Tag - wwii

 
 

WWII

“What Divides Us" producer Cannon Hersey says his grandfather, who wrote about the aftermath of nuclear destruction in Hiroshima, never spoke about what he had seen while working with Japanese minister Kiyoshi Tanimoto to preserve the stories of survivors.
CULTURE / Film
Nov 27, 2024
‘What Divides Us’ producer honors grandfather’s Hiroshima reportage
The feature film centers on the bond between a Japanese minister and an American journalist who worked together to document the aftermath of nuclear destruction.
People offer a moment of silence during a ceremony held for the first time on Sunday to remember those who worked at the now-defunct gold mines on Sado Island in Niigata Prefecture, including those from the Korean Peninsula.
JAPAN
Nov 25, 2024
Japan calls it 'regrettable' South Korea skipped Sado mine memorial
The event came after the Sado Island Gold Mines were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site earlier this year.
Reiko Okada shows her ink paintings that depict female students making paper balloons as she talks about her wartime experience on Okunoshima island in Hiroshima Prefecture.
JAPAN / History / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Nov 25, 2024
The stories behind Japan's WWII 'balloon bombs'
Former students are detailing wartime work that had the potential to unleash devastation.
A blue sheet obscures a stone pillar that bears the name of the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, after graffiti was found on it on Aug. 19.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 22, 2024
Tokyo police obtain warrant for Chinese youth over Yasukuni graffiti
The youth is suspected of writing Chinese words, including one meaning toilet, on a stone pillar and its base at Yasukuni Shrine at around 10 p.m. on Aug. 18.
Tulsi Gabbard, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's pick for director of national intelligence, has questioned on X whether the remilitarization of Japan is truly a good idea.
JAPAN
Nov 15, 2024
U.S. intelligence head nominee made possibly hostile remarks on Japan
In a Dec. 7, 2023 post on X, Tulsi Gabbard questioned the idea of Japan's remilitarization.
A Ukrainian flag flies over the site of the former monument to Russian Empress Catherine the Great in Odesa, Ukraine.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 15, 2024
Ukraine’s post-colonial future
If the Ukrainians are truly fighting for us, it is because they are fighting the last battle against European imperialism.
Players gather for a baseball game at an unearthed and restored baseball field that had not seen a competition in 75 years, at the site of a Japanese internment camp in Manzanar, California, on Oct. 28.
JAPAN / History
Nov 4, 2024
In an internment camp, all they had was baseball. They’re back to play.
Before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, baseball was a source of connection between Japan and the United States.
Terumi Tanaka, co-chair of Nihon Hidankyo, will give a speech at the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony in Oslo on Dec. 10.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 29, 2024
In Nobel Peace Prize win, Nihon Hidankyo pays tribute to all hibakusha
The group commended hibakusha for consistently calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons through their testimonies of painful experiences.
Terumi Tanaka, co-chair of Nihon Hidankyo, at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo on Tuesday
JAPAN / Society
Oct 23, 2024
Hidankyo co-head vows to keep speaking about cruelty of A-bomb
Terumi Tanaka was 13 years old at the time of the Nagasaki bombing, which claimed the lives of five of his relatives.
Shinto priests attend a ritual during the autumn festival at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN
Oct 19, 2024
No Cabinet ministers visit Yasukuni Shrine during fall festival
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba only made a ritual tree offering to the controversial Shinto shrine.
People load a bus heading to the Manzanar War Relocation Center in California, in this 1943 handout photo.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 19, 2024
Trump compares jailed Capitol rioters to WWII Japanese internment
The former U.S. president's comments were met with widespread criticism from Japanese American groups and others.
Ground Self-Defense Force vehicles are unloaded during rapid deployment training in Yokohama on Thursday. The GSDF, which was informed of the discovery of two unexploded bombs next to an airport in Okinawa, confirmed both objects to be British-made 250-kilogram bombs.
JAPAN
Oct 17, 2024
Two unexploded bombs found near airport in Okinawa
A company tasked with searching for dud shells discovered one of two unexploded bombs Oct. 8 and the other three days later.
Masakaki tree offerings made by Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and health minister Takamaro Fukuoka are seen at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN
Oct 17, 2024
Ishiba sends offering to war-linked Yasukuni Shrine
The prime minister is unlikely to visit the Shinto shrine during its fall festival, however.
Toshiyuki Mimaki, the co-chair of Nihon Hidankyo, offers flowers Sunday at the cenotaph for those who died in and after the atomic bombing in the city of Hiroshima.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 14, 2024
Aging A-bomb survivors face challenges in passing on their stories
The average age of hibakusha is now over 85, and many of their organizations have either suspended or ceased their activities altogether.
Visitors look at the preserved Atomic Bomb Dome in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park on Saturday, a day after the Nihon Hidankyo atomic bomb survivors' group was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
JAPAN
Oct 13, 2024
In Hiroshima peace park, visitors hope Nobel win will boost peace efforts
With the 80th anniversary of the bombings next year, the Nobel Prize could spotlight the legacy of its survivors and renew debate over nuclear weapons.
Toshiko Hamanaka (left), the assistant secretary-general of Nihon Hidankyo, and the organization's co-chair, Terumi Tanaka, during a news conference in Tokyo on Saturday, the day after the group was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
JAPAN
Oct 12, 2024
Nihon Hidankyo members hope surprise Nobel win cements nuclear taboo
Senior members of the group noted that the Nobel committee chose Nihon Hidankyo at a time when the threat of nuclear war is becoming more intense.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, awards Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh (left), the commander of the Aerospace Force, with the Fath badge in Tehran on Sunday for the missile attack on Israel. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 10, 2024
Today's Tehran looks a lot like the Tokyo of the 1930s
Current tensions between Iran and Israel have parallels to historical events in 1930s Japan.
Police inspect the site where what appeared to be an unexploded bomb was found on Friday in Tokyo's Kita Ward.
JAPAN
Oct 5, 2024
Possible dud shell found in residential area of Tokyo
Around 4:20 p.m. Friday, police received a call reporting that there is something that appears to be a dud shell at a construction site in the capital's Kita Ward.
A several-meter-wide hole at Miyazaki Airport caused by the explosion of an unexploded WWII bomb on Wednesday
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2024
Japanese airport reopens after WWII U.S. bomb blast
There were no reports of injuries but dozens of flights were cancelled on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2024
Masamitsu Yoshioka, last Pearl Harbor bombardier, dies at 106
"I’m ashamed that I’m the only one who survived and lived such a long life,” Yoshioka said in an interview last year.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.