80 Years On: Consoling Souls of War Dead Mission for 98-Yr-Old

   Tokyo, Aug. 15 (Jiji Press)--Shoji Nagaya, the oldest bereaved family member at Friday's Japanese government-sponsored memorial ceremony for those who died in World War II, has made consoling the souls of the war dead his mission in life.
   Nagaya, 98, traveled from Abashiri, Hokkaido, northernmost Japan, to attend the ceremony in Tokyo that marked the 80th anniversary of the country's surrender in the war.
   His life was spared because he was still in training as a junior pilot when the war ended. But Nagaya's brother died of illness while fighting in China, and his friends lost their lives as kamikaze suicide attack pilots.
   Nagaya's brother, Tamotsu, who was eight years older than him, was called up for military service in 1942. On the evening before Tamotsu left for service, the two went to a public bathhouse together.
   Tamotsu told Nagaya that he would help his younger brother go to school once he returned from the war. Nagaya, who was 15 at the time, responded that he would be happy if that happened.

(2025/08/15-13:20)