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Photographs of university
students who died during war
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Wadatsumi no Koe Museum
The Wadatsumi no Koe Museum, which opened in December 2006 near Tōkyō University, displays
letters, diary entries, and other writings of about 20 former Japanese
university students who died during the Greater East Asia War and Second
Sino-Japanese War. Many of these young men had their university studies cut
short in late 1943 when the government eliminated deferral of military service
for students other than those in selected fields such as engineering. The
museum's name comes from the popular 1949 Japanese book entitled Kike Wadatsumi no Koe
(Listen to the Voices from the Sea), which had as its goal the promotion of
peace so as to never repeat the tragedy of war. The name Wadatsumi no Koe Museum
can be translated literally as Voices from the Sea Museum.
The second floor displays only a few student writings due to limited space.
The first floor has the entrance area, museum office space, and a good-size
library with works primarily related to the Greater East Asia War. The museum
opens from 1 to 4 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Admission is free, and
a pamphlet that describes the layout of the exhibits is provided. All exhibits
are in Japanese with no English translations. The
Japanese web site for Wadatsumi no Koe
Museum has a guide to exhibits, information about special exhibitions
and events, and publications available for purchase.
The museum introduces writings of several former university students who became Special
Attack Corps members and died in special (suicide) attacks. There is an exhibit
about a writing written by former Tōkyō Imperial University student Hachirō
Sasaki in November 1943, one month prior to his entering the Navy (see image
below). He died at the age of 22 in a special attack as a member of the Kamikaze
Special Attack Corps 1st Shōwa Squadron on April 14, 1945. There is another
display of a last diary entry written by Akira Ōtsuka on April 19, 1945, ten
days before his death by special attack at the age of 22 as a member of the
Kamikaze Special Attack Corps 4th Tsukuba Squadron (see image below). Also on
display is the last writing of Ryōji
Uehara, a former Keiō Gijuku University student who died in a special attack at the age of
22 as a member of the 56th Shinbu Special Attack Squadron on May 11, 1945. One book published
by the museum includes writings of 14 Special Attack Corps members who died in
special attacks such as Ichizō
Hayashi, Norimasa
Hayashi, Kiyoshi Ogawa,
Akio Ōtsuka, and
Ryōji Uehara. These writings, most
from before when they joined the Special Attack Corps, come from a 2016 special
exhibition of their writings.
The exhibition room on the second floor is divided into the following seven
sections, and the first five have displays of writings of former university students
who died in the war:
- From battlefield in Manchuria and China
- Beginning of Pacific War
- Road toward defeat in battle
- Student mobilization in fall of 1943
- After war's end
- Last writings and related items of Korean student soldier who died in
battle
- Historical materials of Wadatsumi Association
There is an area where visitors can read available reference materials.
Above the staircase are photographs of university students whose writings are on
display. The museum also has the two movie versions of Kike Wadatsumi no Koe
(1950 and 1995) that can be viewed.
Writing by Hachirō Sasaki (November 1943)
Last diary entry of Akira Ōtsuka (April 19, 1945)
The Wadatsumi no Koe Museum exhibits different editions of Kike
Wadatsumi no Koe (Listen to the Voices from the Sea) and Harukanaru Sanga ni (In the Faraway
Mountains and Rivers), which was originally published in 1947 and contains letters
and diary entries written by Tōkyō Imperial University students who died in the war.
Japanese editions of Kike Wadatsumi no Koe
(Listen to the Voices from the Sea) and Harukanaru
Sanga ni (In the Faraway Mountains and Rivers)
The museum also displays foreign-language translations of Kike
Wadatsumi no Koe and Harukanaru Sanga ni, including the following
three English translations: The Sun Goes Down:
Last letters from Japanese suicide-pilots and soldiers
(1956), Listen to the
Voices from the Sea (Kike Wadatsumi no Koe): Writings of the Fallen Japanese
Students (2000), and
In the Faraway Mountains and Rivers
(Harukanaru Sanga ni): More Voices From A Lost Generation of Japanese Students
(2005).
Foreign-language translations of
Kike Wadatsumi no Koe and Harukanaru Sanga ni
Date of visit: October 19, 2018
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