The Cherry Tree

One Contribution Too Many

If the Japanese culture in its slavish and turbulent history has made one positive contribution to the world, it must be the cherry trees.

As if that’s one contribution too many, some of the nasty locals are pulling the tress out of the ground. According to the reports, twenty-eight cherry trees about to go into full bloom in a Fukuoka park were either completely uprooted or severely damaged. Report

Pink Cherry Tree Blossoms

Army ‘deeply involved’ in the mass suicides

“Imperial Japanese Army was deeply involved in the mass suicides,” Japanese Judge rules.

Judge Rejects Defamation Suit Against WW2 Okinawa Suicides Author

OSAKA — A defamation lawsuit against Nobel Prize-winning novelist Kenzaburo Oe and a publisher over statements that military officers ordered civilians to commit mass suicide in Okinawa during World War II was rejected in the Osaka District Court on Friday.

The lawsuit, filed by 91-year-old Yutaka Umezawa, a former military commander on the island of Zamami in Okinawa; and the 75-year-old younger brother of another military commander on Tokashiki Island, had demanded 20 million yen in compensation and a publishing ban on books put out by Iwanami Shoten Publishers.

In handing down the ruling, Presiding Judge Toshimasa Fukami declined to rule on whether commanders had actually ordered civilians to commit suicide, but said that judging from the conditions at the time, “the former Imperial Japanese Army was deeply involved in the mass suicides,” and rejected the suit.

The judge agreed that the military had been deeply involved in the suicides, noting that hand grenades had been handed out for people to commit suicide, and that there were no mass suicides on islands where the Imperial Japanese Army was not stationed.

According to figures held by the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum, 171 people on Zamami Island and 329 people on Tokashiki Island committed suicide towards the end of World War II. News Report

Author Kenzaburo Oe: ‘Court’s ruling should help schools provide a precise picture of the Battle of Okinawa.’ (Photo Credit: EIJIRO MORII/ THE ASAHI SHIMBUN) - Photo may be subject to copyright. See Fair Use Notice!

Related Links: A Word for the Ryukyuans [Okinawans]

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