Japanese forces in the Battle of Okinawa put down their weapons on June 23, 1945, but that did not bring immediate peace to all.
On Iejima island, west of Okinawa’s main island, two Japanese soldiers holed up in a banyan tree, unaware that the war was effectively over.
Shujun Sashida, an Okinawan, and Shizuo Yamaguchi from Miyazaki Prefecture, were fleeing from American soldiers who had arrived on the island.
Sashida and Yamaguchi gathered twigs to fashion their treetop hideaway, where they remained during the day, holding their breath. They would come down only at night to scavenge for leftovers from the U.S. troops.
They presumed their families had been killed but still yearned to go home and prayed once every day.
Their treetop existence lasted for two years.
During that time, what were the U.S. forces doing?
After deporting all surviving islanders, the Americans kept the island off-limits. Then, they leveled half of the island with bulldozers, expanded the runways that were once used by the Imperial Japanese Army, and transformed it into a giant military base.
The Japanese film “Ki no Ue no Guntai” (treetop army), based on the ordeal that Sashida and Yamaguchi faced, is now showing at theaters.
Actor Yuki Yamada plays the young recruit modeled after Sashida.
In one scene, he stares at the airfield beyond barbed wire. With tears in his eyes, he says to his superior officer, “Sir, do you remember what used to be there? I think this island will probably never go back to being what it was before.”
And he was right. Today, 35 percent of Iejima is still a U.S. military base.
British historian E.H. Carr (1892-1982) noted to the effect that the present can only be fully understood in the light of the past.
What was World War II all about? Aug. 6, along with Aug. 9 and 15, are the dates, respectively, of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the Nagasaki atomic bombing and the war’s end.
In marking the 80th anniversary of those August dates, we pray with greater intensity for the repose of the souls of the war dead and renew our resolve to never go to war again.
–The Asahi Shimbun, Aug. 2
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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.
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