Tag - wwii

 
 

WWII

Mutsuko Sano shows a booklet containing her wartime experiences during an interview in Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture, in May.
JAPAN / History
Jul 28, 2025
80 years on, Iwate woman recalls naval bombardment
More than 5,000 shells were fired into Kamaishi, which had a large iron mill, on July 17 and Aug. 9, 1945, killing a total of 782 people, mostly civilians.
A supporter (center right) of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba holds up a placard reading "Don't quit Ishiba" as he takes part in a rally across the street from the Prime Minister's Office in central Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 27, 2025
Stay or go? Key events give Ishiba time to ponder his future.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has pledged to stay in office — in defiance of growing calls for him to step down after the LDP's poor showing in the Upper House election.
Members of three organizations working for the abolition of nuclear weapons pose for a picture at a news conference in Tokyo on Wednesday. The three organizations issued a joint statement calling for spreading awareness of the reality of atomic bombings across the country.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 24, 2025
Japanese groups make united call for abolition of nuclear weapons
This is the first time that Gensuikyo, Gensuikin and Nihon Hidankyo have come together to issue a joint statement.
Norwegian Nobel Committee chair Jorgen Frydnes (right) lays flowers at the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims in the city of Hiroshima on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jul 23, 2025
Nobel committee chair visits Hiroshima
Last year, the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, also known as Nihon Hidankyo, won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Atomic bomb survivor Masaki Hironaka reads as he sits among paintings by students made during an annual project to preserve the testimonies of survivors to keep the memories of the bombing in 1945 relevant for younger generations, at Motomachi High School in the city of Hiroshima, on May 29.
JAPAN
Jul 23, 2025
Hiroshima teens describe World War II atomic bombing horror through art
A high school in Hiroshima showed 15 new artworks that depicted the atomic bombing, such as a horror-stricken girl surrounded by an inferno.
Fumiko Takayama speaks in the city of Chiba on May 20 about her experience of escaping two 1945 air raids on the city.
JAPAN / History
Jul 23, 2025
Woman recounts deadly U.S. bombings of Chiba 80 years ago
About 10 years ago, Fumiko Takayama, a former teacher, started to share her experience of having survived two separate war raids, noting that "there's nothing good about war."
Kunashiri, one of the four islands seized by Russia in the last days of World War II, is visible from the Shiretoko Peninsula in northeastern Hokkaido.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Jul 22, 2025
Ex-residents of Russian-controlled islands off Hokkaido want grave-site visits resumed
Now in their advanced years, the former residents want the visits to be restored for them to honor their ancestors whose grave sites are located on the four islands.
Mahatma Gandhi led the Indian independence movement with an unshakable faith in nonviolence that arguably dovetailed with Zen philosophy in some respects.
JAPAN / History / The Living Past
Jul 19, 2025
Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence — and Zen?
The Indian nationalist’s beliefs hewed close to certain aspects of Zen thought, particularly his fearlessness in the face of death.
The Solomon Islands. A team from the U.S. nonprofit Ocean Exploration Trust has discovered the Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer Teruzuki on the deep seabed off the Solomon Islands as the 80th anniversary of the war's end approaches.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 18, 2025
Sunken WWII Japanese warship Teruzuki found off Solomon Islands
The Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer was discovered at a depth of more than 800 meters off the small island nation northeast of Australia.
The remains of about 70,000 atomic bomb victims are enshrined in a vault under the Atomic Bomb Memorial Mound at the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima.
JAPAN / History
Jul 16, 2025
Vault for Hiroshima A-bomb victims shown to media
The ashes of about 70,000 victims of the U.S. atomic bombing of the city in August 1945 in the closing days of World War II are inside the vault.
A man holds Nazi-related material after crates containing them were rediscovered at the Supreme Court in Buenos Aires in this picture released on May 11.
WORLD
Jul 16, 2025
A Nazi document trove raises questions for Argentina
A dozen boxes of Nazi documents were recently discovered in a basement archive of Argentina's Supreme Court.
AI-created images of Holocaust-related subjects displayed on a laptop and a smartphone screens
WORLD / Society
Jul 15, 2025
Holocaust AI fakes spark alarm
Critics say that AI-generated images, text and videos are offensive and contribute to Holocaust distortion by conjuring up a "fantasy-land Auschwitz."
Ex-serviceman Izumi Murakami speaks of his experience during World War II, when he was still a child, in an interview in Kasuga, Fukuoka Prefecture, in May.
JAPAN / History / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Jul 14, 2025
Man inspired as a boy by WWII-era commando questions Japan's past actions
Izumi Murakami, now 92, joined the Air Self-Defense Force, but he concedes now that "there is nothing good that comes out of war."
Emperor Naruhito plays the viola at a banquet hosted by the Mongolian first couple on July 8 in Ulaanbaatar.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 13, 2025
Japan's emperor and empress deepen ties with Mongolia
At the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII, the Emperor and Empress paid tribute to Japanese who died in Mongolia during the aftermath of the war.
People walk past the Atomic Bomb Dome in the city of Hiroshima on June 28.
JAPAN
Jul 12, 2025
More than 120 countries and regions to attend Hiroshima peace ceremony
The number of attending countries and regions is set to surpass the record high set in 2023 of 111, according to the city.
Crown Prince Akishino and his family visit a photo exhibition on the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima at the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum in the capital's Meguro Ward on Friday.
JAPAN
Jul 11, 2025
Japan's crown prince and his family visit Hiroshima atomic bombing exhibition
Two videos and about 160 pictures on display show the devastation from the nuclear attack, which took place on Aug. 6, 1945, in the closing days of World War II.
For the first time, Taiwan will be sending attendees to a peace ceremony to be held at the Nagasaki Peace Park in the city of Nagasaki in August.
JAPAN
Jul 9, 2025
Taiwan hails Nagasaki for allowing it to send attendees to peace ceremony
Taiwan representatives will also attend Hiroshima's ceremony on Aug. 6 for the first time.
Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako pay tribute at a memorial to commemorate Japanese nationals who died while being detained in Mongolia after the end of World War II, in Dambadarjaa, on the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar, on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jul 9, 2025
Emperor and empress mourn Japanese who died in Mongolia
It is the first time that a Japanese emperor has mourned at a site where Japanese people were detained abroad, according to the Imperial Household Agency.
Former soldier Shuzo Yamada recounts his experience of being detained in Mongolia after World War II, in Nanto, Toyama Prefecture, in May.
JAPAN / History
Jul 6, 2025
Memory of detention in Mongolia still fresh for 107-year-old Japanese man
As they make a state visit to Mongolia, the imperial couple will offer flowers at a memorial for Japanese who were captured and detained in Mongolia after World War II.
Emperor Naruhito speaks during a news conference at the Imperial Palace on Wednesday ahead of his visit to Mongolia together with Empress Masako from Sunday.
JAPAN
Jul 3, 2025
Emperor to mourn Japanese detainees who died in Mongolia
The Emperor last visited Mongolia in 2007, when he was Crown Prince.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past