2024-02-28 21:00:00
After the Tokyo Metropolitan Government recorded the testimonies of those who experienced war, including the Tokyo air raids, the video, which had been kept largely private, began to be released in Tokyo on the 28th. After nearly 30 years, the seal was lifted, marking the first step in passing on the war stories to the next generation.
Testimony video released at the Tokyo Air Raid Materials Exhibition
◆About 10 minutes per person, including air raid, POW, and evacuation experiences
The video was recorded for the purpose of being exhibited at the “Miyako Peace Memorial Hall,” tentatively named the Miyako Peace Memorial Hall, which the city planned to construct in the 1990s. We interviewed 330 people who experienced the war, but the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly was in turmoil over the contents of the memorial hall’s exhibits and historical awareness. Construction plans were frozen and the footage, with some exceptions, was not made public.
At the Tokyo Metropolitan Theater in Ikebukuro, the testimonies of 34 of the 122 people who agreed to have their testimonies made public have begun to be shown as part of the “Tokyo Air Raid Materials Exhibition” sponsored by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. On the large TV at the venue, testimonies of about 10 minutes each were shown one after another, covering topics such as the Great Tokyo Air Raid, the Yamanote Air Raid, and their experiences as POWs and evacuations.
◆”It touched my heart when I saw it in the video”
Visitors listened intently to the vivid testimonies, and Tadakatsu Sugimoto (81) from Isehara City, Kanagawa Prefecture, said, “Watching the video footage of the tragic war experience really touched my heart. It must never happen again.” did.
Testimony video released at the Tokyo Air Raid Materials Exhibition
The Ikebukuro venue will be open until March 13th (closed on the 11th and 12th). Materials for 34 people will be exhibited at the Mitaka City Public Hall from March 3rd to 12th (closed on the 4th and 11th), and at the Chofu City Cultural Hall from 7th to 14th. The other 20 people will be screened at the Tokyo Peace Day commemorative ceremony to be held at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building on the 10th.
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◆A bitter expression, as if squeezing it out
In the video, all the witnesses spoke with pained expressions. Masao Hamada, then 16, of Sumida Ward, Tokyo, was chased by incendiary bombs during the Tokyo air raids and jumped into a river to save his life, but his mother, younger brother, and sister were still missing. Mama. He said, “It’s painful that he couldn’t see the body.” The next morning after Emiko Koshibe, then 6 years old, who was a victim of the attack in Koto Ward, escaped to the school auditorium, she found many people lying outside, and “there were also many people floating in the pool in the schoolyard.” she said, reflecting on the tragedy.
The witness whose video was shown at the Ikebukuro venue, Yoshio Matsumoto, who died at the age of 94, and his eldest son, Takaaki (62), a university employee, from Meguro Ward, said, “My father’s video was released to the public until he passed away on the 13th of this month. “I believed that the movie was being released,” he said, adding, “I’m really disappointed that I couldn’t tell them that it was going to be released.” Yoshio lost his sister in an air raid, and during his lifetime he said that it was “my responsibility” to convey the tragic experience of war to a generation that did not know about it. Takaaki says, “I hope that the experiences of those who were on the verge of life and death will be passed down from generation to generation.”
The Tokyo metropolitan government digitized the testimonies and added subtitles to the public. The plan is to continue exploring ways to utilize the information and confirming the intentions of the remaining witnesses whose consent for publication has not yet been obtained. (Yuko Nagatake)
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