To celebrate the 35th anniversary of the establishment of Hokkaido Television, Asahi TV will present a special installment in its Human Vision series of social-historical video documentaries. "Kiri no Nikki: Aryushan kara no Dengon (Diary in the Fog: A Message from the Aleutians)" (Feb. 16 at 2 p.m.) explores one of the more unusual episodes of the Pacific War.
Few people know that there was actually a Battle of the Aleutians, which comprise the string of islands that extends west from the coast of Alaska. American forces battled the Japanese Imperial Army, and all 2,500 Japanese combatants were killed. After the battle, an American soldier found a book with writing in it and handed it in to his superiors, who had it translated, thinking it might contain valuable intelligence.
The book turned out to be the personal diary of a young doctor named Nobuo Tatsuguchi. Fairly certain that he was about to die, Tatsuguchi poured out his heart in the diary, addressing his thoughts to his wife and the daughter he had never even seen.