UAL875 Posted April 23, 2009 Report Share Posted April 23, 2009 And here I thought this thread was about a new basement bar you found in the bowels of Shinjuku where you could drag me in the pouring rain so that we could listen to Cult of Personality or Slayer :bangit: Your first time in Hiroshima â?? when did you go? Thanks for consulting me, I could have given you some travel tips. Ironically I was there the weekend of April 10th. Hereâ??s UALâ??s random touristy nonsense for those of you going that way or interested in WWII highlights in the Land of the Rising Sun and Vending Machine: 1) In Hiroshima make sure you visit the Hiroshima Garden. Maybe not as famous as Kenrokuen in Kanazawa, but this, for me, is one of the better kept gardens in Japan and a nice escape from the city. One of Japanâ??s best kept secrets. :thumbup: 2) If you are in Hiroshima more than one day, hop the streetcar and go to Miyajima port and ferry across to Miyajima which may be the most scenic place in Japan. Google it if you do not believe me. 3) Nagasaki is a totally different vibe than Hiroshima. It's counterintuitive but the whole A bomb thing has been a big tourism positive for Hiroshima and the city leaders have done a good job at using the destruction to promote peace. Nagasaki, on the other hand, is sleepy and its memorial not nearly visited nor as glamorous as Hiroshima's. For instance, Mr. SuaDum, you probably crossed a river to get to the Peace Park in Hiroshima. Did you know that Isamu Noguchi, a personal super favorite of mind, was responsible for designing a couple of the bridges that span the water below? Hope you were paying attention cause I did not see any snapshots posted. But back to Nagasaki... Nagasaki, in a sense, is a bit more of an emotional trip because there remains debate if there was a need at that point of time in the war to level it. So from that perspective it makes for a different kind of visit than Hiroshima. But nonetheless, Nagasaki is a good place to stroll due to its western influence and, believe it or not, its neat little China town. 4) Kokura. Interestingly enough, Kita Kyushu (aka Kokura) was one of the original targets for the Bomb but was passed over because of cloud cover. Go visit, and I have said this before (and am going to hell for repeating this) but man oh man what a great target choice. The city is a dump. Which coming from me is saying a lot since Kyushu is one of my favorite places to fuck Japanese girls, um, I mean hang out. 5) Chiran. Little Chiran in the south of Kyushu. Somehow, someway in a style that only the Japanese could perfect... this training center for the kamikaze pilots is now a place of peace. I used counterintuitive to describe the flocking of the masses to Hiroshima but Chiran truly is bizarre (as my mom muttered when she walked around the memorial). Letâ??s see... promote peace in Hiroshima but heap praise â?? in the spirit of peace - on the pilots who flew off to keep the war alive and Japan's Imperialistic heart beating. My God I do love this batty country. And I do find Chiran to be one of my favorite places â?? so go figure. Everything that is right and wrong all rolled into one... Google this bitch as well. One of the best Samurai districts I have seen. Honto honto. Well Mr. S â?? hope to see you soon. We need to eat some more sushi or Korean BBQ and listen to Living Colour in a fucking monsoon. Rock the house. With mother. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sakai Posted April 23, 2009 Report Share Posted April 23, 2009 Very informative, thanks UAL875 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted April 23, 2009 Report Share Posted April 23, 2009 Despite the Emperor's surrender order, many Japanese troops still refused to quit fighting. The last official US war death was that of a Marine from Alabama killed on Guam months after the "surrender". Green infantry regiments were sent to the Philippines to finish off the hold outs, fighting sometimes sizeable skirmishes into 1946 and '47. These grunts received no decorations - no combat medals for them, since the war was over, not even a Purple Heart. I once meant to write up these last encounters, but never got around to it. http://www.wanpela.com/holdouts/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_holdout Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sakai Posted April 23, 2009 Report Share Posted April 23, 2009 Need to look on my private laptop at home but I think the last US military personel killed by Japanese holdouts was in the fifties. Not sure though and I will have to go through many files. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted April 23, 2009 Report Share Posted April 23, 2009 Could well be, but the US govmt set an official end for the war - January 1946, I think. Anyone killed after that was not a WWII casualty. I've read about a Japanese loony who would occasionally attack and chase golfers on Guam with his Samurai sword. They finally managed to throw a net over him and send him back to Japan. That was in the '50s or '60s. I've been trying to find something about the two Japanese who turned up in Thailand around 1975 or '76. The Japanese govmt began searching for more holdouts after the LT in the Philippines was found. As I recall, they did find two - not really holdouts, since they knew the war was over. One was an LT in Chiang Mai who had been sent to round up troops in Burma and got back too late to catch the flight home. He said to hell with it and stayed in Chiang Mai. The other was a former private who stayed behind, married and raised a family in Nakorn Sawan. Their families had thought both were dead for over 30 years! The Japanese government put them in touch with their families again. Also, some former Free Thai undergound members led the Japanese to the site of an ambush in Tak province, where they had wiped out a Japanese detachment in 1945. The Thais showed the Japanese where the dead had been buried, and what remains they could find were brought home to Japan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavanami Posted April 23, 2009 Report Share Posted April 23, 2009 Me thinks that all the world leaders should make a visit to the Peace Museum to see the results of an A-bomb...maybe some of these nut balls would step back from producing nuke bombs...like Iran? N. Korea, etc... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khunsanuk Posted April 24, 2009 Report Share Posted April 24, 2009 Hi, "maybe some of these nut balls would step back from producing nuke bombs" They'd more likely see it as a great example of what power those bombs have and would want to own one even more I do not think human lives mean much to many of the world leaders, especially human lives in other countries. Sanuk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted April 24, 2009 Report Share Posted April 24, 2009 If Hitler or Stalin had got the bomb first, I imagined they'd have used it a lot more than just two times. Perhaps significant that the Japanese right wing condemns the USA for the atomic bombs, but never says anything about Japan's own germ warfare project - which was tested on Allied POWs and was meant to be used against American cities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavanami Posted April 24, 2009 Report Share Posted April 24, 2009 ...or the Japanese Unit 741 that did "tests" in China (Korea) on the locals...terrible!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangkoktraveler Posted April 24, 2009 Report Share Posted April 24, 2009 If Hitler or Stalin had got the bomb first, I imagined they'd have used it a lot more than just two times. Perhaps significant that the Japanese right wing condemns the USA for the atomic bombs, but never says anything about Japan's own germ warfare project - which was tested on Allied POWs and was meant to be used against American cities. Japan and Germany were both closed to developing their own atomic bombs. The USA was not sure how close they were. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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