I read or heard a quote a while back. I don’t recall where I saw it or where it originally came from, but it has been knocking around my head a lot lately. The saying, as I recall it,…
Wedding Bells
We were hoping to get a story out this week, but we’re going to have to put it off until later this week because I am getting married and Dave is here as well. For now I’ll just leave you…
Consecrated in the Blood of Two Peoples: Mariveles, Corregidor and the Capas National Shrine (Part II)
Our next destination was supposed to be Corregidor, but we got side tracked in Mariveles on the way down. We were heading south to see about renting a banca, the traditional Filipino outrigger boat, which could take us out to…
Finding History – Ishibashiyama
A party of samurai camped on a mountainside south of modern day Odawara, answering the call to rise up against the Taira clan who had seized power and replaced the reigning emperor with a puppet of their own bloodline.…
Consecrated in the Blood of Two Peoples: Bataan (Part I)
Consecrated in the Blood of Two Peoples: Bataan War Memorials at Layac Junction and Mt. Samat (Part I) Today (Apr. 9, 2017) marks 75 years since the end of the Battle of Bataan. On Bataan, American and Filipino soldiers fought…
Nagoya Castle: History Lost and Regained
This week, in between Mr. Krigbaum’s articles on WWII in The Philippines, I will go back to talking about castles here in Japan. Nagoya Castle is a grand reconstructed castle a couple of hours south of Tokyo by shinkansen with…
Cesar’s Story: Life Under Japanese Occupation
Cesar Salang has one piece of advice: never waste a grain of rice. As a child, Cesar lived through the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, a time when food scraps were often one’s only meal. When he remembers that time,…
Discovering Local History – Chigasaki’s Oldest Place
I took a long walk down Route 1 back when I lived in Chigasaki, Japan, and on my walk I found a large torii gate standing along the highway, seemingly by itself. At the time, I thought this was…
Farewells from Chiran
What drives men to willingly drive an aircraft into a ship and what goes through the mind of a person scheduled for death and seemingly embraces the opportunity? There are stories from pilots of many nations flying damaged aircraft and…
Himeji – Japan’s Premier Castle
If you have ever spent any time reading about Japan, or even just looked at a tourism guide about the country, you have likely seen the beautiful bright white Japanese castle that often adorns Japan’s promotional literature. That…