August 06, 2007

Peace Month

August is a month of remembrance.

August 6, 1945 is the day the atomic bomb was dropped in Hiroshima, August 9, 1945 is the day of Nagasaki, and August 15, 1945 is the day Japan surrendered. Although these days are remembered in Japan and the news cover the front page, it is almost unknown here in the US. (Photo from www.reuters.com)

My dad and his team mates are running "Peace Run" starting today (August 6) in Hiroshima and finishing in Nagasaki on Aug 9. It is not a race but a run to remember the victims of the atomic bombs and pray for peace. He is posting updates on his blog, found here. (Sorry, Japanese language only)

Very recently I watched the DVD of the movie "Pearl Harbor." It is a fictional love story, with a background of the Pearl Harbor attack. I can understand the anger of the Americans, especially from the point of view of the common people who lost their friends and family in the surprise attack. And It is a love story anyway, so it doesn't make sense to criticize it for its one-sidedness.

One reason I watched the movie is because I've finally decided to visit Pearl Harbor before I leave Hawaii. It is one of the famous sites on this island, and I haven't been there yet. It is sort of a place that I have hesitated to visit as a Japanese national. I browsed some Japanese visitors' blog entries and diaries, and they reinforced my apprehension. They wrote that the film that was shown before entering the museum portrayed Japan as an evil enemy, and they felt that the white American tourists on the same boat seemed to stare sternly at the Japanese tourists there. These episodes do make me conscious of myself. And I hate to see "a history" presented as "the history"; there are numerous histories experienced by numerous people who lived that time. Well, living here for four years and never visiting is not a good idea. So I made up my mind.

I'm planning on visiting after the week of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, though. It is true that it may be appropriate to visit the site that the war started, in the very week we remember the end of the war. But Pearl Harbor seems to be a place Americans remember themselves as victims. If I get the message too strongly that Japan is the evil and America is a victim, in this very memorial week of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I may resist strongly and start criticizing Americans for not even knowing it is the memorial week, and that America too has done such inhumane damage and killed over 200 thousand civilians. It's just a sentiment that I want to reserve this week to remember the victims in Japan. The week after, I will listen to voices of the victims in Pearl Harbor and pray for the world with no war...

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