1945 Tokyo air raid remembered

   About 1,000 people on March 9 attended a ceremony in Tokyo to remember the more than 100,000 victims of the massive Tokyo air raid by U.S. forces that took place just before dawn on March 10, 1945.

Participants pledged peace in front of the cenotaph and the statue of a mother and baby, both built in 2005 in memory of the air-raid victims.

   Essayist Ebina Kayoko, who lost six relatives in the raid, referred to her younger brother killed at the age of four and said, “I will speak up about my bitter experience to young people as long as I have breath so the same tragedy will never be repeated.”

  Young members of a performing group for peace spoke of their “vow for peace.” A local high school brass band played music calling for peace, and a junior high school student read poems.

   Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi said, “The government is undermining the principle of Article 9 of the Constitution in an attempt to make a “permanent law” that will enable the Self-Defense Forces to use force abroad at any time. So, it’s time for us to hand down to the next generation the full picture of  WWII and the Great Tokyo Air Raid.”

- Akahata, March 10, 2008