Aug 6, 2025
Documents show U.S. initially estimated Hiroshima bombing victims at 100,000
One of the documents said that the heart of the city of Hiroshima was so completely devastated that "not even debris of buildings was left."
A mushroom cloud from the atomic bombing on Hiroshima taken from a U.S. military aircraft on Aug. 6, 1945. Copying the photo without permission is prohibited.
JAPAN / History / Longform
Aug 6, 2025
80 years on, a Japanese American hibakusha recalls the day the bomb dropped
As a 7-year-old boy in Hiroshima, Howard Kakita was hoping to catch the vapor trail of a B-29 bomber. A sudden blast knocked him out.
People pray in front of the cenotaph for the atomic bombing victims at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in the city of Hiroshima on Wednesday, which marks the 80th anniversary of the bombing.
JAPAN
Aug 6, 2025
Hiroshima calls for nuclear-free world on 80th anniversary of atomic bombing
Any message to create a world free of nuclear weapons from the only country that experienced atomic bombings appears to be losing momentum amid global conflicts.
The Children's Peace Monument in Hiroshima on July 24. Each year, some 10 million paper cranes are donated for display at the monument in memory of Sadako Sasaki, a girl who died of leukemia following the U.S. atomic bombing of the city 80 years ago.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 6, 2025
Passing on Hiroshima's message of peace, one paper crane at a time
Through recycling, the millions of paper cranes offered at a memorial each year in the city where an atomic bomb was dropped 80 years ago live on.
Kunihiko Iida speaks about his experience as a hibakusha, in the city of Hiroshima on July 14.
JAPAN
Aug 6, 2025
Orphaned hibakusha continues to tell of the destructive reality of nuclear weapons
Kunihiko Iida has made it his mission to share his experience, believing that conveying the truth of the bomb will "lead to the abolition of nuclear weapons."
A surviving streetcar from the World War II atomic bombing of the city of Hiroshima runs near the Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima on July 27.
JAPAN
Aug 5, 2025
Hiroshima streetcars continue to serve and educate 80 years after atomic bombing
Streetcar service in Hiroshima resumed in some sections just three days after the bombing thanks to intense repair work, becoming a symbol of the city's reconstruction.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks to the press at the Prime Minister's Office on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 5, 2025
Ishiba open to delivering message to mark 80th anniversary of WWII's end
His predecessors had issued official statements approved by the Cabinet during the 50th, 60th and 70th anniversaries.
The Hiroshima Peace Memorial stands as a powerful reminder of the human cost of war and the importance of deep compassion and empathy that can inspire efforts to build a more peaceful world.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 5, 2025
Nuclear destruction through the eyes of a 10-year-old
Still, I wasn’t sure how Max would react to the enormity of the human suffering that took place in Hiroshima.
The Memorial Cenotaph at the Peace Memorial Park in the city of Hiroshima
JAPAN
Aug 4, 2025
U.S. envoy to attend peace ceremonies in Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The United States didn't send its ambassador to Japan to the annual ceremony in Nagasaki last year, over the city's decision not to invite Israel.
Yoshie Kurihara, of No More Hibakusha Project — Inheriting Memories of the A- and H-Bomb Sufferers, goes through materials related to atomic bombings, in the city of Saitama on June 20.
JAPAN
Aug 4, 2025
80 years on, NPO working to digitize materials on A-bombings
The organization, No More Hibakusha Project — Inheriting Memories of the A- and H-Bomb Sufferers, has launched a crowdfunding project.
A memorial to two Japanese soldiers killed in combat with anti-Japanese forces in Phrae Province, northern Thailand
JAPAN
Aug 3, 2025
80 years on: Thai man wants to return soldiers' remains to Japan
During the war, Japan was an enemy to the Free Thai group, but the soldiers were victims of the war, which was unnecessary, Puchong said.
A three-generation family, Susumu Sato (center), his daughter Akiyo Nishida (left) and his granddaughter Nanako Nishida, is working to pass on to future generations the memory of a massive air raid in the city of Toyama that occurred 80 years ago.
JAPAN
Aug 3, 2025
80 years on: Three generations pass on memory of Toyama air raid
In the air raid, which occurred shortly before the end of World War II, U.S. B-29 bombers destroyed 99.5% of Toyama's urban area.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba walks toward the Upper House hall to attend the opening ceremony of a parliamentary session in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 3, 2025
Ishiba unlikely to make personal statement on WWII anniversary
A personal statement by Ishiba, who is viewed as relatively dovish, could intensify the calls for his resignation that have emerged inside the LDP.
For the second time in a year, a Japanese national accompanied by a child was attacked and wounded Thursday in the Chinese city of Suzhou, Tokyo's Embassy said Friday.GETTY IMAGES
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 2, 2025
Attacker wounds another Japanese national in China's Suzhou
The incident comes a year after a Japanese mother and child were wounded in a knife attack in the same city. A Chinese woman had died trying to stop the assailant.

Longform

A mushroom cloud from the atomic bombing on Hiroshima taken from a U.S. military aircraft on Aug. 6, 1945. Copying the photo without permission is prohibited.
80 years on, a Japanese American hibakusha recalls the day the bomb dropped