Old banks are urban fortresses. Solidly built and intended to protect valuables, their designs make them the next best thing to an actual bunker for surviving a bomb- even atomic ones at close range. Uheiji Nagano didn’t have bombs…
Hiroshima Survivors II: Fukuro-machi Elementary School
Cell phones make life easy. In an emergency I can call my family and tell them if I’m okay and where I’m at. If I need to find someone I can call them. But what if I didn’t have that?…
Hiroshima Survivors I: Honkawa Elementary School
The A-Bomb Dome is an iconic ruin and solemn reminder of Aug. 6, 1945. Seemingly a lone holdout from another time, it’s surrounded by tall, modern buildings and across from it is a serene park dedicated to peace. It feels…
It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere: Churchill War Rooms
(I apologize for the image quality in this story. These images were taken in 2013, before I got my current camera.) “It’s five o’clock somewhere,” may have been Sir Winston Churchill state of mind 24-7 but in the Churchill War…
Remains of the past – Fujisawa Airfield
Mr. Krigbaum often writes about WWII ruins and the remains of wartime facilities down where he lives in Kyushu. Today, it is my turn to write about the remains of a wartime facility not far from where I live in…
Picnic among the Pits: Tajimadake Naval Guard Station and Submarine No. 43 Memorial
Looking up at the sky, I imagined what it was like standing here and watching more than 100 heavy bombers fly overhead. Tajimadake, a high hill with the city of Sasebo spread out before it, housed a battery of anti-aircraft…
Mutsu: Japan’s Most Visitable World War II Battleship?
After World War II most of the Imperial Japanese Navy’s battleships were at the bottom of the sea or scrapped, leaving the pre-dreadnought-turned-memorial ship Mikasa, victor of the 1905 Battle of Tsushima, as Japan’s sole survivor. Yamato is Japan’s most…
Reenacting America’s Nisei Soldiers in Japan
(Note: There may be another story with the same title in Stripes, that one is a greatly condensed version of this.) Awhile back I was offered the chance to join a group of Japanese World War II reenactors on a…
A Series of Adventures at Summers End
As many of our regular readers know, Wayfarer Daves is two photographers named Dave who enjoy writing and travel. Regulars, or those who have read past articles, will also know that we each live on different Japanese islands with…
The Japanese Home Front III: Sasebo Air Defense Command Center
This series is about the Japanese home front in and around Sasebo, Japan during World War II. It is not a condemnation or critique of actions taken by either side during the war but rather a look at the civilian…