Japan fighter jet crashes, lone pilot ejected and rescued, NHK reports
A Japanese Air Self-Defense Force F2 fighter jet crashed off the coast of Ibaraki Prefecture in eastern Japan during a training exercise, public broadcaster NHK reported on Thursday.
The lone pilot ejected from the aircraft and was not in a life-threatening condition after being rescued, NHK reported.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yomiuri Shimbun
2 hours ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Students Intensively Studied Japanese Language to be Naval Language Officer in Pacific War; Second-Generation Japanese Americans Recruited by U.S. Army
During World War II, the U.S. Navy needed to quickly train officers to read, write and speak Japanese. The navy produced about 1,200 such officers, and Donald Keene was one of them. At the time, it was imperative for the U.S. military to understand the Japanese people and military, which was the enemy to the United States. 'When it came time to fight Japan, I heard that there were only about 50 Americans who could read and write Japanese,' Keene wrote in his autobiography in Japanese. Immersed in Japanese Keene enrolled in the Navy Japanese Language School, which opened at the University of California, Berkeley, in February 1942, about two months after Japan's Pearl Harbor attack. Most of the teachers were second-generation Japanese Americans who had been born in the United States and educated in Japan before returning to the United States. In June 1942, the school was relocated to the University of Colorado, Boulder, due to the forced relocation of Japanese Americans living on the West Coast to inland areas. The students lived a life immersed in Japanese. Classes were held six days a week, with two hours of reading, one hour of conversation and one hour of writing every day. It took about the same amount of time to prepare for the classes. They spoke Japanese during meals, watched Japanese movies and read children's stories written in Japanese. Although the school was established because of the war, it was a paradise for Keene. '[It felt] strangely detached from the war,' he wrote. 'I was able to devote myself entirely to learning Japanese.' Keene had no feelings of hostility toward the Japanese people. He was moved to tears by the tragic scenes in Japanese films and thrilled by samurai movies. Keene graduated at the top of the class in January 1943 and delivered the valedictorian speech in Japanese. He was commissioned as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy and was stationed in Hawaii as a language officer in the Intelligence Division. Same human beingsThe U.S. Navy harbored prejudice and distrust toward Japanese Americans and recruited qualified white Americans from universities across the country to serve as language officers. Meanwhile, the U.S. Army actively recruited second-generation Japanese Americans who could speak Japanese as language soldiers. According to Nisei Veterans Legacy, which chronicles the history of Japanese Americans who served in World War II, approximately 6,000 Japanese Americans served as language soldiers in the U.S. Army Intelligence Service. The U.S. Army and Navy language specialists gathered in Hawaii and worked together in the same room in Honolulu. Their tasks included translating Japanese military documents and diaries of Japanese soldiers captured on the front lines. Chikara Don Oka, a second-generation Japanese American Army language soldier who died in 2015, was one of those who knew Keene at the time. In his autobiography, written in English, he wrote: 'All were truly officer and gentleman. Mr. Donald Keene was one of them. He was very quiet and hard-working officer.' Keene led a group of second-generation Japanese American language soldiers in Okinawa in April 1945, with the mission of calling on Japanese soldiers to surrender. One of his subordinates, Jiro, had roots in Okinawa and suggested they have lunch at his relative's house, even though the Battle of Okinawa was in full swing. Keene went to the house and was warmly welcomed by the family. Keene, who had also interrogated prisoners of war in Hawaii, enjoyed talking with them about music and literature, and at their request, he held concerts at the camp, where they listened to Beethoven's 'Eroica' together. After the war, Keene reflected: 'I didn't think of the prisoners as enemies. I thought of them as the same human beings as me.' These interactions with second-generation Japanese Americans and prisoners of war deepened Keene's feelings for Japan. Contributions to postwar Japan Many former language specialists made important contributions to postwar Japanese society by utilizing their language skills, just like Keene. Otis Cary, who served as the commander of a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in Hawaii and died in 2006, became a professor at Doshisha University in Kyoto after the war. Edward Seidensticker, who died in 2007, translated the works of Japanese writers such as Yasunari Kawabata and contributed to Kawabata receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Yomiuri Shimbun
2 hours ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Learning about Keene's Wish for Peace from His Time in Hawaii; ‘No Such Thing As a Meaningful War'
Renowned scholar of Japanese literature Donald Keene had deep ties to Hawaii. His adopted son, Seiki Keene, walked around Oahu Island in June this year 'to trace the footsteps of my father, who hated war and devoted his life to the study of Japanese literature.' After the war, Keene kept studying Japanese literature while traveling between Japan and the United States. In 2006, he met Seiki, a shamisen player for puppet theater. Seiki accompanied Keene to museums and concerts almost every month, and the two became close friends. Keene was single, and he trusted Seiki so much that he asked him to become his adopted who decided to live permanently in Japan, acquired Japanese nationality in March 2012. Shortly thereafter, Keene, then 89, formally adopted Seiki, then 61, as his son. The two lived together for about seven years until Keene's death in February 2019. Pearl Harbor Seiki Keene, left, listens to the staff's explanation in front of the USS Arizona Memorial information USS Arizona MemorialAn exhibition explaining that the USS Arizona Memorial is located directly above the sunken battleship Arizona at Pearl Harbor National MemorialTwo high-rise buildings stand on the site believed to be where the former translation bureau, where Donald Keene worked during the war, was located, in Honolulu on June 2.'Americans visiting Hawaii come here first, before going to the beach,' a Japanese tour guide said at the Pearl Harbor National Memorial. 'In the United States, which is a multiracial country, this is a symbolic place that confirms the unity of the people.' However, when Seiki asked Keene to visit Pearl Harbor with him 10 years ago, he declined. Visitors must watch a short film about 15 minutes long summarizing the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor before heading to the USS Arizona Memorial. The film depicts the situation in Japan at the time, the Pearl Harbor attack operation and the damage it caused, emphasizing that it was a war of justice for the United States. American visitors watched the screen in silence. The USS Arizona Memorial is located directly above the battleship Arizona, which was sunk during the attack, and commemorates the more than 1,000 people lost on the ship. Seiki stared at the names of the dead inscribed on the wall and repeated Keene's words: 'There is no such thing as a meaningful war.' Postwar exchanges Seiki Keene reunites with Marjie Yokoyama, the widow of Henry Yokoyama, a former Japanese American language soldier in the U.S. Army who was a close friend of Donald Keene, in Honolulu on June Bay, where Donald Keene enjoyed snorkeling with the Yokoyama family, in Hawaii, on June 7'Henry and Donald were good friends, and they used to drink together at our house and finish a bottle of Chivas Regal in one night,' said Marjie Yokoyama. At a nursing home in Honolulu, Yokoyama, 97, shook hands with Seiki for the first time in 10 years and shared memories of Keene. Yokoyama is the widow of Henry Yokoyama, a second-generation Japanese American who served as a language soldier with the U.S. Army. Keene and Henry worked together in Hawaii during the war, translating Japanese military documents. It was Marjie who suggested scattering Keene's ashes in the sea off Hawaii. After the war, Keene began teaching at Columbia University and traveled back and forth between Japan and the United States. Planes had to refuel in Hawaii, so he often stayed at the home of Yokoyama, who had become a doctor. Keene was fondly called 'Uncle Donald' by Yokoyama's children, and they went snorkeling together in the beautiful Hanauma Bay. Lifelong wish for peaceThe National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific is located in a volcanic crater known as the Punchbowl, and Henry Yokoyama is buried there. From the cemetery's observation deck, Honolulu and the Pacific Ocean can be seen, and Seiki scattered Keene's ashes in that ocean. Keene told Seiki: 'War was unfortunate. But in a way, it deepened interest and understanding of Japan. If we get to know each other better, war can be avoided.' 'I feel like I understand why my father avoided visiting the Pearl Harbor facility,' Seiki said. 'Perhaps he wanted to focus on the new era of peace between Japan and the United States that was built after the war, rather than the dark days of the war he detested.'
NHK
13 hours ago
- NHK
NHK: 20% of historic WWII monuments lost in past 3 decades
NHK has learned that about 20 percent of facilities and sites in Japan that serve as legacies of World War Two have been lost in the past three decades. As of some 30 years ago, 660 such places had been reported by municipalities as war monuments to the Cultural Affairs Agency. They included facilities used by the former Imperial Japanese military and underground air raid shelters. This year marks 80 years since the end of World War Two. NHK queried municipalities across Japan about the state of preservation and use of the monuments. The survey results show that 14 percent of all relics were intact and 44 percent were mostly preserved. Meanwhile, 13 percent were mostly lost and 8 percent were entirely lost. As for 15 percent of the monuments, it was not known what condition they were in. This indicates that about 20 percent of the war remains have been lost. Regarding usage of the sites, 34 percent of the relics were being shown to the public to pass on memories of the war, 28 percent were not being utilized and 27 percent were being used by public offices, private businesses or individuals. On the reason why the monuments were lost, 36 percent were torn down for development, and 14 percent were taken down because they posed safety hazards. The reason was unknown for 26 percent. The Cultural Affairs Agency has been surveying the places because a significant number are believed to be at risk of demolition for urban redevelopment. Agency officials say sites that are considered important to understand Japan's modern history should be properly protected. Professor Yamada Akira of Meiji University, an expert on military history, says it is important to pass on the legacies of war, but there is a limit to what can be relayed person to person. He says it is extremely important to learn about wartime directly through the buildings and other structures that characterize that period. Yamada says war monuments recount history and should be passed on.
