80 years since the attack on Pearl Harbor New thoughts on peace in various places

It has been 80 years since the attack on Pearl Harbor, which started the Pacific War, in 8 days.

Many people in various places mourned the victims and renewed their feelings for peace.

Eighty years ago, on December 8, the former Japanese troops attacked US warships and air bases moored in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and the Pacific War, which lasted nearly four years, began.

Participating in the attack on Pearl Harbor A 101-year-old former mechanic

Moto Naganuma, 101, who lives in Minami-ku, Fukuoka, was on board the aircraft carrier Kaga as a mechanic and participated in the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Mr. Naganuma says he was suddenly told by the captain on a ship sailing over the Pacific Ocean that he would "attack Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 8. We are planning to declare war on the United States and Britain."

Mr. Naganuma said, "I was really surprised at first because I didn't expect the war to start." "It was a militaristic trend, so I wanted to make Japan safe for the country," he said. I explained.

Half a year after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Mr. Naganuma suffered a severe burn on his leg during the Battle of Midway and was exempted from military service.

After the war, Mr. Naganuma began to feel that the war that Japan had caused was reckless. I've been doing things like that.

Mr. Naganuma said, "I wonder why the world is not yet peaceful. To prevent war, it is most important to think about the other person and have a dialogue."

Completion of a stone monument that tells the life of Mr. Sakamaki, the first POW of the Pacific War

There is a stone monument that tells the turbulent life of Mr. Kazuo Sakamaki, a soldier from Tokushima prefecture who was captured by the U.S. military and became the "first prisoner of war" in the Pacific War after attacking Pearl Harbor 80 years ago. It was completed on the day in Ikata Town, Ehime Prefecture, where there was a top secret training center.

In the attack on Pearl Harbor 80 years ago, 9 out of 10 people who sortie on a small submarine died, and in Ikata Town, Ehime Prefecture, where there was a secret training center, 9 people were called "Kyugunshin". A memorial monument is being built.

This time, next to this memorial monument, a picture of 10 people including Mr. Kazuo Sakamaki, a former Navy ensign from Tokushima prefecture who survived and was captured by the U.S. military, was set in height about 2 meters and width 1 A new stone monument of over a meter has been completed.

Approximately 20 people attended the unveiling ceremony on the 8th, and Mr. Kiyoshi, the eldest son of Mr. Sakamaki, said, "I am really grateful for the construction of the monument. My father is now back from Hawaii. I am surely pleased. I think. "

Mr. Sakamaki, who survived in an American camp as the "first prisoner of war" when the stone monument was "shameful to be a prisoner of war" and returned to Japan after the end of the war, worked as a businessman for postwar reconstruction. Local people from Tokushima prefecture raised funds to build it so that they could know about the turbulent life.

Hirowatari Aoki, who lives in Minami Town, Tokushima Prefecture, who planned the construction of the stone monument, said, "We were able to donate to many people and build it. I hope this will be an opportunity to think about peace."

At the archives that convey the experiences of former soldiers

"Shokei-kan" in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo is a historical museum that tells the experiences of former soldiers who were injured or sick in the war. It was seen.

Of these, eight SDF personnel from the Ground Self-Defense Force Hygiene School, who visited as part of the training, heard from the storyteller about a former soldier who died at the age of 96 four years ago.

The storyteller said that he had to give up his dream of becoming a blacksmith because he was taken prisoner in Australia and after returning to Japan, he was ill and could not return to his hometown. The officials were listening carefully.

Visitors to the archives renewed their feelings for peace while taking a closer look at the relics such as hats with holes made by ammunition and glasses with broken lenses.

Fumi Hanto, a curator of the Shokei-kan, said, "I want people at that time to think about war and peace again at the turning point of 80 years since the beginning of the war."

Search continues in the field of education

As the number of people who have experienced the war decreases and the chances of children learning about the war decrease, efforts are underway to introduce and convey new methods to school lessons.

On the 7th, in a world history class held at Aichi University of Education High School in Aichi Prefecture, the oldest principal of this school, Tetsuya Nishimuta, took the stage.

Principal Nishi Muta does not know about the war in the postwar generation, but as a testimony he heard from his father, "When my father entered the Navy School, the principal at that time said,'Japan will lose the war with the United States now.'" I was surprised to say that I said this to a young man who was thinking of dying for the country. "

In the lessons of this school, we continue to improve by trial and error by incorporating materials such as videos and testimonies that make it easier to imagine the actual situation more concretely.

A student who attended the class said, "War is not familiar, it seems like a story of another world, but I felt that it should be learned."

Principal Nishi Muta said, "Now, I can't hear the story of grandfather and grandmother who went to the battlefield so much. rice field.

Some high schools are trying to deepen their understanding of "capturing history from multiple angles"

Some high schools work to deepen their understanding by understanding history from multiple angles.

Takuya Tokuhara, a teacher at Yokohama International High School, prepared three types of materials: the testimony of Japanese people, the testimony of American people, and the dissertation of postwar researchers.

Students are divided into three groups to read materials and discuss the start of the Pacific War.

The group considered from the standpoint of the American people moved to another group after learning that a young man who was a college student at that time gave up going to medical school due to the war and a strong desire for revenge for the attack on Pearl Harbor, and then moved to Japan and research. We deepened the discussion with the members who considered from the standpoint of the person.

This is to capture the facts of war from different perspectives rather than from a single perspective.

After the lesson, one of the students said, "I often realized that I didn't realize that it was just an input lesson and learned from the opinions of others. I think it's important to form your own measure, because I think that things like war will occur if they overlap. "

Professor Tokuhara said, "What do those experiences mean to us now? If you look at the world, conflicts and wars are still going on. Let's broaden our horizons. I think it would be great if we could learn such things that would lead to thinking about the present world. "