In Photos: Japan's remaining WWII aircraft bunkers blend in with modern landscape
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The Joi No. 1 entaigo bunker, which once stored military aircraft to protect them from enemy air raids, is seen in Usa, Oita Prefecture, on May 18, 2025. A Zero fighter engine and propeller recovered from the waters off Kunisaki are currently displayed at the center of the facility. (Mainichi/Kaho Kitayama)
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The Mainichi
17 hours ago
- The Mainichi
In Photos: Japan's remaining WWII aircraft bunkers blend in with modern landscape
Image 1 of 12 The Joi No. 1 entaigo bunker, which once stored military aircraft to protect them from enemy air raids, is seen in Usa, Oita Prefecture, on May 18, 2025. A Zero fighter engine and propeller recovered from the waters off Kunisaki are currently displayed at the center of the facility. (Mainichi/Kaho Kitayama)
The Mainichi
17 hours ago
- The Mainichi
'Silent storytellers': 11 aircraft shelters in southwest Japan city recall wartime history
USA, OITA -- Eleven "entaigo" concrete bunkers, which were built to protect military aircraft from air raids, still remain in this southwestern Japan city. Visiting the places where warplanes were once housed in Usa, Oita Prefecture, this Mainichi Shimbun reporter found they are now being used as sheds and tractor garages. These wartime facilities have blended into the peaceful landscapes of modern life. The Usa Naval Air Corps was established in 1939, and around 800 personnel were stationed at the base, which was centered in the Yanagigaura area. As the war situation worsened, the base became a site for special suicide attack units in 1945, and many young men departed from there to the skies over Okinawa Prefecture. The base was targeted in air raids, and many service members and civilians lost their lives there. The concrete shelters with roofs were apparently covered with grass and other materials to make them harder to spot from the air and avoid becoming targets. The Joi No.1 entaigo bunker in the city's Joi district has been preserved as a park. It is believed that Zero fighter jets were stored there during the war, and the shelter now displays a Zero engine and propeller that were recovered from the waters off Kunisaki in northeast Oita Prefecture. A 62-year-old woman who lives near the bunker says her grandmother often talked about sharing dried sweet potatoes with kamikaze pilots. She said, "When I was a child, we used to climb on the shelters and play. It was such a normal part of the landscape. Now, young people go out of their way to come see them. As fewer people who actually lived through that time remain, I think these shelters serve as silent storytellers." (Japanese original by Kaho Kitayama, Fukuoka Photo and Video Department)
The Mainichi
4 days ago
- The Mainichi
Air India plane in fatal crash had recently flown between New Delhi and Tokyo
CAIRO (Mainichi) -- The Air India aircraft that fatally crashed in Ahmedabad, northwestern India, on June 12 had been used for round-trip flights between New Delhi and Tokyo's Haneda Airport two days before the accident, according to data from the flight tracking website Flightradar24. Of the 242 people onboard the flight, only one passenger survived. The cause of the crash remains unclear, and it is not yet known whether there were any mechanical issues with the aircraft. According to Indian media and other sources, the plane that crashed was a Boeing 787-8. Flightradar24 data shows that the aircraft had departed New Delhi on the night of June 9, landed at Haneda Airport on the morning of June 10, and returned to New Delhi later that day. On June 11, it was used for a round-trip flight between New Delhi and Paris, France. On June 12, the plane arrived in Ahmedabad from New Delhi in the morning. About two hours later, it crashed shortly after taking off for London. (Japanese original by Jun Kaneko, Cairo Bureau)
