Skip to main content

01 March 2021

  • English
  • Español
  • Get “Supply Points”
  • Get updates
  • Feedback
  • About WW2live
  • Login
  • Sign in
  • My account
  • Help
Home
Add content
FacebookTwitterGoogle+YoutubeRSS
WW2Live ClubWW2Live Affiliates

Main menu

  • Topics WW2
      1. INTERWAR PERIOD AND CAUSES WW2
        1. Conferences and Treaties
        2. League of Nations
        3. Ideologies and Doctrines
        4. Crisis and Interwar Armed Conflicts
        5. Economics Prelude
        6. Miscellaneous Pre-War
      2. POLITICAL, SOCIETY, ECONOMY, ART, CULTURE DURING WW2
        1. Nations at War: Axis
        2. Nations at War: Allied
        3. Co-belligerents and Neutrals Nations
        4. Occupied Nations and Territories - Collaborators
        5. International Relations
        6. Conferences and Treaties
        7. Miscellaneous during WW2
      3. ESPIONAGE, RESISTANCE, ESCAPES, SECRETS AND CURIOSITIES
        1. Special Operations, Intelligence and Espionage
        2. Partisans, Guerrillas and Resistance Movements
        3. POWs and Internees, Escapes and Rescues
        4. Secrets of WW2
        5. WW2 Curiosities
      4. ATROCITIES AND WAR END
        1. The Holocaust
        2. War Crimes
        3. Allied Occupation
        4. War Trials
        5. Postwar
        6. Miscellaneous Atrocities and War End
      5. STRATEGIES, RESOURCES AND CAPABILITIES MILITARY
        1. Strategy, Tactic, Doctrine, Planning and Training
        2. Science and Technology Military
        3. Military Maps
      6. WW2 TODAY
        1. Archaeology of WW2
        2. Retrospectives and News WW2
  • Theaters and Campaigns
      1. WAR IN THE EUROPE
        1. Polish Campaign (1939)
        2. Russo-Finish War: Winter War (1939-1940) and Continuation War (1941-1944)
        3. Russo - German War (1941-1945)
        4. Norway and Denmark Campaign (1940)
        5. France, Belgium and Low Countries (1939-1940)
        6. Battle of Britain, Operation Sea Lion and The Blitz (1940-1941)
        7. Northwest Europe Campaign (1944-1945)
        8. Europe: Miscellaneous Campaigns
      2. WAR IN THE AFRICA, MEDITERRANEAN AND NEAR EAST
        1. Italian East Africa Campaigns (1940-1941)
        2. North Africa Campaigns and the Mediterranean (1940-1943)
        3. Northwest Africa Campaign (1942-1943)
        4. Italian Campaign (1943-1945)
        5. Balkan Campaigns and The Aegean (1940-1941)
        6. Balkan Campaigns, The Aegean and The Adriatic (1942-1945)
        7. Near East Campaigns (1940-1945)
        8. Africa, Mediterranean and Near East: Miscellaneous Campaigns
      3. AIR AND NAVAL WAR IN THE WEST OF EUROPE
        1. Naval War in the West (1939-1945)
        2. Air War in the West (1939-1945)
        3. Air and Naval campaigns in Europe: Miscellaneous
      4. WAR IN ASIA
        1. China-Japan War (1937-1945)
        2. Indo-China and Thailand Operations (1940-1945)
        3. Malaya and Singapore Campaign (1941-1942)
        4. Philippines Campaign (1941-1942)
        5. East Indies Operations (1941-1945)
        6. (CBI) China-Burma-India Theater (1941-1945)
        7. Soviet Operations in The Far East (1945)
        8. Asia: Miscellaneous Campaigns
      5. WAR IN AUSTRALIA, PACIFIC AND INDIAN OCEANS
        1. Pearl Harbor Raid (December 1941)
        2. Central Pacific Area Operations (1941-1945)
        3. Indian Ocean (1941-1945)
        4. Australia, New Guinea and The Bismarck Operations (1942-1945)
        5. Solomon Islands Campaigns and The South Pacific (1942-1945)
        6. Bombas Atómicas y Rendición del Japón (1945)
        7. North Pacific Area Operations (1941-1945)
        8. Australia, Pacific and Indian: Miscellaneous Campaigns
      6. AIR AND NAVAL WAR IN ASIA, PACIFIC E INDIAN
        1. War at Sea in The Pacific and Indian Oceans (1939-1945)
        2. Air War in Asia and The Pacific (1941-1945)
        3. Air and Naval Asia, Pacific and Indian: Miscellaneous Campaigns
  • Armament and Equipment
      1. ARMY
        1. Helmets and Individual Equipment
        2. Individual Weapons
          • Handguns
          • Rifles
          • Grenades
          • Submachine Guns
          • Light Machine Guns
          • Machine Guns
        3. Mortars and Grenade Launcher
        4. Anti-Tank Weapons
          • Rifle Anti-Tank
          • Anti-Tank Guns
          • Self-Propelled Anti-Tank Guns
        5. Artillery
          • Towed Howitzers
          • Field Guns
          • Self-Propelled Howitzers
          • Aircraft Artillery
          • Coastal Artillery
          • Rocket Launcher
        6. Transport Vehicles
          • Light Vehicles
          • Trucks
          • Motorcycles
        7. Tanks and Armoured
          • Half-Track Armored Personnel Carrier
          • Tank Destroyers
          • Assault Guns
          • Light Tanks
          • Medium Tanks
          • Heavy Tanks
          • Armored Cars and Armoured Fighting Vehicles
          • Armoured Trains
        8. Chemical Weapons
          • Flamethrowers
          • Fog Weapons
      2. NAVY
        1. Battleships
        2. Pocket Battleships
        3. Aircraft carriers
        4. Escort Carriers
        5. Battle Cruisers
        6. Heavy Cruisers
        7. Light Cruisers
        8. Destroyers
        9. Escort Ships
          • Torpedo Boats
          • Frigates
          • Corvettes
          • Minelayers
          • Minesweeper
          • Gunboats
          • Monitors
          • Auxiliary Cruisers
          • Other Escort and Auxiliary Boats
        10. Torpedo and Gun Boats
        11. Submarines
          • Coastal
          • Minelaying
          • Ocean-going
          • Other
        12. Transport Ships
          • Troop Ships
          • Landing ships
        13. Amphibious Vehicles
        14. Other Warships and Auxiliary Ships
      3. AIR FORCE
        1. Fighter Aircraft
          • Light Fighters
          • Heavy Fighters
        2. Bomber Aircrafts
          • Dive Bombers
          • Figther - Bombers
          • Light Bombers and Ground Attack
          • Torpedo Bombers
          • Medium Bombers
          • Heavy Bombers
        3. Patrol and Reconnaissance Aircrafts
        4. Transport Aircrafts and Gliders
        5. Other Aircrafts
      4. OTHER WEAPONS AND FORTRESS
        1. Suicide Weapons
        2. Secret Weapons
        3. Fortifications
        4. Other Weapons and Equipments
  • Military Units
      1. OVERVIEW MILITARY UNITS
        1. Order of Battle
        2. History of Major Military Units
        3. Uniform Soldiers
        4. Insignias, Medals, Awards and Badges
      2. ARMY
        1. Armoured Units
        2. Light Mechanized Units
        3. Infantry Units
          • Infantry Units
          • Fortress Units
          • Grenadier Units
          • Light Infantry Units
          • Motorized Infantry Units
          • Armoured Grenadiers Units
          • Volks-Grenadiers Units
          • Security Units
          • Reserve Units
          • Training Units
          • Static Units
          • Special Units
        4. Mountain Units
        5. Ski Units
        6. Light Chasseurs Units
        7. Cavalry Units
        8. Light Cavalry Units
        9. Artillery Units
        10. Fortress Units
        11. Coastal Defense Units
        12. Replacement Units
        13. Other Army Units
      3. NAVY
        1. Naval Infantry Units
        2. Marine Units
        3. Other Marine Units
      4. AIR FORCE
        1. Parachute Units
        2. Airborne Units
        3. Field Units
        4. Special Units
        5. Training Units
        6. Anti-Aircraft Units
        7. Air Force Units
        8. Other Air Force Units
      5. SPECIAL CORPS AND UNITS
        1. Waffen SS Units
        2. Colonial Units
        3. Expatriate Units
        4. Command Units
        5. Engineer Units
        6. Other Special Units
  • Museums, Memorials and Sites
      1. EUROPE AND AFRICA
        1. Museums
        2. Memorials
        3. Cemetery
        4. Sites
        5. Battlefields
      2. UNITED STATES, CANADA AND THE REST OF LATIN
        1. Museums
        2. Memorials
        3. Cemetery
        4. Sites
        5. Battlefields
      3. JAPAN, AUSTRALIA, CHINA AND REST OF ASIA AND THE PACIFIC
        1. Museums
        2. Memorials
        3. Cemetery
        4. Sites
        5. Battlefields
  • Veterans
      1. Veterans: News and Events
      2. Veterans Associations – Leagues
      3. Veterans Forums
      4. Veterans: Other Interesting Resources
  • Re-enactment
      1. Re-enactment: News and Events
      2. Re-enactors Associations
      3. Re-enactment Forums
      4. Re-enactment: Other Interesting Resources
  • WW2 Hobbies
      1. MODELING
        1. Modeling: News and Events
        2. Modelers Associations
        3. Modeling Forums
        4. Miniatures and Dioramas
          • Modeling: Figures
          • Modeling: Vehicles and Tanks
          • Modeling: Aircrafts
          • Modeling: Warships and Submarines
          • Modeling: Dioramas
        5. Modeling: New Releases
        6. Modeling: Other Interesting Resources
      2. Toys
        1. Dolls
        2. Vehicles
      3. Wargames
        1. Wargames: News and Events
        2. Associations and Clubs Wargames
        3. Wargames Forums
        4. Wargames
          • Wargames: Board games
          • Wargames: PC and Mac
          • Wargames: Miniatures
          • Wargames: Other Formats
        5. Video Game Console
        6. Wargames: New Releases
        7. Wargames: Other Interesting Resources
  • Films, Music, Art and Books
      1. FILMOGRAPHY
        1. Filmography: News and Events
        2. Filmography: Reviews and New Releases
        3. Filmography: Other Interesting Resources
      2. WARTIMES MUSIC
        1. Film Music
        2. 20´s Music
        3. 30´s Music
        4. 40´s Music
        5. Music: News and Events
        6. Music: Reviews and New Releases
        7. Music: Other Interesting Resources
      3. ART
        1. Art: News and Events
        2. Art: Drawings
        3. Art: Poster & Prints
        4. Art: Other Formats
        5. Art: Other Interesting Resources
      4. BOOKS
        1. Books: News and Events
        2. Books: Reviews and New Releases
        3. Books: Other Interesting Resources
  • Leadership and People
      1. MILITARY LEADERSHIP
      2. POLITICAL LEADERSHIP
      3. OTHER HISTORICAL PEOPLE
Spaniards in the British Army
The Original Jeeps
Rome
The Texel Uprising: Night of Bayonets
The Guadalcanal-Solomons Campaign November 1942–March 1943
The Doolittle Raiders and their Fight for Justice
The Longest Campaign: The Battle of the Atlantic
The River Battles: Canada's Final Campaign in Italy
Mechanisation of British Cavalry Units and Tank Doctrine
PODCAST MUJERES EN LA SEGUNDA GUERRA MUNDIAL
  1. Home
  2. » Japanese Unearth Remains, and Their Nation’s Past, on Guadalcanal
link
Bletchley Park's picture
Shared by Bletchley Park ( 
0
 Lieutenant) November 30, 2014

Japanese Unearth Remains, and Their Nation’s Past, on Guadalcanal

Using a trowel to dig into the shadowy floor of the rain forest, pausing only to wipe away sweat and malaria-carrying mosquitoes, Atsushi Maeda holds up what he has traveled so far, to this South Pacific island, to find: a human bone, turned orange-brown with age.

Mr. Maeda, 21, was looking for the remains of missing Japanese soldiers at the site of one of World War II’s most ferocious battles. Others have done this work before him, mostly aging veterans or bereaved relatives. But he was with a group of mostly university students and young professionals, nearly all of them under 40 and without a direct connection to the soldiers killed here.

They had come to honor their countrymen, many of whom were no older than they are when they fell on the battlefield. The group was also searching for answers. “These young men who died here believed they were defending their family and loved ones,” said Mr. Maeda, a university junior in religious studies. “We need to rediscover their sacrifices and learn from them.”

As the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II approaches, there has been a surge in interest among young Japanese about the disastrous war that their nation has long tried to forget.

It is a phenomenon that crosses political lines, encompassing progressives who preach the futility of war as well as conservatives who question the historical record of Japan’s wartime atrocities. What these young people have in common is an urgent sense that they learned too little about the war, both from school, where classes focus on earlier Japanese history, and from tight-lipped family members, who prefer not to revisit a painful time.

Driving this nationwide pursuit into the past has been China’s hostility toward Japan over control of disputed East China Sea islands, known in China as the Diaoyu and in Japan as the Senkaku. Despite recent diplomatic maneuvering to ease tensions, anxiety about China’s rise remains strong in Japan.

“For the first time since 1945, Japan is facing a small but real possibility of conflict,” said Yurie Chiba, a magazine editor who organizes talks by veterans, has written about the new interest in World War II and argues that Japan must never go to war again. “This makes people want to learn more about those who fought in the war, to rediscover how horrible war can be.”

Kankoh Sakitsu, 42, the head priest of a Buddhist temple in Tokyo who organizes expeditions to Guadalcanal, has seen interest among young people grow after his first trip here in 2008. Since then, he has arranged three other journeys for groups of Japanese, including this one in September.

Mr. Sakitsu originally went to Guadalcanal to pray at the battle sites out of a sense of contrition because he feels Japanese Buddhism failed to oppose the war in the 1930s and 1940s, and so shares responsibility for it.

Once on the island, he was shocked when a relics collector brought him the bones of Japanese soldiers. He became determined to hunt for the remains of some 7,000 of his countrymen still missing on Guadalcanal, victims of the six-month battle that started in August 1942 and helped turn the Pacific war in favor of the United States and its allies.

Continue reading the main story

Mr. Sakitsu said most of the 36,000 Japanese soldiers dispatched here were unaware of the strategic objectives for their country’s aggression in the South Pacific. “They just saw themselves as answering the call of their nation,” he said. Some 22,000 Japanese and 7,000 Americans died on Guadalcanal.

Realizing that veterans were growing too old to continue to look for the 1.1 million Japanese still missing across Asia and the Pacific, Mr. Sakitsu hit on the idea of bringing in a new generation of Japanese to take over the hunt. When he posted an online recruiting ad, he was surprised at the number of replies from university students.

Veterans and others donate to the expeditions, and the Health Ministry, which oversees the retrieval and repatriation of war remains, helps subsidize the ventures.

In Japan, the denials of war atrocities by the country’s nationalists often get attention. But the participants in the September expedition said they were part of a less-vocal majority who did not seek to glorify or whitewash the war that left three million Japanese soldiers and civilians dead, and their country in ruins. Rather, they simply want to recover memories of the war, particularly the experiences of ordinary soldiers who died on distant battlefields like Guadalcanal, an occurrence they do not want Japan to repeat.

“This is not about nationalism or ideology, but a rediscovery of the sacrifices of common soldiers who were no older than many of our members when they died,” Mr. Sakitsu said.

It is also, he said, about a realization that the generations who fought in the war will soon be gone, taking with them the last living links to a dark chapter in Japan’s history that the nation still struggles to come to terms with. The right-leaning government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has called for more positive portrayals of Japan’s wartime behavior, outraging the victims of 20th-century Japanese empire-building, like China and South Korea.

One of the first to join Mr. Sakitsu in 2011 was Atushi Hirano, now a 22-year-old university senior studying to become a schoolteacher. He has been on all four expeditions. Mr. Hirano said that he had avoided so overtly political a topic until five years ago, when the death of his grandfather, a veteran who fought in China, made him suddenly realize that he had never talked with him about those war experiences.

It was a resulting sense of remorse that brought him to Guadalcanal, Mr. Hirano said, a place most of his friends had barely heard of.

“Coming here, seeing the bones and war relics, helping those who died finally return to Japan, these are the next best ways to learn,” he said. “How can we avoid repeating the mistake of the war if we don’t know what happened?”

The desire to find out more about the war years is showing up in many other ways across the country.

Bookstores are filled with vivid memoirs and books describing weapons and battles. The last veterans, now in their 90s and eager to recount their wartime experiences before they die, draw crowds of listeners. The biggest-grossing domestic-made movie of the year — and one of the most debated — has been “The Eternal Zero,” the fictional story of a young Japanese man who is prompted by the funeral of his grandmother to learn about the grandfather he never knew, a pilot of Japan’s storied Zero fighter plane who died as a kamikaze in the war.

During their two weeks on Guadalcanal, the 27 expedition members found about 30 sets of remains, mostly partial skeletons unearthed from the hard, dark brown jungle floor. On one afternoon, the group dug shallow pits into a hillside where, 72 years before, retreating Japanese soldiers had set up a field hospital to treat their wounded. Mixed in with the bones, which were so fragile that they crumbled if squeezed too hard, the group also found personal items: Japanese-made buttons, eyeglasses, a toothbrush.

At day’s end, the items were laid on bright green banana leaves so the group could offer short prayers before heading back to its campsite across a river. Keiko Terasaki, 27, a first-time participant, wiped away a tear as she carefully wrapped some bones in leaves.

“Japan has neglected these men by leaving them in the jungle,” said Ms. Terasaki, who works as an aide to a City Council member in Hiroshima. “They gave everything when their nation needed it.”

Mr. Sakitsu, the leader, said the September group was special because it was joined for the first time by one of the last surviving Japanese veterans from the battle, Junshiro Kanaizumi. Mr. Kanaizumi, 95, was an army engineer who helped build roads in the jungle. Now bent and frail with age, shuffling to the edge of the jungle with the help of a walking stick, Mr. Kanaizumi wore the same khaki jumpsuit with a Japanese flag on one shoulder as the other members.

Peering into one of the leaf-wrapped bundles, Mr. Kanaizumi said it was possible he once knew the man now reduced to a pile of crumbling bones.

“I hope they learn the miserable reality of war,” he said. “Once I am gone, who will be around to tell them that the only lesson from war is to never do it again?”

  • A Japanese vessel was partly submerged off Guadalcanal in 1942 after being hit by American forces. The battle helped turn the Pacific war in favor of the United States and its allies. Some 7,000 Japanese were reported missing on Guadalcanal.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/30/world/japanese-unearth-remains-and-their-natio...

Source: 

Martin Fackler - http://www.nytimes.com/ - US Navy/Getty Images
1

Tags: 

  • Guadalcanal
  • Solomon Islands
  • Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN)
  • American forces
  • Pacific Theater

Categories: 

  • Topics WW2
  • WW2 TODAY
  • Retrospectives and News WW2

WW2 Timeline: 

  • 1942
  • Now

Nation in war: 

  • ALLIES
  • United States
  • AXIS
  • Japan

Language: 

  • English

Rating: 

No votes yet

Related contents

In the same category
article

Image type: 

1
CANAL PODCAST SEGUNDA GUERRA MUNDIAL
audio
1
The People's Army in the Spanish Civil War
link
1
Eagle Squadron (US early entry into WWII)
document
Subir imagen
La industria de guerra alemana como elemento de planificación estratégica durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial
Same author contributions
article

Image type: 

1
29 stunning images of fighting, defeat, victory, devastation and ruins in Monte Cassino. Remembering the battle, remembering to them!!!
article

Image type: 

1
Stunning: When a M8 Greyhound knocked out a Tiger tank during an exciting engagement in the Battle of the Bulge
article

Image type: 

1
The 'Tirpitz' Bunker, Never Completed, Turned Into Museum
external_video
Yes! The First ever Documentary of the D-Day Landings

Search engine

 
Enter a comma separated list of user names.

About WW2Live

  • Company info
  • Tell us what you think
  • Contact us

Share contents in WW2live

  • Contents form

Get advantages from WW2live

  • Sell on “Global Marketplace WW2live”
  • Become an Affiliate
  • WW2live Club
  • “Supply Points”
  • Suscribe to Newsletter

Your account in WW2live

  • Login
  • Sign in
  • Help
  • Policies and rules

WW2live on Social Media

FBTwitterGoogle+YouTubeRSS

Top
Military Sites

Military Top rankings. War relics- militaria and collecting sites, world war history. ww2 militaria uniforms steel helmets

  • Legal notice
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies Policy

Copyright © 2014. Yourwhislist E-Commerce, S.L. All rights reserved. WW2live is a division of Yourwhislist E-commerce, S.L.