Japan Press Weekly

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2007 March 7 - 13 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Tokyo air raid commemorated

Marking the 62nd anniversary of the Tokyo Great Air Raid, more than 1,000 people on March 9 gathered in front of monuments in downtown Tokyo to mourn for the dead and wish for peace.

At this memorial ceremony, essayist Ebina Kayoko, who had strived for the erection of a cenotaph and a mother-children statue, said, “Although those who experienced the tragedy are getting old, I ask you to tell your stories to young people for the sake of peace.”

Young people attending the ceremony said, “We don’t know the war but wish to go forward together with those who experienced the war,” and promised to pass down what they learned from survivors to avoid another war.

A sculptor of the mother-children statue said, “My children are about the same age as the children of this statue. When I was thinking of the children deprived of their lives in the war, tears welled up in my eyes.”

Japanese Communist Party House of Representatives member Kasai Akira attended the ceremony.