jp9

Name/email: Maiko Kimura/st05081@sakaihigashi.osaka-c.ed.jp School: Sakaihigashi High School_ Age: 18_ Country: ___Japan___

1) How does your community (school, town, country) select to remember World War II? Examples: holidays, memorials, songs, movies, books…

In Japan, WWII is talked about around the atomic bomb. Most Japanese go to the memorial of the atomic bomb of Hiroshima or Nagasaki at the elementary school or the junior high school. I also went to Atomic Dome of Hiroshima at elementary school.

2) Do you know of anyone who was involved in some aspect of the World War II? If so, what is their connection? If possible, can you send a picture?

My grandparents were the little child still at that time. Also at that time, they lived in the house where they live in the house now. The house is in Fukuoka.

3) Is there anything else you would like to add?

A great number of people died in WWII. The damage of WWII was great. People all over the world should not forget the event. Also in Japan, people who lived at that time are handing down the story of “War”. And a lot of documents are importantly kept by Japanese. All Japanese students learn of WWII. I also studied a lot.

The image which remains most strongly from WWⅡ is the atomic bomb. I went to Hiroshima in the fifth grade of elementary school. At that time, I went to Atomic Dome. The building was made of a roof and only a few walls. Only a small part of the wall remained. Even people who joked in such a place became quiet hearing the story of “War” handed down by people who lived at that time. The story was cruel enough for them to become quiet.

And the image which remains second most strongly from WWⅡ is “Okinawa war”. I have been also to Okinawa in the ninth grade. At that time, I went to “Gama”. “Gama” is a cave, and it was a shelter during “Okinawa war”. A lot of events happened in the place. But most of these events were meaningless. The most famous in these events is mass suicide that is called "shudanjiketsu". The Okinawa people are compulsorily passed the culture by Japanese Government. People of a lot of "Japan" were killed by the culture of "Japan".

I thought that the United States is the worst country when I learnt about the atomic bomb. However, I learnt about the Okinawa war, and it knew that the side that was the worst was Japan. “Okinawa war” was a fight without the winning chance beforehand. However, Japanese Government forced the war on Okinawa people. It was a war that was too severe, too not meaningless. There might still be a person who harboring malice to the United States, like those days me. However, today, the number of Japanese who admire to American is more than the number.