As I watched a TV programme, 'The Record of Horror, Imphal', on NHK, I cannot hold myself sharing what I learnt from the programme with my blog readers.

Imphal is the capital city of one of the north-eastern states of India, Manipur, near the border of Myanmar. In the last stage of the World War II, having conquered Burma, Japanese army planned to attack Imphal, where the British allied force was stationed.

According to the NHK TV programme, the Japanese army initially made the plan of attacking Imphal for three weeks, however, it ended up to four months and a number of lives were wasted - the plan for the battle was reckless ignoring the shortage of supply of food, equipment and soldiers, then eventually caused deaths from the war, hunger and disease and suicide of soldiers. It is also told that, due to the unplanned plan, deaths from the war were less than those from hunger and disease, and soldiers committing suicide, man-eating and exchanging man's flesh for other things to live were usual...

Furthermore, the TV programme introduced diaries, official documents and interviews of the Japanese and British armies, which tell us that the Japanese army was not well organised but was out of control. Some people in certain power went on for continuing the battle, dismissing the ideas and suggestions of stopping the war, replacing those who were against the war with pro-war parties or putting pressure on the opponents of the war. It also tells us that, even after the war, official commanders and leaders during the war put blame and responsibility to each other.

It was hearwrenching to hear the survived soldiers' voice: one of them remembers and tells that, when his colleagues committed suicide attack, each of them never failed to call their own parent's name and died; another says that he could not bring his wounded colleague back with him, even though he had promised he would, since the colleague's leg was damaged and he could not stop every five minutes for him.

Also, there were interviews of the indigenous people having survived until today in the area of the battle on the TV programme. One of them still remembers Japanese war song and can sing, another says that the Japanese army plundered her family of their cattle for their life, and another remembers her day used to start with cleaning the dead bodies up...tragic words of survivors are endless...Can we imagine that how old they were at the time of the battle...?

The area where Imphal is located has the most highest amount of precipitation in the world and it is said that, in the year of the battle, they had the worst rain fall in the last forty years, which made the dead bodies decayed drastically. The road, where dead bodies were piled, is called 'Skelton Road' and local people are still working to find and store the death's bones and belongings for the victim's family.

The most shocking part of the TV programme is the last. There was a 23-year-old young man serving the commander of the army during the battle. His duty was to record soldiers' death at the battle field. In addition to the record, he left his diary, where he had used to write his conflicts between his work and the war and his questions against the army, war, his boss and the government. His diary tells us how things during the war was insane in detail: the commander always howled out against opponents of the battle and replaced them to continue the battle; he did ritual prayer every day for victory; he made fake stories as if his army was defeating its enemy, when he was interviewed by newspapers; and finally, once the end of the battle was announced, he retired back to Japan, leaving his troop at the battle field.

The young man is still alive, turning around his 90s. He cried and said to the TV camera;

All leaders and commanders went back home alive. You know how soldiers' lives left on the battle field are valued....!?

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We, not only Japanese but we, as the world, should never repeat the same silly mistakes. War should never happen again. Each of us should keep our wishes for peace, and we should never forget that peace is kept where and when you have fear of war. Everyone's life should be valued. I wish for world peace from the bottom of my heart.

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This TV programme reminded me of the fact that peace in Japan after the war has intentionally been kept by those who had suffered from the tragedy of the cruel war, for whom, I think, we have to thank, and we have responsibility to keep the peaceful society for the future generations. The number of the survivors of the WWII has been decreasing with time and we will have less and less chances to hear their voices. I sometimes feel scared, thinking if people forget about the war and will be misled to another war in future again...

When I was a university student, I had a couple of chances to be a part of tours presenting a Urdu stage drama, 'Hiroshima Ki Kahani' in India and Pakistan. In the preparatory stage of playing the drama, we red books on the nuclear bombing and traveled to Hiroshima to hear the firsthand experience of the victims of the atomic bomb. It is said that peace education is common in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, however, in Tokyo where I grew up, peace education is not that strongly emphasised. So I had just had a vague sense of fear of war but never had a chance to ponder over peace and war until I decided to join the tour. As leaning about the war, I realised that our fear of the war has kept us not repeating a war. After graduated from the university, I have been busy with my own life and had less chances to study further about the war by myself but I still keep my eyes on the news and TV programmes on the war.

I remembered when I had visited and made a prayer for peace at Red Hill in Imphal two years ago, where a severe battle happened during the WWII, and now is a memorial place for peace. The year I visited there was the 70th year after the battle and the Japanese ambassador to India seemed to have visited there to attend the official ceremony.

#インパール作戦 #BetteleOfImphal #WW2 #第二次世界大戦 #インパール #NoMoreWar #平和 #peace #NHK #Nスぺ #RedHill #レッドヒル #WarEndAnniversary #終戦記念日 #8月15日

2017.08