As the number of World War II survivors dwindles due to their advanced age, one of Japan’s biggest exports — anime — might play a key role in preserving their memories and stories. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/08/28/japan/society/war-anime-younger-people/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #society #wwii #anime #education
Orphaned by a massive air raid during World War II, Yoriko Suzuki had to endure living on the streets before she finally found refuge. It took her decades before she finally opened up to tell her story. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/08/28/japan/history/tokyo-air-raid-orphan/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #history #wwii #tokyoairraids #tokyo
Students at Haebaru Junior High School in the town of Haebaru, Okinawa Prefecture, experienced a unique peace-learning workshop about two weeks before Memorial Day marked the end of the 1945 Battle of Okinawa. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/08/25/japan/okinawa-peace-education/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #okinawa #wwii #students#highschools #juniorhighschools #education
Taiwan and China are locked in an increasingly bitter battle of words over the historical narrative surrounding the fight against — and eventual victory over — Japan during World War II. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/08/25/asia-pacific/politics/taiwan-china-world-war-ii-narratives/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #asiapacific #politics #china #taiwan #history #wwii
Emperor Emeritus Akihito and Empress Emerita Michiko visited the Ohinata settlement in Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, during their summer break in the resort town. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/08/24/japan/emperor-emeritus-postwar-settlement/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #emperorakihito #empressmichiko#imperialfamily #karuizawa #nagano #wwii
China's WWII Sept. 3 military parade will be a projection of its growing military might amid deep-seated mistrust in the West, geopolitical uncertainty with the U.S. and territorial rows with neighboring countries. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/08/24/asia-pacific/china-military-parade-wwii/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #asiapacific #china #pla #wwii #history
The Japanese and South Korean leaders were set to meet Saturday in talks expected to highlight how historical baggage is being put behind them as they face a number of common challenges. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/08/23/japan/politics/south-korea-japan-ishiba-lee/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #politics #southkorea #southkoreajapanrelations#leejaemyung #shigeruishiba #wartimelabor #comfortwomen #history #wwii #northkorea #donaldtrump #tariffs #trade #us
A memorial ceremony was held Friday to remember the more than 1,400 victims, including many schoolchildren, of the sinking of the Tsushima Maru evacuation ship in a U.S. torpedo attack 81 years ago during World War II. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/08/22/japan/tsushima-maru-anniversary/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #tsushimamaru #okinawa #wwii #us
At 7 years old, Tetsuzo Shiraishi escaped a Tokyo firestorm that killed 100,000 people. Eight decades later, his life tells the story of a city reborn. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/08/22/japan/history/wwii-tokyo-reconstruction/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #history #tokyo #wwii #tokyoairraids
@Littlebobbytables @joby
The Western way that failed was a monoculture of timberland, that ignored the guidance and warnings of indigenous people from those lands. That is not what China is doing.
From their 1 trillion trees initiative:
"It also includes a vast array of active management practices, such as sustainable agroforestry, silviculture or permaculture practices, to promote biodiversity in managed systems. Ultimately, the protection and restoration of forest ecosystems are complex social, political and economic challenges that require the development of land-management policies that give priority to the rights and wellbeing of local communities and indigenous people51. Only when healthy biodiversity is the preferred choice for local people can ecosystem-restoration initiatives be sustainable in the long term52. When built in a socially and ecologically responsible way, the promotion of diverse forests can contribute substantially to achieving our combined climate and biodiversity goals."
@mekkaokereke @Littlebobbytables @joby
If you want to see what monocultures of timberland can look like, I recommend visiting the German #Harz mountains.
The Harz was a mining region for centuries, and for centuries the miners planted fast-growing fir trees, since that was what they needed for the mines.
And after #WWII the British essentially cut down most of these forests as war reparation, in the manner they were accustomed from their colonial empire. The locals then were, of course, in a hurry to replant those forest - with more fir trees.
The bill came due in the last few years as there was a massive drought - which in turn led to a massive explosion of the bark beetle population. More than 90% of the fir tree population of the Harz range is now _dead_, and the landscape looks like this as a result.
The local forestry offices are now trying for more mixed forests while managing the regrowth, and in a few decades down the road the forests should look very different than what they used to. Still, that was an expensive lesson.
Michiko Suzuki, a granddaughter of former Prime Minister Kantaro Suzuki, continues to convey his wish for peace through her writings and lectures. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/08/21/japan/wwii-japan-prime-minister-granddaughter/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #wwii #kantarosuzuki #emperorhirohito
For Hiroyoshi Takizawa, life in Manchuria was comfortable for a while. But when the Soviet's invaded, his father, fearing the worst, chose mass suicide. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/08/21/japan/japan-wwii-manchuria-pioneers/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #wwii #manchuria #china #russia
The unpredictability of U.S. President Donald Trump and doubts about whether America can be relied on to provide security have led some in Japan to consider an unthinkable Plan B: nuclear arms. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/08/20/japan/trump-japan-nuclear-arms/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #us #usjapanrelations #ruimatsukawa #defense #donaldtrump #atomicbombings #nuclearweapons #wwii
A great-grandson of Tome Torihama, who was a beloved motherly figure to kamikaze suicide attack pilots in World War II, is dedicated to preserving the stories of the pilots. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/08/20/japan/beloved-figure-to-kamikaze-pilots/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #wwii #kagoshima #chiran #imperialjapanesearmy
After marrying an Australian serviceman in the aftermath of World War II, Akiko Kirkham moved to Australia, where she faced discrimination to the point she changed her name and stopped speaking Japanese. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/08/20/japan/japanese-bride-in-australia-postwar-hardships/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #wwii #australiajapanrelations #australia #immigration #discrimination
Teruko Yahata, 88, began studying English five years ago so she could share the horrors of the bombing of Hiroshima with a wider audience. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/08/20/japan/hibakusha-giving-account-in-english/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #wwii #atomicbombings #hiroshima #nuclearweapons
Facing the growing threat of defeat, the military planned to move its headquarters from Tokyo to an area that is now a part of the city of Nagano. Construction continued until the day of Japan's surrender in the war. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/08/19/japan/society/nagano-hq-replacement/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #society #nagano #tokyo #wwii
At just 8 years old, Hajime Sakata traveled more than 500 kilometers south across the Korean Peninsula with his family for them to return to Japan after the end of World War II. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/08/19/japan/japanese-man-wwii-korean-peninsula-escape/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #wwii #northkorea #southkorea
A 103-year-old former soldier of the now-defunct Imperial Japanese Army still vividly remembers suffering from a sudden Soviet attack on one of the Chishima islands. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/08/18/japan/103-year-old-soviet-attack/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #wwii
A woman who survived the U.S. atomic bombing of the city of Hiroshima 80 years ago called for the abolition of nuclear weapons in a lecture in Sydney. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/08/17/japan/hiroshima-abomb-survivor-speech-sydney/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #wwii #atomicbombings #hiroshima #nuclearweapons