War Child

As a child nurtured in a serene alpine mountain atmosphere, image of war and the carnage it brings was conceptually remote. Having incidentally run across a book about the Vietnam war recounting the American military's behaviour in Vietnam, along with the details of the destruction of Cambodia and Laos, led to a deep examination of the meaning of war. This chance encounter facilitated an acute awareness of the true nature of war—understand the hidden reasons for the annihilation of civilians, erasing history and cultures of others—creating ceaseless war zones—sabotaging the advancement of humanity. After arriving in Japan in 1987, the reality of war came into sharp focus when first observing Buddhist family alters gracing Japanese homes. In Buddhist tradition, pictures of the deceased adorn the alter wall—often people in military uniforms also haunt these hallowed halls. This is the first time to have personally met anyone related to anyone killed in war, their dead honoured for their sacrifice as Shinto gods residing upon countless alter walls. ΩNE's beloved father in-law spent his caßreer working at the Japanese national broadcaster NHK—a 1959 graduate of Waseda University—witty, stoic, with a dark sense of humour—he was 9 years old when the war ended, and he was tasked with the clean up and the rebuilding of his family. Recorded April 15, 2020, Masatoshi Kodama talks for the first time about his experience as a child of war. Listen to this first-hand account of war told from the eyes of a 9 year-old boy.