Japan's war-bereaved families remain committed to peace
A member of Japan's war-bereaved families delegation throws flowers into Taiwan's Bashi Channel during an offshore memorial ceremony in January 2024, to honor relatives lost at sea during World War II. (Photo courtesy of Nippon Izokukai)
By Keiko Kurane
On June 1, about 220 descendants of the war dead in Japan embarked on an 11-day voyage through the Taiwan Strait to the Philippines to offer prayers for relatives who died at sea during World War II.
'The longing to know our fathers led us to learn about the paths they took, the war itself, and the damage and loss left behind in the former war zones,' says Toshiei Mizuochi, chairman of Japan War-Bereaved Families Association, or Nippon Izokukai . During the latest journey, offshore memorial ceremonies were held, and workshops were conducted to train future 'peace storytellers' who will carry forward the Memorial Friendship and Exchange Project.
The project has been the centerpiece of a mission launched in 1991 by Nippon Izokukai with the Japanese government's support. Nearly 450 memorial trips have been conducted since the project's inception.
'The desire has been unceasing,' Mizuochi said at a July 1 press conference in Tokyo.
'To set foot on the land where our fathers fell, to honor them wholeheartedly there, this is how we hoped to truly know who our fathers were, fathers about whom we dared not ask our mothers, who were busy with back-breaking work just to survive,' he added.
Of the approximately 2.4 million Japanese soldiers who died overseas during the war, around 300,000 were lost at sea, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
Mizuochi, as the head of Japan's largest organization of war-bereaved families, called for preserving memories of wartime suffering and renewing commitments to peace as the country marks 80 years since the end of World War II.
Many families faced severe hardship after Japan's surrender on Aug. 15, 1945.
Families who lost their breadwinners barely had time to grieve. With the end of the war, the bereaved families no longer received government pensions or financial support.'Widows worked day and night to support aging parents and young children, while bereaved families faced discrimination simply because their loved ones died in the war,' Mizuochi recalled.'These were the war dead who went to war as a matter of national policy,' he stressed.Founded in 1953, Nippon Izokukai aimed to restore the honor of the war dead and support families who lost not only loved ones but also their livelihoods and social standing.The Covid-19 pandemic disrupted Nippon Izokukai's activities and succession plans as elderly members were unable to gather, causing some local chapters to close.In response, the organization launched the Peace Storytelling Project nationwide to train younger members, including those in its youth division established in 2011, which now has around 10,000 participants.Mizuochi said its mission remains unchanged: to remember the war dead, recognize the sacrifices of war, and pass down those memories as peace storytellers.'The children of the war dead initially hoped for financial support as compensation for their suffering. But over time, we thought long and hard about what we truly wished for, and what remained hidden in our hearts. That desire was to discover our roots, to know our fathers,' Mizuochi said.Nippon Izokukai has managed and operated the Memorial Friendship and Exchange Project with the dual purpose of honoring the fathers who died in war zones and fostering friendship and exchanges with people in former war-torn areas.More than 16,000 children of the war dead have traveled to former battlefields to honor their fathers and meet people in communities once devastated by the conflict.
The oldest participants in the recent voyage through the Taiwan Strait to the Philippines were in their 90s. 'As the first-generation participants are now aging, this project and the associated tours will conclude during this fiscal year,' Yoko Hosogai, the public relations manager of Nippon Izokukai, told UCA News.But the grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nephews, and nieces who accompanied the children of the war dead on those tours now have a renewed commitment to sustain and pass on their sentiments.'They also aim to continue engaging with the former war zones to understand the damage wrought there,' she added.The project has also led to humanitarian efforts.Starting in 1999, Nippon Izokukai funded the construction of three elementary schools in Myanmar, following its observation of local children's struggles with inadequate learning environments.'We learned that while many children in Myanmar are eager to learn, they are prevented from doing so due to impoverished school environments. There were concerns about flooding during the rainy season, which led to malaria and mosquito infestations,' Mizuochi said.He said the idea emerged during a 1997 tour of an elementary school in Yangon.'I was there as the head of the delegation, presenting school supplies to the children alongside others,' he recalled.
Mizuochi noted that Nippon Izokukai continues to support these schools despite being unable to visit due to Myanmar's ongoing political crisis. 'Many of us, children of the war dead, had given up our education to help with family businesses due to a lack of funding. We deeply empathized with this situation and wished to help by contributing funds for school renovations,' he said.Mizuochi said Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine deepened Nippon Izokukai's commitment. Images of Ukrainian children sheltering from air raids reminded many members of their own childhoods during wartime Japan, prompting the organization to release a statement opposing the war and send support to Ukraine.'That war was not seen as an attack on someone else. It built momentum to pass our memory to today's children and to oppose war,' he said.
This has led to further expansion of the Peace Storytelling Project, together with the next generation. Plans are underway to invite individuals from former war zones who participated in past exchanges to Japan as part of this initiative, creating new opportunities for dialogue and reconciliation. Hosogai told UCA News that the younger generation is determined to carry on these efforts.'This is how the next generation will sustain and inherit the war memory. This plan is currently in the works, and it reflects how we seek to balance honoring the dead while continuing to build friendships and exchanges,' she said.
'Our responsibility is to continue this endeavor until the 100th year after the end of the war,' Mizuochi added, pledging that Nippon Izokukai will remain dedicated to sharing wartime memories so the tragedy of war is never repeated.--ucanews,com
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