Japanese Lifestyle during WW2 : A Museum Found!

Ad: This forum contains affiliate links to products on Amazon and eBay. More information in Terms and rules

Thanks for your kind comment, vB.
You can see a diorama under the floor through the glass, footage videos and photos on the wall about the air raids.

 
Home shelter and typical living room in 1945.
To prevent night bombing, light bulb was covered by dark cloth or people purchased special bulbs for the purpose.

The 4th photo shows fire-extinguishing shells which probably contained water.

 
You are welcome, Aaron. Any comment is helpful as I do not know exactly how you would feel to see these photos.

In the 5th photo above, you can see a large glass bottle with a long stick. That is to polish rice as polished rice was not available in the market any more in 1945 because of labor shortage. My mother once told me it was her job after school. She had to pick rice some hundred times to get peeled neat rice.

National uniform in the left is type otsu(= b). Type ko(= a) had no chest pockets.
It could be used as military uniform too when enlisted.

A small wooden device on the table is a tobacco roller. I am curious but do not know how to use it.

Tour continues.
Thanks!

 
Thia is great stuff, Shinpachi-san. Very few of us got to see anything like this growing up from the other side. WWII took a very heavy toll on civilians, and Osaka looks like it really took a pounding.

The bomb shelters look like they might help if incendiaries weren't used. General LeMay liked using those on Japanese cities. Having seen footage from some of the Tokyo fire-bombing raids, it was truly horrifying.
 
Thanks A4K for checking!
These exhibits had utterly drawn me back to 1945.

Other miscellaneous goods.
The last photo shows a catalogue of simplified wooden helmets as no more steel for citizens.

 
Shinpachi, very powerful exibits and testimony. Reading the word "enemy" and understanding that it refered to America is a difficult transition as to us "enemy" meant Japan. That testimony could have been written by civilians from any country in WWII. Truely terrible words to read. Thank you, please continue to post
 
It is some difficult for the postwar generation like me to understand the enemy as America but yes it meant so, Mike.
The first pic was painted by a grownup but the rest three were by kids, vB.

Thanks for your kind comments
 
Frankly, I was prepared for furious backlash from your side till I started this thread.
But now I am much impressed with your so many heartful words which are truely based on humanism.
In this point, I think I was still a same Japanese as my fathers and grandfathers.

I must tell you such same humanitarian words as yours were also delivered to the older Japanese during the air raids in the form of handbills from the B-29s.
Mutual cultures were too much different to be understood each other.

They may be still different as the museum does not even translate.
The handbill says "Escape together with your family! We will start bombings within a few days but our targets are military facilities only, not you. Escape! "

I now understand what it meant.
Thank you very much.

Thanks, A4K, for your kind comment too!

 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)

Similar threads

A
WW2 Japanese Flag Translation
Replies
18
Views
1K
AerialTorpedoDude69
WW2 Japanese flag translation
Replies
11
Views
1K
Wurger
J
Help with the WW2 Japanese flag translation
Replies
7
Views
867
Wurger
WW2 Japanese dog tag translation
Replies
8
Views
973
SBoyer
Help with Japanese WW2 or earlier emblem.
Replies
3
Views
743
Shinpachi
Menu
Log in
Register