Woman recounts deadly U.S. bombings of Chiba 80 years ago
"If the attacks had hit slightly different places, I wouldn't be here," Fumiko Takayama, a former schoolteacher, said. The airstrikes burned down about 60% of the city's urban areas.
The first bombing came on the morning of June 10, 1945. A warning siren went off after she finished her breakfast that Sunday. Soon after she started preparations to evacuate to a shelter, the siren changed into an air raid alert.
Just as she was about to put on her shoes, a cloud of dust from a blast made it impossible to see anything. Takayama dropped to the ground, covering her eyes, nose and ears with her hands, as she had been taught to at school. Her family hid in a closet and was safe.
A few days later, Takayama noticed that part of her protective head covering had been burnt off. "I would have been dead if I hadn't got down," she says.
After a bomb hit a nearby hospital, dead bodies were placed on a vacant lot of land in front of her house and she saw corpses with bent arms and legs in a scene that left a lasting impression on her about the destruction of war.
Takayama and her neighbors paid respect to the dead as a military truck took away the bodies.
The second air raid struck in the small hours of July 7, 1945. Her heart started pounding as she thought "it's another bombing."
Her father told his family to evacuate to the sea. As she walked west along the waterfront, the sky was red, and sparks of fire kept falling.
Takayama kept walking while soaking her head covering into the seawater again and again so that her clothes would not catch fire.
She learned later that people who evacuated in the opposite direction along the seafront were gunned down by U.S. warplanes and died.
About 10 years ago, Takayama started to talk about her experience, mainly at elementary and junior high schools, at the suggestion of a former work colleague.
"War destroys things, and kills people and hearts," she says. "There's nothing good about war."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Japan Times
3 hours ago
- Japan Times
Why authorities in Okinawa are trying to capture feral goats
Feral goats in the village of Higashi's Takae district in northern Okinawa Prefecture were designated by the Okinawa Prefectural Government in 2023 as an invasive species that urgently needs to be controlled. Wild goats are causing damage to crops in the village, as well as on Iriomote Island, and there are concerns that they could negatively impact the forest ecosystems harboring rare animals and plants. The village and prefectural authorities are working to catch the goats and prevent the spread of the invasive species. Wild goats have so far been spotted in the Yanbaru region — the northern area of Okinawa's main island — and on remote islands in the prefecture. They are highly reproductive, and the village began to consider them as a problem around 2019. Since the goats are of West Asian origin, it is highly likely that they were initially brought in as livestock and then became feral. Akira Nishime, 71, a grass farmer in Takae, has been troubled by crop damage by wild goats for years. Nishime first observed wild goats on his grassland around 2008. He said he was surprised to see roughly 20 goats climbing up a cliff rising about 100 meters from the shoreline. Because they are cautious and avoid coming close to humans, they have never attacked him, but since then, they have been seen between February and May every year up to and including last year. It is not clear exactly how much damage has been done to his crops, because grass grows again after it is eaten. Still, 'it is annoying, considering each goat eats about 7 to 8 kilograms of grass a day and 20 to 30 of them come to my grassland every season,' he said. In fiscal 2023, about five flocks of 20 to 30 wild goats were spotted in the village, and it was estimated that some 100 goats inhabit the area. The village government set about taking measures to prevent crop damage, treating wild goats as harmful wildlife. A team of hunters, working on wildlife damage control, which has been capturing wild boars and crows, began catching wild goats throughout the year. In the same fiscal year, the prefectural government also started conducting regular patrols and captures in Higashi, as well as in the village of Kunigami in northern Okinawa Prefecture and on Iriomote Island, to protect vegetation and endemic species from being trampled by wild goats. In fiscal 2023, village authorities captured 17 wild goats and prefectural officials caught 19 in Takae. In fiscal 2024, as the number of goats in the district decreased, village officials did not capture any, while prefectural officials caught 19. According to the prefectural government, at least 12 goats currently live in Takae. While the number of wild goats in Takae has declined due to the measures, authorities plan to continue seizing the animals. They are also taking measures to encourage proper goat-raising in order to prevent more feral animals. The town of Taketomi, which has jurisdiction over Iriomote Island, which has a huge wild goat population, began enforcing an ordinance on April 1 on responsible goat handling and management. The ordinance sets rules including requiring that goats have collars and ear tags, prohibiting owners from unleashing them and making it mandatory to report to authorities in the event one runs away. Violators of the rules are subject to warnings, admonition and penalty fees. There have also been cases of goats running away in Higashi. 'We plan to consider measures to promote proper goat handling and also discuss the need to create an ordinance,' an official from the village said. Okinawa Prefecture is soliciting witness reports of invasive species, including wild goats, on its website. This section features topics and issues from Okinawa covered by The Okinawa Times, a major newspaper in the prefecture. The original article was published June 5.
Japan Times
4 hours ago
- Japan Times
80 years on, Iwate woman recalls naval bombardment
The city of Kamaishi in Iwate Prefecture is said to have been the first place on Japan's main island of Honshu to suffer a naval bombardment by the Allied powers during World War II. More than 5,000 shells were fired into the northeastern Japan city, which had a large iron mill, on July 17 and Aug. 9, 1945, killing a total of 782 people, mostly civilians. As the bombardments lasted about two hours on both days, Mutsuko Sano, 94, clearly heard the earth rumbling at a school for girls about 30 kilometers away. Sano was 14 years old when she evacuated with others from her hometown in Kamaishi to the school in the neighboring city of Tono in April 1945. After the second attack, more of Sano's classmates evacuated from Kamaishi. She could do nothing but hold devastated friends who had lost relatives. "I want to tell young people now that natural disasters cannot be avoided, but war can," Sano said. Since Kamaishi had a prisoner-of-war camp, Sano often saw lines of prisoners heading to a mine for work. After the war ended, however, she saw them whistling as they walked through town, a scene that made her fully realize her country's defeat. When Sano returned to Kamaishi with her father, she saw burned ruins everywhere, with the five chimneys of the ironworks, which used to be a symbol of the city, bent miserably. Around Kamaishi Station, there were several craters formed as a result of the bombardments. "It was complete hell," Sano said. "I wish the war had ended earlier." Sano has lived in Kamaishi for 80 years since the end of the war, witnessing the rise and fall of her hometown. The city began to recover in the 1950s, led by its steel and fishery industries, but was again devastated by the massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011. "The city remains deserted now," she said. "Why should we experience such misery again?" Still, she keeps busy working for the town, making her wartime experiences into a booklet and sharing her story through lectures. "People can't resist a tsunami, but war can be avoided," she emphasized. "We must never start a war."
Japan Times
a day ago
- Japan Times
Three drones spotted over nuclear plant in Saga Prefecture
Three drones were seen flying over Kyushu Electric Power's Genkai nuclear plant in Saga Prefecture around 9 p.m. on Saturday, according to the plant operator and the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA). Kyushu Electric reported the incident to the NRA as a case that could affect the plant's operations. No abnormalities, such as a leak of nuclear materials, have not been detected at the plant. The drones later disappeared from above the Genkai plant, and they were not found on the grounds of the plant. Kyushu Electric is investigating the incident. At the Genkai plant, the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors are in the decommissioning process, while the No. 3 reactor is in operation. The No. 4 unit is scheduled to undergo routine checkups from Sunday.
