Then and now: Photos taken in 1945 and 2025 show transformation in Japan following war
Ground battles in Okinawa, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and massive air raids across Japan, including the capital, claimed many lives. It is estimated that over 3 million people died during the war, although the exact number of casualties remains unknown.
After the war, survivors gradually developed the landscapes of rubble into the Japan that stands today. In Tokyo's Ginza area, where people can be seen walking in the "pedestrian paradise" zone closed to vehicles during certain hours on weekends and holidays, it is now difficult to find traces of the war.
Photographs taken after the war capture the breath of people striving to survive and the harsh conditions of the postwar period. Visiting the scenes depicted in those photos prompts a renewed reflection on the significance of peace.
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The Mainichi
6 hours ago
- The Mainichi
Then and now: Photos taken in 1945 and 2025 show transformation in Japan following war
TOKYO -- During World War II, American bombers flew over Japan, and the incendiary bombs they dropped reduced cities to ashes, forcing children to evacuate in groups. Ground battles in Okinawa, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and massive air raids across Japan, including the capital, claimed many lives. It is estimated that over 3 million people died during the war, although the exact number of casualties remains unknown. After the war, survivors gradually developed the landscapes of rubble into the Japan that stands today. In Tokyo's Ginza area, where people can be seen walking in the "pedestrian paradise" zone closed to vehicles during certain hours on weekends and holidays, it is now difficult to find traces of the war. Photographs taken after the war capture the breath of people striving to survive and the harsh conditions of the postwar period. Visiting the scenes depicted in those photos prompts a renewed reflection on the significance of peace.
Japan Times
a day ago
- Japan Times
Overseas WWII memorial services for Japanese families set to end
A program that allows families of Japanese nationals who died in overseas battlefields during World War II to visit memorial sites and hold commemorative ceremonies abroad will end this fiscal year due to the aging of participants. With this year marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the war, Nippon Izokukai, a bereaved families organization for the war dead and the program's organizer, decided that it would be difficult to maintain the initiative with the average age of participants exceeding 80. The program was launched in fiscal 1991 with the help of state subsidies. Many people have participated in memorial services to remember the war dead, while the program has also facilitated interactions with residents in the Pacific islands, China, the Philippines and other locations that were once fierce battlegrounds. As of April 1, about 16,000 people had taken part in about 450 trips through the program. The number of participants has been declining recently, however, with many bereaved families growing older. After the number of participants peaked at 911 in fiscal 2005, the figure dwindled to 248 in fiscal 2023 following a suspension of the program due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Against this background, the organization decided to terminate the program at the end of March next year. The move also means an end to memorial ceremonies at sea. In June this year, participants prayed for the souls of the fallen in a string of such ceremonies held in the Taiwan Strait, off the coast of the Philippines and other locations. The program will also take participants to the Philippines as early as November. Many families of the war dead have expressed disappointment about the program's termination. "It's a shame that that the program will come to an end," said Hisako Tsuchitana, 84, who went on two trips to Saipan to pray for her father, who died there. "I felt closer to my father by visiting the place where he died in battle," she added. "I would have liked the program to continue until at least our grandchildren's generation." Toshiei Mizuochi, 82, a former Upper House lawmaker who heads the organization, issued a statement saying that the group plans to invite foreign nationals involved in the memorial services to come to Japan to tour war memorial facilities. "We hope to continue our interpersonal exchanges in a different form," an official of the organization said.
Metropolis Japan
3 days ago
- Metropolis Japan
Katsu Kaishu: The Man Who Saved Edo from the Flames
It was at a bend in the path that he first caught a glimpse of the water, a blue sliver that flashed through a gap in the trees, then vanished behind thick green curtains. The man looked to the path ahead. It was a long way back to Edo Castle, leading his modest retinue through the hills west of the capital to the hilltop temple of Honmonji. His porters and retainers had carried the necessities of the delegation. Still, the burden that he shouldered had weighed far more on him that day. The path found a canal for a time, then crested over a hill where still water spread out before them. Trees and clusters of reeds hemmed the pond, with herons stalking the shallows and ducks drifting across the surface. Across the pond, there was a small temple in the midst of a bamboo grove. The man called a halt, telling his men to wait. He approached the edge of the pond where he noticed a Buddhist monk standing in the water, scrubbing his legs. 'What is this place called?' he asked. 'Senzoku Ike,' replied the monk, beckoning him forward. 'It is said that the great priest Nichiren once washed his feet here hundreds of years ago—that's why it carries this name.' The man removed his waraji, straw sandals, and tabi socks to step into the pond beside the monk. As the water cooled his aching feet, he felt the flames that had raged all day through his heart and soul begin to abate at last. The Samurai Who Rose to Advise the Shogun Katsu Kaishu lived one of the most remarkable lives of the nineteenth century, but he is little known outside Japan. Unlike Sakamoto Ryoma or Saigo Takamori, Katsu is not remembered for military victories or defeats, but rather averted what might have been one of the most cataclysmic battles in the country's history. Katsu had risen from a low-ranking samurai family to become a trusted adviser to the Tokugawa regime. Following the end of sakoku (Japan's isolation period), Katsu was among the first to understand the importance of naval technology. This fascination even led to his nickname Kaishu—formed from the Japanese kanji for 'sea' (海) and 'boat' (舟). A Voyage Across the Pacific Having learned Dutch as a young man, Katsu was able to study at the Nagasaki Naval Academy from 1855-59 under Dutch naval officers. His education there led to a truly remarkable adventure in 1860, when Katsu was selected as captain of the Kanrin Maru. The Kanrin Maru was a steam-driven warship that would undertake Japan's first-ever embassy to the United States. He shared the ship with American and Japanese sailors as well as the great diplomat, scholar and reformer Fukuzawa Yukichi. Also onboard was John Manjiro — an Edo-period castaway rescued by an American ship and the embassy's interpreter. John, being unable to return to Japan under sakoku, was taught to speak English in America. Katsu and his crew arrived in San Francisco just after the end of the Gold Rush. They traveled by train to Washington, D.C., for diplomatic meetings and ratification of the Harris Treaty. Katsu himself spent considerable time in San Francisco gaining first-hand knowledge of American society and advances in modern technology. He was then given increasingly prominent roles within the Tokugawa shogunate, primarily related to the developing navy, after returning to Japan. As civil unrest raged across Japan through the 1860s, Katsu found himself increasingly employed as a negotiator. He convinced the rebellious ronin Sakamoto Ryoma not to assassinate him and to embrace Western modernization efforts. This ultimately strengthened Japan and brokered numerous other deals between warring factions. The Day Edo Stood on the Brink of Destruction None was more consequential than that fateful day—April 9, 1868—when Katsu and his retinue traveled from central Edo to Honmonji Temple, with Japan embroiled in the Boshin War. The forces of the Imperial Army, commanded by Saigo Takamori, had surrounded Edo. Supporters of the ailing Tokugawa shogunate holed up in the capital's central castle. As Katsu stepped into Honmonji's ancient halls, he must have known that his words that day could fan the flames of war that would burn his city to the ground. At one dark moment, he and his advisors even considered torching Edo themselves rather than submitting to the enemy. In the end, he chose peace, dousing the fire with the bittersweet rains of surrender. While we cannot know what Katsu thought as he passed by Senzoku-Ike, the pond did leave a lasting impression on him. Not only did he retire there in a home built alongside the water, but he and his wife, Tami, are buried there in graves that you can visit to this day. The nearby Katsu Kaishu Memorial Museum also contains many personal items as well as detailed displays on his life.
