FOCUS: Islanders Pass Down Memories of Wartime Poison Gas Production

Hiroshima, Sept. 4 (Jiji Press)–Okunoshima, an island in the Seto Inland Sea in western Japan now famous as “Rabbit Island” for its estimated 500 to 600 wild rabbits, once hosted a poison gas production facility operated by the former Imperial Japanese Army. During World War II, numerous factory workers and mobilized students labored at the facility, which produced a total of 6,616 tons of poison gas. About 81 years after the war ended, the number of people with firsthand knowledge of that period is dwindling. Against this backdrop, efforts are continuing to preserve and pass down their history and experiences. Workers Unaware of Dangers Poison gas production started on Okunoshima in 1929 at an Army Arsenal weapons factory. The island, now part of the city of Takehara in Hiroshima Prefecture, was chosen because it was far from urban areas and could easily be isolated from the outside world. Attracted by high wages, many people applied to work at the factory. Without being fully informed of the risks, they became involved in producing highly toxic substances, including yperite, commonly known as mustard gas. Although workers wore gas masks, protective clothing and rubber gloves, many suffered health problems. “The war on this island is still not over,” says Masayuki Yamauchi, an 81-year-old former high school teacher who has spent about three decades researching the island’s history and sharing it with others. As one example, Yamauchi noted that water must still be brought to the island from elsewhere because of worries about environmental contamination caused by the disposal of poison gas. Amid growing concerns that memories of the period are fading, Yamauchi reiterated the importance of conveying both sides of the island’s wartime history. “We need to communicate not only the suffering inflicted (on the island’s people), but also the fact that the island was involved in inflicting suffering on others,” he says. Following the outbreak of war between Japan and China in 1937, poison gas production on Okunoshima increased sharply. The Japanese military transported these chemical weapons to China and other locations for use in combat, despite the 1925 Geneva Protocol’s prohibition of chemical warfare–a measure adopted in response to the horrors of World War I. Balloon Bombs Reiko Okada, 96, of Mihara in Hiroshima Prefecture, was mobilized to work on Okunoshima in 1944, when she was a second-year student at Tadanoumi Girls High School. She remained there until the war ended the following year. One of the few surviving witnesses to the wartime mobilization, Okada recalls, “We were ordered not to speak about what happened on the island–not even to our families.” Okada helped manufacture a chemical weapon known as the “red canister,” which contained an agent designed to induce sneezing. She also assisted in moving poison gas materials to safety ahead of anticipated air raids. In addition, she took part in the production of balloon bombs–explosives attached to paper balloons about 10 meters in diameter and carried by high-altitude winds toward the United States. At the time, Okada regarded the project as “a futile effort with an extremely low chance of success.” After the war, however, she learned that balloon bombs had killed people in the United States. The news left her consumed with guilt over the role she had played. “What we did was unmistakably an act of murder,” she says. True Peace Movement Driven by the conviction that “we mustn’t allow such things to happen again,” Okada started painting scenes from her experiences to preserve their memory for future generations. In 1989, she completed a collection of her paintings and sent copies, accompanied by a letter of apology, to the United States and other countries. Since then, she has continued to share her testimony, using the paintings when speaking to audiences that include students on school trips. “We must face history and the facts squarely and reflect on the crimes committed during the war,” she says. The Imperial Japanese military left behind large quantities of chemical weapons in China, and the Japanese government continues to dispose of them. Okada believes that this legacy, too, must not be overlooked. She was mobilized for relief work immediately after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in August 1945 and was herself exposed to radiation. She maintains that “a genuine peace movement is possible only when we consider both victimhood and perpetration together.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]