Kirk here with an English summary of something that was published in Japanese. The gentleman in the picture is a Mr. HOTTA Yoshihisa of Amakusa, age 101. The article is about the anti-war book that he recently published based on his own experiences during WWII. The article mentions that he has been a skilled typist for decades and wrote the book on a computer.
One occasion for the article may be the 80th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor – the start of the war between the U.S. and Japan. There have been a lot of TV shows that look back on what transpired. I saw a show in which a man who actually dropped bombs in the attack on Pearl Harbor (now 103 years old) spoke thoughtfully about the mixed feelings he has lived with since the end of the war: feeling that he did his duty, on the one hand, and, at the same time thinking, about how the American soldiers who died at his hands were not really any different than himself. (That was on the TBS show 報道特集 and may be available on their archives soon.)
I often feel that the generation that actually experienced WWII in significantly more anti-war than following generations. That was the case with my father. Those of us who have never experienced such horror need to pay careful attention to the messages that generation is leaving for us.
https://kumanichi.com/sites/default/files/2021-12/IP211206TAN000107000_03.jpg
