Category Archives: Photos

【Series】 World War II 70th Anniversary – Broken plan buried under vegetable garden (July 25, 2015)

Kazuhiro Eguchi There is an unusual vegetable garden in Hananoi, Kashiwa-shi, Chiba Prefecture, with six large concrete tubes sticking out from the ground. The tubes in fact belonged to the old underground facility for the rocket-powered interceptor aircraft “Shusui”, which was to be completed by the Imperial Japanese Army before the end of World War Il. This area was part of Kashiwa Air Field which was established by the Japanese Army to combat US air raids over the country, particularly Tokyo. Shusui with a rocket engine was going to be located here for defense against B-29s. The aircraft, however, never played its intended role as its development did not complete … Continue reading

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【Series】 World War II 70th Anniversary – War-wounded tree speaks of pains of Okinawa (July 24 , 2015)

Kotaro Yamada In Furugen area in Yomitan Village, Okinawa Prefecture, there is a gigantic leafy garcinia tree with a hollow trunk. It survived the battle of Okinawa and stood in the shrine of Furugen Ugwan where local villagers come to pray for huge harvest. Furugen used to be agriculturally successful as a producer of lily bulbs for exports and other products in the early Showa period. It was toward the end of the Pacific War when the US troops landed the Okinawa islands. The major ground battles started in April 1945 and Okinawa was burned down. The tree was also damaged by fire during the war. Hiroyasu Inami, 87, was … Continue reading

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【Series】 World War II 70th Anniversary – Second World War bunkers now protecting cows in pastures (July 23, 2015)

Tetsuya Onda Some bunkers from Pacific War still remain in the pastures in Makinouchi, Nemuro-shi in Hokkaido, the region with successful dairy industry. The bunkers were built during the Pacific War in order to protect military airplanes in one of the Imperial Japanese Navy airfields in Nemuro, which was a defense base in the Northern part of Japan. They were domes entirely covered with earth to camouflage. There are five bunkers in the region and four out of them sit still in the farmland of Akio Kusuhara, 40, who came to Hokkaido from Aichi Prefecture as a new farmer six years ago. According to his wife, Wakana, 27, “Cows like … Continue reading

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【Series】 World War II 70th Anniversary – Old rusting cannon kept as heavy reminder of war (July 22, 2015)

Kazuhiro Eguchi This rusting cannon of old Japanese navy base sits still abandoned in a farmland on the Hahajima Island, which is approximately 1,000 kilometers to the south of the capital of Japan and accessible from Takeshiba pier. It was a high-angle gun to repel enemy forces from the second-largest island of the Ogasawara Islands during the Pacific War. Akinori Fujitani, 45, and his wife Tomoka, 43, came to Hahajima 20 years ago as new farmers and found the cannon in their new farmland. They said they felt uncomfortable at the first sight but have never thought of discarding it. Hahajima, a popular tourist destination with beautiful beaches, was a … Continue reading

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【News】 Take, read and eat all five of them! (July 16, 2015)

Kotaro Yamada An operator of the Ishinomori Manga Museum in Ishinomaki-shi, Miyagi Prefecture, started to sell five kinds of pouched curries in the packages that look exactly like comic books. The curry sets named “Ishinomaki Curry Zenshu (Ishinomaki Curry Series)” will go on sale on July 19, 2015. The operator, Machizukuri Manbo, produced them in order to help restore the area that was hit by the East Japan Great Earthquake. The press release and briefing took place in Ginza, Tokyo, on June 15. The recipes are all original and created being supervised by five local restaurants and shops including a grilled eel restaurant and a meat shop. The curries are … Continue reading

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