Private war archive museums disappearing in Japan due to owners’ ageing, financial difficulties

TOKYO – Private war archive museums, established by war survivors to pass their memories of the Pacific War down to future generations, are disappearing across Japan.

These museums tell visitors about the tragedy of the war through vivid testimonies and the war dead’s personal effects. However, many founders who experienced the war have died, and the family members who took over the museums are getting older.

Ahead of the 80th anniversary of the end of the war, efforts to preserve the memories of the tragedy are reaching a critical crossroads.

On Aug 14, a private museum in Oita closed down. The museum was opened by former kamikaze pilot Kiichi Kawano in his home and taken over by his son Takayasu, 68.

Mr Kawano survived the war as it ended the day before he was scheduled to go on a suicide mission. Mr Takayasu said his father used to say “I failed to die”, seemingly feeling guilty about having survived.

Mr Kawano renovated his home and opened the museum on Aug 14, 1988. It displayed more than 3,000 artefacts, including photos of those who had died and farewell notes, which were donated by war friends and bereaved family members.

Not only did he not charge admission, Mr Kawano also did not accept any subsidies from the municipal government or other organisations.

Mr Kawano felt that the museum was a place to console the souls of the war dead. He offered incense sticks to photos of his wartime comrades every morning and evening, and when visitors came, he showed them around the museum.

He died in 2021 at the age of 95. Mr Takayasu took over the museum, but as he is getting close to 70, he has found it difficult to manage the collection.

“As I don’t have a successor, I am the last who knows my father’s feelings towards the museum. I thought I should settle this while I am fit and well,” Mr Takayasu said.

The museum’s collection will be donated to Gokoku Shrine in Oita.

Mission of survivors

Atago History Archive Museum in Maebashi closed down in 2020.

After a suggestion from air raid survivors, the local residents’ association established the museum in 2012, setting it up in a rented corner of a city-owned facility. The museum was popular because it allowed visitors to experience how people lived during the war.

However, the residents who showed visitors around the museum are ageing and the operators have given up on keeping it going.

“We continued to operate the museum because we believed that talking about the war was the mission of survivors. I miss it,” said an 86-year-old member.

An archive museum of air raids also closed down in Okayama in 2017. A man who had survived air raids had run the museum out of his home since 2000. The museum had thousands of materials, including documents collected from the US National Archives and Records Administration and records of testimony from those who experienced air raids. All materials were donated to the Okayama Prefectural Archives.

According to professor emeritus of peace studies Ikuro Anzai at Ritsumeikan University, war exhibitions were held by private bodies across Japan because of the intensifying Cold War in the 1980s and an increasing number of municipalities declaring themselves to be nuclear-free peace cities, among other reasons. Subsequently, war archive museums were established in various parts of Japan.

“In Japan, people strongly think it is necessary to pass down their memories of the war to future generations. However, such museums, especially private ones, are difficult to maintain due to the ageing of their operators and financial difficulties,” he said.

Hiroshima, Nagasaki see increase

While some archive museums are struggling to survive, others have seen an increase in visitors.

The Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum received more than 750,000 visitors last fiscal year, the most in 22 years, while more than 1.98 million people – a record number – visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum in Naka Ward, Hiroshima.

“A time is coming when we will not be able to hear testimonies directly from hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors). The significance of the museum will increase further,” an official at the Nagasaki municipal government’s peace promotion division said.

Last fiscal year, the Osaka International Peace Centre saw a 20 per cent year-on-year increase in its number of visitors. The centre attributes the growth to the success of the special exhibition featuring kamikaze pilots held from January to March with the cooperation of the Chiran Peace Museum in Kagoshima Prefecture.

“It is difficult to increase the number of visitors through regular exhibitions alone. We would like to cooperate with facilities in other parts of the country and share war-related documents and artefacts with each other,” an official at the centre said. JAPAN NEWS/ASIA NEWS NETWORK