JAPAN: HUNDREDS OF WORLD WAR TWO VETERANS ATTEND CEREMONY TO MARK OPENING OF REFURBISHED WAR MUSEUM AT YASUKUNI SHRINE

Record ID: 208374

  • Title: JAPAN: HUNDREDS OF WORLD WAR TWO VETERANS ATTEND CEREMONY TO MARK OPENING OF REFURBISHED WAR MUSEUM AT YASUKUNI SHRINE
  • Date: 20th July 2002
  • Summary: (W4) TOKYO, JAPAN (JULY 13, 2002) (REUTERS) 1. SLV GATE OF YASUKUNI SHRINE; SLV PEOPLE PRAYING AT SHRINE (3 SHOTS) 0.15 2. MV TAPE CUTTING CEREMONY TO COMMEMORATE THE RENEWAL OPENING OF THE WAR MUSEUM ON THE SHRINE GROUNDS; MV PEOPLE CLAPPING (2 SHOTS) 0.26 3. MV PEOPLE GOING INTO THE MUSEUM 0.31 4. HAS ENTRANCE OF MUSEUM WITH STEAM ENGINE FROM WORLD WAR TWO, ZERO FIGHTER AND ARTILLERY; MV PEOPLE LOOKING AT ZERO FIGHTER; MV PEOPLE LOOKING AT ARTILLERY (3 SHOTS) 0.48 5. (SOUNDBITE)(Japanese) KAZUHO KUNO, SHINTO PRIEST AND PR OFFICIAL SAYING "The floor space of the museum has been doubled so that young people especially will be able to see and understand how the souls of the war dead are honoured. We started renovations last April and we have finished it in time for the 'bon', or "mitama" festival as we call it which starts on July 13." 1.16 6. MV PEOPLE LOOKING AT SAMURAI ARMOUR; SCU SAMURAI ARMOUR (2 SHOTS) 1.25 7. MV ELDERLY COUPLE LOOKING AT FLAGS AND OTHER MEMORABILIA; MV PEOPLE LOOKING AT DISPLAYS (2 SHOTS) 1.38 8. SCU OLD CANTEENS AND OTHER EQUIPMENT FROM WORLD WAR TWO; MV PEOPLE LOOKING AT EXHIBITS; SCU REMNANTS OF UNIFORMS; MV PEOPLE LOOKING AT PHOTOGRAPHS OF PEOPLE WHO DIED ON BATTLEFIELD (5 SHOTS) 2.02 9. SLV ROOM WITH LARGE WAR RELICS FROM WORLD WAR TWO; MV TANK; MV MAN LOOKING AT MODEL OF AIRCRAFT CARRIER; MV KAMIKAZE PLANE (4 SHOTS) 2.24 10. (SOUNDBITE)(Japanese) KATSUHIDE KAMIYA, 83-YEAR-OLD WAR VETERAN SAYING "It brings back so many memories I could cry. I think it is a good thing for the people that this museum has been renovated." 2.37 11. (SOUNDBITE)(Japanese) CHIZU SHIMIZU, A 79-YEAR-OLD WAR WIDOW, SAYING "By putting all of these things on display, we must think of how terrible war is and make sure that we never participate in wars again and that peace prevails. We are old and can die any day now but the young people should remember." 2.57 12. HAS JAPANESE FLAG HANGING ABOVE EXHIBITS 3.08 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 4th August 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: TOKYO, JAPAN
  • Country: Japan
  • Reuters ID: LVA7K1UGGR45SZ6Y99T8U158QSD1
  • Story Text: Hundreds of frail World War Two veterans have attended
    a ceremony to mark the opening of a lavishly refurbished war
    museum at Tokyo's controversial Yasukuni Shrine.

    The veterans and war widows were among hundreds of
    guests who took their places at a ceremony to mark the opening
    of the war museum on Saturday (July 13, 2002).

    Double the size of the old museum, the extended building
    houses a new exhibit, a lovingly-restored Zero fighter plane
    of the type used in the 1941 Pearl Harbour attack that dragged
    the United States into World War Two.

    There was no sign of controversy at the ceremony, but
    Yasukuni Shrine, dedicated to Japan's 2.5 million war dead,
    including 14 convicted "Class A" war criminals, is a frequent
    source of conflict between Japan and other Asian countries.

    Guests at Saturday's ceremony included donors to the
    museum's refurbishment fund and a number of foreign diplomats,
    but none of Japan's leading politicians.

    After the ribbon cutting ceremony, a stream of visitors
    filled the corridors of the museum which traces Japan's
    battles back to the samurai era.

    "The floor space of the museum has been doubled so that
    young people especially will be able to see and understand how
    the souls of the war dead are honoured. We started renovations
    last April and we have finished it in time for the 'bon', or
    "mitama" festival as we call it which starts on July 13," said
    Kazuho Kuno, Shinto priest and press official.

    In Japan every year around mid-July or August, spirits of
    the dead are said to come back to spend the night with their
    relatives. Lanterns are lit throughout the night at the front
    door of homes to welcome them and and special ceremonies and
    festivals to honour the spirits are held at temples and
    shrines.

    In the past, most of the cannons, steam engine and planes
    had been in the courtyard of the museum. Veteran groups would
    take turns cleaning the exhibits.

    But as many of the war veterans are now in their late
    seventies or eighties, the shrine decided to take over the
    upkeep.

    Many war veterans felt nostalgic to see the war relics on
    display.

    "It brings back so many memories I could cry. I think it
    is a good thing for the people that this museum has been
    renovated," said eighty-three year-old Katsuhide Kamiya.

    They hoped the items on display, which include canteens
    riddled with bullet holes, wills of soldiers who died and
    remnants of uniforms, would show people the horrors of war.

    "By putting all of these things on display, we must think
    of how terrible war is and make sure that we never participate
    in wars again and that peace prevails. We are old and can die
    any day now but the young people should remember," said
    seventy-nine year-old Chizu Shimizu whose husband died on a
    submarine when it was torpedoed.

    The veterans, all of whom had lost friends on the
    battlefield, thought the renovated museum was a tribute to
    those who had died and visiting the museum for them was akin
    to praying at the shrine.

    In August 2001, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited
    the shrine, sparking protests from China and South Korea that
    he had hurt the feelings of those who suffered under Japan's
    colonial rule in the early 20th century.


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