'No justified wars': Ceremony marks 80 years since WWII bombings of Fukuoka by US
FUKUOKA -- Marking 80 years since the devastating air raids on this southwest Japan city that left over 1,000 people in the city center dead or missing, about 110 residents and others gathered in a joint memorial service at the city hall in Chuo Ward June 19.
From late on June 19, 1945, to the early hours of the following day, U.S. forces dropped at least 1,300 metric tons of incendiary bombs onto Fukuoka from B-29 bombers, inflicting catastrophic damage in the city center. The reinforced-concrete Fukuoka branch of Jugo Ginko (fifteenth bank), which stood near the present-day Hakataza Theater, frequently served as an air raid shelter, with residents rushing into its basement every time sirens sounded.
However, during the air raid that night, a power outage caused by bombardment made the basement's electric shutters inoperable, and 63 people perished in the ensuing flames and heat.
Yoshitaka Mizobe, 85, now a resident of the town of Keisen, Fukuoka Prefecture, attended the memorial service. He and his family were among the local residents who used the basement as their primary refuge. Mizobe lived in a house behind the bank with his mother, younger sister and others in a household of five. On that evening 80 years ago, they took shelter in the basement after dinner, and a late air raid struck after they temporarily returned home. When his mother heard a firefighter saying, "You can't enter," she guided them in a safer direction away from flames, avoiding harm.
Mizobe's father, Kahei, died aged 33 fighting on Guadalcanal, a fiercely contested island battleground during World War II. For the past decade, Mizobe has shared his story at elementary and junior high schools as part of the schools' peace education curriculums.
After offering flowers at the memorial this year, Mizobe said, "There absolutely is no such thing as a justified war. I felt strongly this sort of tragedy must never happen again." He emphasized the importance of passing down wartime memories to future generations as living witnesses fade away, adding, "Wars persist even today, taking countless precious lives. We must continue sharing our experiences."
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News in Easy English: Fukuoka remembers bombing that killed over 1,000 people 80 years ago
FUKUOKA -- About 110 people met at Fukuoka city hall on June 19. They came to remember a big bombing that happened in Fukuoka 80 years ago. That bombing killed or hurt more than 1,000 people in the city. On the night of June 19, 1945, many American planes dropped bombs on the city. These bombs caused big fires. Many buildings and homes burned. About 1,000 people died or went missing. Many people tried to hide in the basement of a building used as a bank. But that night, bombs made the building lose electric power. Because of that, doors in the basement could not open, and 63 people who could not leave died there from heat and fire. Yoshitaka Mizobe, now 85 years old, came to this year's memorial. He was a child in Fukuoka at the time. He and family members often hid from bombs in the bank's basement. On the bombing night, after dinner, they went into the basement once, then came out again. Soon after that, an air raid happened. They wanted to go back in, but a fireman said, "You cannot go inside now." His mother led the family away from the fires, so they stayed alive. Yoshitaka's father, Kahei, was not there because he was fighting in the war on Guadalcanal, an island far from Japan. Sadly, he died at age 33 in the fighting. Yoshitaka now often visits schools to tell children what happened. He wants young people to understand how terrible war is. At the memorial, Yoshitaka said, "War can never be right. Sad events like this must not happen again." He added, "Even now, wars happen and take many lives. We must talk about these sad experiences to younger people." (Japanese original by Shizuka Takebayashi, Kyushu News Department) Vocabulary bombing: when bombs are dropped during war or fighting memorial: a special event or place to remember people who have died basement: a room under the ground, usually below a building air raid: when airplanes drop bombs from the sky
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2 days ago
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According to official estimates, only 2,600 bodies from the Battle of Okinawa are yet to be recovered, but residents and long-time volunteers say many more are buried under buildings or farm fields, or hidden in jungles and caves By Hiroshi HIYAMA Trekking through mud and rocks in the humid Okinawan jungle, Takamatsu Gushiken reached a slope of ground where human remains have lain forgotten since World War II. The 72-year-old said a brief prayer and lifted a makeshift protective covering, exposing half-buried bones believed to be those of a young Japanese soldier. "These remains have the right to be returned to their families," said Gushiken, a businessman who has voluntarily searched for the war dead for more than four decades. The sun-kissed island in southern Japan on Monday marked the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Okinawa. The three-month carnage, often dubbed the "Typhoon of Steel", killed about 200,000 people, almost half of them local civilians. Since then, Japan and the United States have become allies, and, according to official estimates, only 2,600 bodies are yet to be recovered. But residents and long-time volunteers like Gushiken say many more are buried under buildings or farm fields, or hidden in jungles and caves. Now rocks and soil from southern parts of Okinawa Island, where the bloodiest fighting took place, are being quarried in order to build the foundations for a new U.S. air base. The plan has sparked anger among Gushiken and others, who say it will disturb the remains of World War II casualties, likely killed by Americans. And while Okinawa is a popular beach getaway these days, its lush jungles have preserved the scars of combat from March to June 1945, when the U.S. military stormed ashore to advance its final assaults on Imperial Japan. Walking through meandering forest trails in Itoman district, on the southern end of Okinawa, Gushiken imagined where he would have hidden as a local or a soldier under attack, or where he may have searched if he were an American soldier. After climbing over moss-covered rocks on a narrow, leafy trail, Gushiken reached a low-lying crevice between bus-size boulders, only big enough to shelter two or three people. He carefully shifted through the soil strewn with fragmented bones, shirt buttons used by Japanese soldiers, a rusty lid for canned food, and a metal fitting for a gas mask. At another spot nearby, he and an associate in April found a full skeleton of a possible soldier who appeared to have suffered a blast wound to his face. And only a few steps from there, green-colored thigh and shin bones of another person laid among the dried leaves, fallen branches and vines. 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Jungle areas that may contain World War II remains should be preserved for their historic significance and serve as peace memorials to remind the world of the atrocity of war, he told AFP. "We are now in a generation when fewer and fewer people can recall the Battle of Okinawa," Gushiken added. "Now, only bones, the fields and various discovered items will remain to carry on the memories." © 2025 AFP
