Visit to Japan - April 18 – 22, 2007

In April of this year I had the opportunity to go to Japan for some further research. I also wanted to re-visit the Yasukuni Shrine – the place of so much controversy between the people of Japan and its Asian neighbours. I had visited there back in 1992 and didn’t know at that time what the Shrine really was or what it stood for. It was simply just another “tourist spot” in the city. Now knowing what I do about it, I wanted to pay another visit to the Shrine and the adjacent War Museum to check them out for myself.

Visitors pay homage at Yasukuni Shrine

The shrine was as I had remembered it, still with many folks paying respect to the war dead, but while I was there I saw some even more startling aspects to it. I spotted an old Japanese soldier, attired in his WWII uniform talking to people and obviously bragging about his wartime exploits. I saw groups of Right Wing soldiers marching around the compound, and at the entrance there was a group of fanatics trying to convince passers-by that the Rape of Nanking was a hoax. (See photos on page 5). In my opinion, this is the true meaning of the Yasukuni Shrine in Japan today – a place to honour those who invaded, murdered, raped, tortured and looted wherever they went, and also those war leaders who had planned it all.

Old engine from the Thai – Burma Death
Railway on exhibit at the War Museum.

The museum was actually very well done and one of the best military museums I have been to. However, the blatant lies and numerous statements made to mislead and cover up Japan’s wartime atrocities could not be ignored. They are there – for all to see – as I had read and seen reports of elsewhere. It’s sad that Japan can’t face up to its past history and acknowledge and apologize for the suffering it caused.

POW Camps and Hellships

Part of my reason for visiting Tokyo this time was to try to find the location of the Yokohama-01D Camp, often referred to by the POWs as “the shipyard camp”. 286 American POWs who had first been in Taichu Camp, plus several hundred British, Dutch and Australian POWs formerly from Heito Camp, were transported there in November 1942, and I know some of these men personally.

One morning I set out to find the location of the camp. I had a rough idea where it was located and after checking with several local people who were very helpful, I took a train to the Higashi-Kanagawa Station and from there I hired a taxi to take me the rest of the way.

Site of the former Yokohama -01D
POW Camp today

When I arrived at the site of the former camp I found that it was now lovely residential apartment complex with a park and water fountains. I wonder if the people who live there now know that this was once the site of a former POW camp and what went on within its boundaries, which are still clearly visible today.

While leaving the area of the camp I got a real surprise. Nearby was the old harbour and the docks and the Mitsui Factory where the POWs used to work every day. Pictured below it seems to have changed little in all these years.

Later that same day I made my way back to Yokohama Port to explore that area, noted where the site of the Ofuna Camp had been and then visited Yamashita Park. There, anchored by a pier, was the Hikawa Maru - one of the old Japanese transport ships that had been involved in WWII. It had not been a “hellship” as such, but it was used as a hospital ship and bore strong resemblance to the other hellships that the POWs were carried on.

The Hikawa Maru – former Japanese
wartime transport, preserved in
memory of a bygone era.

All in all, this trip to Japan was very successful and helped to further connect the thread of the Taiwan POWs’ story together. I met and talked with some lovely, friendly Japanese folk as well, and I hope that someday soon I can return there again.

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