Tag - wwii

 
 

WWII

A statue symbolizing "comfort women" — those who suffered under Japan’s military brothel system before and during World War II — in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 24, 2023
South Korean court rules in favor of former 'comfort women'
The Seoul High Court overturned a 2021 lower court ruling that dismissed the case on the grounds that South Korea has no jurisdiction over the case.
U.S. Marines stand by a transfer case during a repatriation ceremony for the possible remains of unidentified service members lost in the Battle of Tarawa during World War Two in the Republic of Kiribati, July 18, 2019.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 19, 2023
The bloody, 76-hour battle on a tiny atoll that helped end World War II
The Battle of Tarawa, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, took a heavy toll on American forces and led to outrage at home.
Trial participants listen to wartime leader Hideki Tojo give his defiant testimony in the old Army Ministry courtroom during the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in January 1948.
CULTURE / Books
Nov 16, 2023
'Judgment at Tokyo' investigates powers at play in postwar tribunal
Gary J. Bass' new book thoroughly delves into the prosecution of Japanese military atrocities and its divisive legacy.
The front page of The Japan Times from Nov. 13, 1948, heralds the verdicts given to Japan's war criminals.
JAPAN / History / Japan Times Gone By
Nov 3, 2023
Japan Times 1948: Tojo and 6 others are sentenced to hang
As sentences are handed down in 1948, two other eras deal with fallout from an earthquake and an oil shock.
Christopher Nolan's film about the creator of the atomic bomb, "Oppenheimer," was released in theaters worldwide this summer and received mostly strong reviews. However, distributors still have not announced whether the film will be shown in Japan's cinemas.
CULTURE / Film
Oct 28, 2023
Will Japan ever see 'Oppenheimer' screened in its cinemas?
Christopher Nolan’s film about the creator of the atomic bomb still doesn't have a Japan release date. There’s more than one possible reason for that.
Rahm Emanuel, U.S. ambassador to Japan, and Ann Burroughs, president and CEO of the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, discuss the importance of preserving the history of interned Japanese Americans.
CULTURE / Art
Oct 6, 2023
U.S. ambassador honors artworks by interned Japanese Americans
“This is not a great moment for America, and we have to own it,” Rahm Emanuel said at a reception in Tokyo.
A Filipino woman looks at pictures of fellow wartime survivors of sexual servitude at a resource center, in Quezon city, Manila, in August 2015.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Sep 25, 2023
For Filipino wartime rape survivors, a last hope for reparations
For the few remaining elderly survivors, the reparations demand issued by a U.N. committee earlier this year is realistically their last hope.
A document from archives on Pope Pius XII, who reigned from 1939-1958, containing the names of people who were executed during the Ardeatine massacre in Italy in March 1944
WORLD
Sep 17, 2023
Letter shows Pope Pius XII probably knew about Holocaust early on
A letter found in the Vatican archives on the church's knowledge of the Holocaust conflicts with the Holy See's official longtime position.
A ceremony is held in March 2016 in Markowa, Poland, at the grave of the Ulma family who were killed by the Nazis for hiding Jews during WWII.
WORLD
Sep 10, 2023
Polish family killed by Nazis to be beatified in Catholic first
The Ulma family will be the first ever to be beatified, a key step on a possible path to sainthood in the Catholic Church.
A painting in the Museum of the War of Chinese People's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in Beijing
JAPAN
Sep 3, 2023
China marks WWII victory day on high alert
China marked the 78th anniversary of its World War II victory over Japan on Sunday.
Paper cranes made by Sadako Sasaki, a victim of the August 1945 U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima, on display at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum in May.
JAPAN
Aug 30, 2023
UNESCO listing sought for A-bombed girl's paper cranes
Other items for which the application was made include Sadako Sasaki's handwritten notes on her blood test results and her photos.
Walter F. Hatch sheds light on how Japan's actions during World War II continue to haunt the country in "Ghosts in the Neighborhood."
CULTURE / Books
Aug 27, 2023
‘Ghosts in the Neighborhood’ illuminates a path to reconciliation
Asian politics expert Walter F. Hatch sheds light on the role multilateral institutions can play in Japan coming to terms with its World War II past.
Mitsuko Suyama talks about falling victim to “black rain” in front of the community center where she was at the time of the 1945 atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Aug 21, 2023
Nagasaki ‘black rain’ victims angry over lack of health benefits
Victims of the Nagasaki A-bomb tell of suffering and exclusion from health benefits reserved for those officially recognized as survivors.
Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako attend a memorial service marking the 78th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II at the Nippon Budokan Hall in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 15, 2023
Japan marks 78th anniversary of the end of World War II
Members of bereaved families from 10 prefectures were unable to participate in the ceremony due to Typhoon Lan.
Pictures of pilots who undertook suicide attack missions are among the items kept at the Chiran Peace Museum in Minamikyushu, Kagoshima Prefecture.
JAPAN / History
Aug 15, 2023
Museums struggle to preserve suicide notes of Japanese WWII pilots
Over time, the materials have deteriorated and the color of the ink has changed.
A promotional poster for the film "Barbie" in Tokyo earlier this month
CULTURE
Aug 12, 2023
Hollywood blockbuster 'Barbie' opens in Japan after controversy
Tickets sold fast in Japan as fans flocked to the theatrical release, timed to coincide with the start of the Bon holiday period.
A girl floats a lantern down the Motoyasu River in front of Hiroshima's Atomic Bomb Dome on Sunday, the 78th anniversary of the U.S. nuclear attack on the city.
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2023
Nuke ban treaty still out of reach as Japan marks atomic bombings
Japan, which is positioned under the "nuclear umbrella" of the U.S., has refrained from joining the treaty, citing its own “tough security environment.”
The protagonist of Yu Miri’s “The End of August” is a fictionalized version of the author’s maternal grandfather, a long-distance runner who lived in Japanese-occupied Korea.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 6, 2023
Yu Miri’s new book is a bleak, dizzying epic in colonized Korea
In “The End of August,” the Akutagawa Prize-winning author excavates her own family history and traces multiple generations living under Japanese rule.
Signboards for the movies “Oppenheimer” and “Barbie” at a theater in Los Angeles 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 4, 2023
'Barbenheimer' highlights U.S. ignorance of nuclear reality
The “Barbenheimer” craze shows the U.S. education system needs work and Americans need lessons on nuclear weapons.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in May.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Aug 3, 2023
Japan's vision of nuke-free world in focus ahead of anniversaries
The tension between Tokyo's lofty goals and realpolitik necessities has made any move toward nuclear disarmament largely elusive.

Longform

A store clerk tries to cool things down in front of their shop by spraying a hose.
Is extreme weather changing the way Japan shops?