FOCUS: 80 Years On, Japan Faces Task of Handing Down War Memories

Tokyo, Nov. 27 (Jiji Press)–The 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in August brought into sharp focus the steep decline in the number of people with firsthand experience of the war. For the first time, more than half of participants at the government-hosted national memorial service for the war dead were born after the war. This demographic shift underlined the urgent task facing Japan to hand down wartime memories. The annual national memorial service was held at the Nippon Budokan hall in central Tokyo on Aug. 15, the day then Emperor Hirohito announced Japan’s surrender 80 years ago. A total of 3,358 relatives of the war dead attended the event and mourned about 3.1 million people who lost their lives in the war. “A majority are now from generations that do not know the war,” then Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said in his address. “However much time may pass, we will across generations inherit the resolute pledge to renounce war and persevere in actions for lasting peace.” According to the internal affairs ministry, as of October 2024 those born before or during the war stood at about 13.89 million, or 11.2 pct of the total national population. As of March this year, 792 people were receiving military pensions paid to former Imperial Japanese military personnel who joined the war. The number stood at about 1.39 million at its peak in fiscal 1973, and fell below 1,000 this year for the first time. Japan is also the only country in the world to have suffered atomic bombings in war. Hibakusha atomic bombing survivors who possess special health handbooks totaled 99,130 nationwide as of the end of March, slipping below 100,000 for the first time, according to data published by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare in July. Their average age rose to 86.13, highlighting pronounced aging. The national memorial ceremony reflected a generational change among the families of the war dead. Of the 3,432 people scheduled to attend, 53.2 pct were born after the war. The oldest attendee was a 98-year-old whose elder brother died of a war-related illness, while the youngest was a 3-year-old great-great-grandson of a deceased serviceman. No parents of the war dead attended. Apart from the years when the annual ceremony was scaled down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was the first memorial service without any spouses of the war dead in attendance. A pressing challenge for the Japanese government is the recovery of the remains of roughly 1.12 million of the approximately 2.4 million Japanese nationals who died mostly overseas. The government has designated the period up to fiscal 2029 as an intensive implementation period for the collection of remains. Of the uncollected remains, those of about 230,000 people are difficult to recover due to circumstances in countries such as China and North Korea. Additionally, those of about 300,000 are believed to rest on the seabed. The welfare ministry estimates that roughly 590,000 are still recoverable. With the number of their family members and local residents who remember the time dwindling, however, identifying remains becomes increasingly difficult. To help pass down wartime memories, the welfare ministry, in its budget request for the next fiscal year from April, allocated 260 million yen for programs such as training next-generation storytellers, up substantially from the previous year’s initial budget. The ministry is also soliciting personal accounts of the August 1945 atomic bombings from all hibakusha. The time in which survivors’ firsthand accounts can be heard is rapidly running short. This year, public and private efforts to pass on wartime memories were ramped up in many parts of the country, not only in the atom-bombed cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Okinawa Prefecture, which suffered enormous casualties during bloody ground battles in the final months of the war. The Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, also known as Nihon Hidankyo, which won last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, is also involved in efforts to carry on the hibakusha movement, holding events in collaboration with young people. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]