Buddhist & Shinto Priests from Japan.
Volunteers who fund their own trips to recover and respect lost soldiers of Japan.
Special Thanks
To Last Zero Fighter author & historian Daniel King for making these photos possible to share here.
Thursday, September 12, 2013
一日の画像 - Picture of the Day - Guadalcanal Funeral
Planes and Perceptions
We recently visited the Pima Air Space
Museum in Tuscon Arizona. At first glance, it appeared as big and
impressive as it's much larger cousin down the road known as “The Bone Yard.” We were
very excited to be there until the moment we stepped inside to see
there in the front of the gift shop a t-shirt set picturing a nuclear explosion
over Hiroshima with some distasteful slogan we won't bother to repeat
here. As my host tried to argue in defense of the place that people
have their reasons there. We'll we have not met any living Pearl
Harbor survivors in the last twenty years but we do know Hibakusha and unlike the defenders of
this left over war time resentment, the aging Hibakusha do not hold a
grudge. But moving on, we thought ok this is just one tacky t-shirt I wouldn't wipe my ass with much less let ruin my visit to this otherwise impressive air museum.
Stepping foot into the museum, the first
thing that caught my eye was an unexpected model display of the IJN
Battleship Yamato. While I was happy to see her I was not happy to
see a model of an American sea plane mounted in a way to suggest it
was making an attack run. We would find two more Japanese displays
each being depicted attacked by American forces. Sure these are only
models and most people would likely not see anything wrong with
seeing depictions of former adversaries but once we stepped over to
see German displays flying the Swastika of Nazi Germany's murderous
regime we could see a clear bias.
In not one of the German displays
did we see depictions of Americans attacking them. Nor did we see
such in the Korean War displays. In fact, The Nazi displays of their
V-1 Buzzbomb and Kriegsmarine was not only sans American attacks,
they were listed with a degree of detail and information about the
displays where in the Japanese displays we were left with not one
shred of detail. But the best and worst was yet to come.
We were both delighted and saddened by
the lone display of a perfectly restored Nakajime KI-43 Haybusa. I
think I had to be the only person there happy to see her as people
stayed clear of the lone vintage Imperial Japanese Army warplane. She
was in pristine condition presumably on loan from somewhere else. We
say this due to the following part that pissed us off. While the
“Peregrine Falcon” sat in a lone corner of the WWII hanger
surrounded by walls of details about every bomb group and bomb run
made against Japan in anger, not one shred of detail or information
was given about this remarkable rare plane.
Not one mention of her role in the war,
her development, not one Sentai listed or famous pilot who flew her
mentioned, only Nakajima Ki-43 “Oscar.” Wow! That's it? As you can see from our photos the place is littered with information about every bomb group and every mission over Japan but not one mission or shred of technical or historical tid-bits that would tell us something other than this was the enemy's plane. It became
quite clear that Arizona's questionable politics extends to its air museums. To
me I had to ask “Why do the Nazi's get respect here and not the
Japanese?” The prevailing attitude seemed like “Well the
Nazi's were White like us but the Japs bombed Pear Harbor.” Are
you freaking kidding me? We won the war did we not? So what's with
the ancient grudges?
We're not trying to say Japan's Army did not commit atrocities in China and elsewhere nor are we going to uphold this distorted saintly vision of our own country during that war. We're just pointing out the obvious. While some "Americans" couldn't give a rats ass about this plane, those of us who love history and surviving warbirds would want to know about the other guys planes as well. To not educate is to waste an opportunity. Had I not known so much about the Ki-43 Hayabusa, I would have felt utterly cheated.
Call it a perceived
lack of interest or perceived prejudice, or just plain out laziness.
Pima on the surface has an awesome A+ collection of Jet fighters and
bombers from the cold war and some rare WWII planes from all sides of
the conflict including Fascist Italy, But when it came to Japanese
displays they get a grade D from us. It's not that they couldn't find
any information about the Japanese forces of Imperial Japan, they
just chose not to. Such war museums are meant to preserve and
educate. Seattle's Air Space museum also has a Hayabusa but unlike
Pima, they chose to give the visitor information about the plane and
respectfully displayed her in her own corner in a manner that befit
her remarkable history. We hope that Pima get's over the war or sends
their lone Hayabusa somewhere else where it can be appreciated.
We'll that is our two cents worth and I will stick
to my opinions. It seems everyone has one and whether you agree with mine is not really all that important. But this lingering rancor over the war from our side baffles me particularly from some (not all) ex-US Navy personnel born years
after WWII who choose to hold a grudge for wartime events they
themselves did not suffer from or participated in but what few people
left from that era on the other side bear them no malice. Just display the airplanes and give the visitor an chance to learn about them for what they are not for events or the policies of their wartime nations. How hard is that?
There is
something to be learned from the eyes of an elderly Hibakusha who
watched their families die in the ashes of Hiroshima, that in war
there are no winners. Only death. It's important for for future generations to learn the lessons of those wars so that future wars are not fought again. But we know we won't change any
opinions and that's not our job to do so but for those out there that
still want to re-fight WWII I will end this with my favorite and most
poignant moment of the Viet-Nam War: At the end of the Paris Peace
Talks in 1972, The last sitting American General still sitting at the
table sat across from his North Vietnamese counterpart and waited to
get one last word in. He leaned forward and said with a degree of
spite “You know we beat you in every land battle on the field.”
The Vietnamese General smiled and and curtly replied: “Well none of
that matters now.” And then he walked away. If you feel like you need to re-fight these old wars and not as a reenactor (which is fine in my book) but for merely for the sake of fighting, remember that Vietnamese General, think about the logic of his statement. Then when you come to your senses, walk away.
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Ichiro Dreams In Color Merchandise
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
一日の画像 - Picture of the Day
Thursday, August 8, 2013
いずも型護衛艦 Introducing Japan's Newest JMSDF Flagship DDH-183 IZUMO
With a 27,000 tons displacement when fully loaded, she can carry up to 400 troops and 14 Helicopters. She will have a top speed of 30 knots and will be capable of deploying V-22 Osprey but for the time being she will be slated to carry 7 ASW & 2 SAR Helicopters for her initial installment. While bigger than a British Aircraft Carrier, she is not intended for fixed wing aircraft despite the international rumors of her potentially carrying F-35 aircraft in the future.
We at American Mishima wish her yet named Captain and future Otoko tachi no Izumo
much success!
Monday, August 5, 2013
Hiroshima / Nagasaki Memorial
Every 1st Sunday in August,
a memorial service for the victims of the Atomic Bombings of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki is held at the Los Angeles Koyasan Buddhist
Temple in Little Tokyo Los Angeles. As with every year, what few surviving Hibakusha of the ASA
American Survivors of Hiroshima / Nagasaki A-Bomb Survivors that are
still with us attend and share their stories. In the last five years
that we have attended these memorial services, we have always found
it troubling to hear people throw in the age old argument as to the
necessity of the bomb to end the war, but never from those who have
ever encountered these few survivors who have had the opportunity to
hear first hand what it was like to have walked through a burning
hell on earth and live to tell about it. We assure you that while it
is easy to arm chair quarterback history from a distance, seeing,
meeting and shaking the hands and in some cases hugging these aging
survivors presents a human face and a reality not one of us could
possibly imagine that in our opinion would mute any argument in favor
of the bomb. 
As with any post war debate here in the
United States, the mention of the bombing of Pearl Harbor is thrown
around carte blanche in the same old “well they started it”
mentality. We could argue this point all day long but that's not what
we are here for. There is no point in re-fighting WWII for argument's
sake. While the attack on Hawaii was focused on attacking Military
installations and personnel (part of the risk of being part of the
military), the atomic bombings on civilian population centers simply
do not equate on the same level. While tragic and unfortunate it
might have been to have been a serviceman at Pearl, to have been a
primary school student forced to search for bodies of your dead and
dying classmates under the rubble and ash of your grade school is not
the same thing. They didn't volunteer for that nor could they imagine seeing inner city canals clogged with dead bodies and
rivers of blood amidst the burning skies and blackened smoke to the
screams and cries of those who could no longer be helped. And you think you had childhood trauma? Imagine what these grade school children when through! Compared to these people, we've got nothing to complain about. The United
States was so fortunate to not have its cities bombed during the war,
it is likely for this reason people could not grasp the concept of
total war hence the realities of such war can not be understood
leading in some cases to the level of arrogance by those who have
never experienced war yet out of ignorance, champion it.
I could not imagine on any level seeing
people walking about so burned beyond recognition you could no longer
tell if they were male or female or if they were facing you or if
their back was turned to you. Yet, these events did happen and must
never happen again. When I look into the eyes of these people and see
their scars and the humbleness in their voices, it evokes a level of
hurt and disappointment that 68 years later, the world has not
learned from these events. Selective memory I call it. We as a
society choose to remember only what happened to us and ignore the
suffering of those civilians who by no fault of their own had been
swept up by tragic events beyond their control both in Japan and here
in the United States. Like the old people who showed me their tattoos
force ably inked onto them in places like Dachau, so too are the
scars and haunting looks carried on by these survivors. And what many
do not know here is what became of them after the war as they became
known as Hibakusha – a people sometimes shunned within their own
country as if they were responsible for what happened to them. As
said many times by ASA member Kazu Suyeshi – No more Hiroshima's – No more Nagasaki - No more Hibakusha.
Undeniably, War is an ugly business in
which there are always casualties be it intended or unintended of
consequence. While 68 years have passed, we can not allow these
tragic events to be forgotten or written off like some disconnected
grainy black & white photograph accompanied by a two sentence
footnote in history. You can't say it's a Japanese problem not our problem. War is a
world wide human problem that stems from the failure to communicate.
We live on such a small planet, it makes no sense why parts of the
world still fight like cavemen over tiny scraps of meat or act
irresponsibly by threatening the world with nuclear war if they do
not get what they want. Such war must never happen again. Such horrible weapons should never be used yet they still exist. Those who have not learned of what took place those terrible days of August 1945 have no concept of what such weapons can do. Therefore it is important to
hear the stories of these few remaining survivors for we have such
little time left as the WWII generation leaves us in ever greater
numbers. We at American Mishima would like to thank Mr. Junji
Sarashina, and Ms,Midori Seino for their continued work sharing their
stories so that future generations will learn from their experiences.
No more Hiroshima's – No more Nagasaki - No more Hibakusha.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
