muroran (3 Ergebnisse)

Paperback. Zustand: Brand New. 1st edition. 1358 pages. German language. 10.25x6.25x1.50 inches. In Stock.

Maps, including one folding black and white map, black and white line illustrations and some rather grainy black and white photographic illustrations, 25.5 x 18cm, 58pp, original wrappers trifle foxed on lower wrappers, very good copy. This 2001 publication was put together by a community group in Hokkaido, Muroran Kodomo to Kanky? Heiwa o Tsukurukai (Association of Environment and Peace Creation in Muroran). Muroran is an important port town in trade and transport. The association members worked on researching local history related to war experiences and created kamishibai (???) stories and performed at community centres and schools. This book mainly features their project on enforced mobilisation of Chinese workers to Muroran during the Pacific War. Out of 1800 Chinese workers who were brought to Muroran, about 560 of them died. A mass burial site was discovered in the 1950s where over 100 remains were found. The book introduces the kamishibai script as well as providing comprehensive historical background to the incident. It also covers Afghan refugee children issues. The book demonstrates that some community groups were actively involved in researching and disseminating some difficult historical issues locally. The fold-out map at the end shows historical war sites in Muroran.

Eight black and white photographs (20.5 x 25.5cm each), captioned in Japanese, the handmade album is titled and dated in ink, 23.5 x 32.8cm, [9]pp, cord ties. One photograph has been removed, card leaves and covers are browned, surface of upper cover abraded in places, some other minor wear but the photographs are in very good condition. A private album containing eight high-quality large-format photographs, showing US forces being welcomed to the northern Japanese city of Muroran, Hokkaido, on 25 April 1951 - at the height of the Korean War. The first two photos show the US forces being welcomed by a local brass band. There is then a shot of US officers and Japanese officials standing under a large sign saying "Welcome Thunderbirds - Muroran City", indicating that the troops being welcomed are from the 45th Infantry Division (nicknamed the Thunderbirds), one of two US Army National Guard units engaged in the Korean War, and recruited largely from the state of Oklahoma. The 45th Infantry Division received their initial training for combat in Korea in the US itself in 1950, and then sailed from New Orleans to Japan in early 1951, arriving at the ports of Otaru and Muroran in Hokkaido April of that year. From there they were sent for further training at Camp Crawford, a US military base on the outskirts of the city of Sapporo and at a newly created camp south of Chitose, before being transfered to Korea in December 1951. The album also contains two photos of the ships "General C.G. Morton" and "General William Weigel", which were built during World War II and used as a troop transport ship during the Korean War, and were presumably among the ships which brought the 45th Infantry Division to Japan. Other images show local officials explaining the geography of the region to US officers, as they peruse a large map, and a Japanese woman beign presented with a badge by an American officer. Muroran was one of many Japanese ports whose life was transformed by the mass arrival of UN (mostly American) forces during the Korean War, although the town's role in the war is less well documented than the roles of ports like Yokohama, Kobe and Sasebo. These pictures give a vivid impression of the Korean war journeys of US troops and of Hokkaido during the Korean War.