Introduction

In 1999, I met Mr.Donald Versaw, an American veteran living in California, through my music activities in the United States. During the Pacific War, he worked as a prisoner of war in a coal mine in Iizuka City, Fukuoka Prefecture. In 2011, I happened to learn that he, who was 89 years old at the time, came to Japan in the fall of 2010 as part of the Japanese government’s invitation program for former American prisoners of war. When I knew he was still alive, I immediately contacted related organizations. When I looked up POWs on the Internet, I found that they were transported by ship from Southeast Asia and many entered through Moji which is my hometown, and those who made it to Moji alive were sent from there to camps across the country. Kitakyushu was the place where the most prisoners of war died in Japan.

This led me to start researching about that war. I kept hearing new events, places, and names that I didn’t know one after another, and I couldn’t let my interest run out, so I grabbed my iPhone and searched them under my futon every night.

I learned that there are still more than 1 million remains of Japanese people in Southeast Asia and Siberia who are unable to return to Japan. I learned that there are many remains in Okinawa, so I also participated in the collection of remains in Okinawa. I participated in a Dutch invitation program in Mizumaki Town organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Dutch government. I learned why the Netherlands and Indonesia were involved in the Pacific War. I learned that the Korean War that started in 1950 had a huge economic effect on Kitakyushu (special procurement for Korea).  And just like that, the history of that era was filled in like a puzzle.

I learned about the Pacific War (Greater East Asia War) from various angles. Knowing about Kitakyushu in the era, I realized that many coincidences connected my life and that there is a lot of history and life that our generation has forgotten. I wanted to create a booklet that would give people in their 20s to 40s an opportunity to learn about the history and life of that era.

This booklet does not explain the history in detail. Each war involves different information, ideas, experiences, and thoughts depending on each country and position. If you find a word or event that interests you, search for it on your PC or smartphone. I think there are many different ideas and values and many discoveries.

After living in New York for 7 years and backpacking around India and Southeast Asia, I have lived in the Tokyo metropolitan area for 12 years. Currently, I am obsessed with the history of Japan, the world, and Kitakyushu, where I was born and raised. It connects people across time, generations, and borders.

Congratulations on the 50th anniversary of the establishment of Kitakyushu as a city.

February 10, 2013
Shoko “Seina” Shiraishi

War history and events around Kitakyushu-city（Akio Yamamoto)

The wars in which Japan was mainly involved and the environment in Kitakyushu at the time are as follows:

1863
1864

Shimonoseki campaign, (The combined fleet of Britain, France, the Netherlands, and the United States). Takasugi Shinsaku formed Kiheitai.

1875

Maresuke Nogi leads the 14th Regiment and is assigned to Kokura. He suppressed the Akizuki Rebellion and the Hagi Rebellion.

1894

First Sino-Japanese war. The war between Japan and China was mainly over the Korean Peninsula. According to the Treaty of Shimonoseki concluded in Japan’s favor, Qing Dynasty paid reparations. Using this reparation money, the Japanese government built a government-run steelworks in Yahata Village, Fukuoka Prefecture. This was the birth of the Yawata Steel Works.

1898

The 12th Division Headquarters opens in Kokura. The following year, in 1932, Ogai Mori was appointed military medical chief.

1904

Russo-Japanese War. A war between Japan and Russia that centered on the Korean Peninsula and Manchuria. The 12th Division was dispatched from Kokura.

1914

World War I. The first world war in human history.

1931

Manchurian Incident. Promotion of Japanese militarism. Farewell of soldiers departing from Moji Port.

1933

Army Arsenal Kokura Arsenal opens. Kitakyushu became a major base for munitions factories.

1937

The Second Sino-Japanese War breaks out. Japan and China are at full-scale war. Shift to wartime control. Soldiers from all over the country gathered in Kitakyushu, near China. New construction and expansion of munitions-related factories continue in Kitakyushu City.

1939

World War II begins

1941

In December, Japan entered the Pacific War.

1943

Allied POWs who entered Japan through Moji Port were employed in various locations within Fukuoka Prefecture. Moji YMCA becomes a POW camp.

1944

The animals at Kokura Itouzu Amusement Park (zoo) were culled and turned into a farm. Kitakyushu was designated an evacuation city, and schoolchildren were evacuated to Munakata County and Miyako County. In June, the Yawata Steel Works was the first air raid on the mainland.

1945

In August, atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  The Pacific War ended.

1946

General Douglas MacArthur landed in Japan and established GHQ (Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers). Occupation forces are stationed in various parts of Kitakyushu.

1950

The Korean War breaks out. The Army Arsenal in Kokura became the headquarters of the U.S. Army’s 24th Infantry Division, and many supplies and soldiers were sent to South Korea from Moji Port. Many United Nations soldiers were killed in action, and Kokura became a processing center for the dead. The following year, The Memorial Cross was erected at Mt. Adachi, facing toward the Korean Peninsula, to commemorate the soul of the unknown soldier.

1958

The World Peace Pagoda, the only Burmese-style temple in Japan, will be erected by the Burmese government and Moji City (now Moji Ward) to pray for world peace and commemorate the war dead of World War II.