Picture of the Day - Miscellaneous (4 Viewers)

[Shinpachi]

The role with the sword comes from he being president of the privy council. That is a council of politicians and others who advise the monarch. The important thing about meetings of the privy council is that everyone stands, which keeps meetings short.

Privy Council (United Kingdom) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Thanks for the information again, pbehn.
I think I have got wiser

 

[Shinpachi]

Monthly magazine "Tokyo Puck" new year issue in 1915.

This English text looks a direct message to UK from a Japanese nationalistic journalist as I find no Japanese text for it.
Japan was prepared for sending troops to Europe IMO.

"If you want me, why don't you say so?"

Source: Tokyo Puck (Jan. 1915)

 

[Shinpachi]

A Japanese journalist's impression about the Great War in December 1914.

"Irony of it. Time flies fast but war progresses slowly."

Source: Tokyo Puck (Dec. 1914)

 

[WARSPITER]

Escort for the Anzacs in 1914. Japanese battle cruiser / battleship Ibuki.

6" gun at the forts in Albany Western Australia - last view of Australia for many in the Anzac convoy.

U.S. submarine memorial Albany Western Australia. U.S. subs operated form Albany in World War II.

 

[Shinpachi]

Tokyo Puck in August, 1914.

 

[Shinpachi]

Meiji Seimei life insurance company building in Tokyo built in 1934 and used as the Headquarters of the Far East Air Forces from 1945 to 1956.
Three blocks north from the MacArthur's GHQ.

Source: Construction in Tokyo (1935)

Now.

Source: 【重要文化財｜明治生命館】 見学のしかた 詳細 （明治生命保険相互会社本社本館） | 文化遺産見学案内所

 

[Wurger]

 

[MiTasol]

Meiji Seimei life insurance company building in Tokyo built in 1934 and used as the Headquarters of the Far East Air Forces from 1945 to 1956.
Three blocks north from the MacArthur's GHQ.

View attachment 720214
Source: Construction in Tokyo (1935)

Now.
View attachment 720215View attachment 720216
Source: 【重要文化財｜明治生命館】 見学のしかた 詳細 （明治生命保険相互会社本社本館） | 文化遺産見学案内所

So insurance companies in Japan, like elsewhere, were all into building massive edifices and overpaying their executives at the expense of their customers.

Nothing changes in some industries

 

[Frog]

 

[Shinpachi]

I came across this article.

To tell the truth: In the case of Ace pilot Saburo Sakai (1916-2000).

"A mother and a daughter of DC4 over Java"

On February 5, 1942, we took off Balikpapan in Borneo to raid Malang Air Force Base in Java. It was about 450 miles away long-range attack that could never be done by any Allied fighters at that time.

When we were flying over Java Island, I spotted a reconnaissance seaplane on the left front. I was better at spotting enemies than anyone else in my unit. No sooner I told the commander "I will shoot down that plane'' than left the formation for a while to shoot it down with my one shot. Recalling this scene, I still think that I should not have shot down that plane because it was so weak. However, it is also true that I had to shoot it down as long as it was an enemy military aircraft because that was our job.

I was several minutes away from our formation. I chased them with full throttle to join. However, when I looked to the front left, I had found a black spot in the distance. It was a flying object. "Okay, there is something again. I'm busy today," and chased the flying object at maximum speed.

When I got closer, it was confirmed not a military aircraft but a popular DC4 passenger plane. I thought that I had caught a bothersome guest. "What should I do..." I thought. It looked a plane in which VIPs were trying to escape to Australia from the island of Java which was then about to fall. Therefore, I decided to direct it to our base in Balikpapan rather than shooting it down.

I positioned my Zero in front of the plane and, pulling out my pistol which was equipped for suicide from my waist, tried to force it to the left turn repeatedly shoving pistol in the direction of Balikpapan. I opened the windshield and turned around. I saw a DC4 pilot looking at me at a distance of about 15 meters.

I flew for a while with the plane thinking "Well, what should I do?" and then the DC4 using the clouds skillfully flew away into the thicker clouds repeating zigzag flight at full speed. . . . So I wrote in my old book "Saburo Sakai's Air Combat Records" but that was not true. Why had I written like that? It was still the fifth year after the end of the war and Japan was under the occupation by MacArthur. I didn't want to have trouble, so I wrote as though I had failed to catch the DC4.

To tell the truth, I slowed down the speed to check what kind of people were on board. I took position close to the right tail plane to look in the windows and I was to be stunned. In the fifth window counting from the rear, a 25 or 30 year-old blond woman was holding a 3 year-old look blond girl tightly. I also saw another couple of similar parent and child in the next window. They seemed to be praying, "God, help!!"

When I saw them, they had reminded me of Mr. Martin's wife and daughter of the English class in my junior high school days at Aoyama Gakuin. It was impossible for me to shoot down this plane anymore. I wanted them to keep flying somehow. I immediately took position in front of the plane again and looked back at the cockpit to shout "Go!"

The plane probably flew to Australia via Coupon base in Timor. If the plane reached safely in Australia, the tiny girl would be around 53 year-old now. Her mother would be nearly 80. If any chance, I frankly would llike to meet them again...

Source: LA international (Feb. 1995)

Saburo Sakai in a restored Zero circa 1966

Source: Glory and Tragedy of Zero Fighter (1966)

 

[ARTESH]

He spared their lives, and his life was spared!

Interesting story, Shinpachi-san, and thanks for sharing.

 

[Shinpachi]

In search of the restored Zero with which Saburo Sakai took photo, I came across this aircraft.
This is sole airframe of the model in Japan and I did not know its existance.

De Havilland DH.115 Vampire T55 serial number 15758 at JASDF in Hamamatsu.

Source: エアーパーク 浜松広報館(リニューアル前)①デハビラント DH115 バンパイア Mk.55 練習機 その2

The Zero for Sakai would be this one as restored in 1964.

Source:
View: https://twitter.com/jasdf_airpark/status/1544459861475241986/photo/1

 

[Wurger]

 

[Shinpachi]

Wireless phototelegraphy experiment between San Francisco (RCA) and Tokyo (Ministry of Communications) on April 2, 1937.

Source: Press Rengo Photo News (April 1937)

 

[Wurger]

 

[Shinpachi]

Derailed Japanese so-called freedom-seekers in Europe in 1937.
Since Japan's opening of the country in 1868, many Japanese young people went to Europe dreaming freedom but most of their lives had nothing to do with freedom but debts. These three persons in Paris launched a Japanese event to pay the boat fare for Japan at last.

Yvonne, Okamoto and Fumiko in Paris 1937

Source: Press Rengo Photo News (April 1937)

Yvonne Takebayashi (1920-1965)
She was born to Japanese freedom-seekers Musouan Takebayashi and Fumiko Takebayashi in Paris.
She was brought up by a French couple as her parents were indifferent to their daughter. In 1937, her parents decided to go back to Japan with their daughter but she refused and attempted suicide. She returned to Japan but was unable to speak Japanese well. She married two Japanese men in her life but divorced. Returned to Europe with her daughter Ive in 1952, she suffered poverty and had died young at 45.

Photo: DadaZen — nobara hayakawa

 

[Wurger]

 

[Shinpachi]

Musouan Takebayashi (1880-1962), Japanese novelist known as an unprecedented freedom writer.
He once talked about his family in 1949 like this -

"I have always been a humanist about Fumiko and Yvonne, so I will not interfere in their affairs. I only know that Fumiko runs a cafe in Osaka and Yvonne is in Tokyo with Mr. Jun Tsuji's son Makoto. No problem." (Source: "Chronology of Yvonne Takebayashi" by Yô Hasegawa)

I can see a lot of guys like him even today.

Photo: Wiki

 

[Wurger]

 

[Shinpachi]

To conclude the freedom-seeker, Musouan Takebayashi, here is his philosophy stated in his book "A Patient of the Civilization Disease (1923)"
This looks a good clue to understand the society of prewar Japan.

"I and my family came back to Japan with trepidation, being prepared to be homeless on the streets but my luck had not run out. Mr. Yamamoto of the publisher Kaizousha seemed to overestimate me and offered as much as 10 yen per a sheet of my manuscript. The more I wrote, the more income I earned, so I and my family managed to survive for six months without starving to death. All thanks to Mr. Yamamoto for his generousity. Such a good person did not appear in my life except my late foster parents. . . . .

I never want to do anything but to read and travel unless I get starved. This is because I don't want to be a tool for the privileged people and the capitalists. Also, I don't want to be such a privileged person or a capitalist voluntarily either. Unless the revolution is realized, as Marx said, this society is to be dominated by the capitalists and they are linked to the imperialism. . . ."

Source: "A Patient of the Civilization Disease (1923)" by Musouan Takebayashi

One thing seems to be certain - A daughter could not chose her parent.