Remembering Pearl Harbor
There was a time when I was a history buff (imagine: undefeated university history quiz champion during my entire stay at the Lyceum; national Rizal quiz champion).
And there was one date that I run across a hundred times during my readings – December 7, 1941. That day marked the sneak bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese Imperial Army and killed more than a thousand soldiers and civilians.
It was thus but natural for me to make a visit of Pearl Harbor as among my priority activities while in Hawaii. So we went to the USS Arizona, the memorial for the ship where the most number of sailors perished.
The memorial is constructed right above the midsection of the sunken ship. Inside, the names of the casualties are listed.
Beside it are markers for the other ships that were destroyed in the bombing.
When one visits the Memorial, he will have to watch first a heart-wrenching documentary on the incident. And from what I observed, while the Japanese make-up the biggest number of visitors to Hawaii, not so many of them visit the Memorial. In fact, there was none during the batch I was in. That maybe was pure coincidence, but I guess I would understand if some Japanese will consciously avoid getting reminded of that day which have lived to this day “in infamy”.
More discussions on the memorial here.
Tags: Commentary, Tour, Travel, USA
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Comments (6)
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natandaan ko lang ito nang mapanuod ko ang pearl harbor na movie…malaking history ito sa buong mundo.
“I guess I would understand if some Japanese will consciously avoid getting reminded of that day”
Not reminding them what their ancestors did in WW2 is as dangerous as not admitting any of these things happened. Unlike Germany who always reminds its citizens or what they did, Japanese atrocities (rape of Nanking, human guinea pigs in Manchuria, comfort women in the Phil to name a few) where intentionally deleted in their history books to shield their younger generation from feeling of guilt. Using a clean slate to start all over again will only end in history repeating itself.
I suppose if I was Japanese, I would probably feel uncomfortable to go and visit this. However, a lot of Americans visit the Hiroshima bombing memorial.
Have you met some Japanese who still think what they did during the world war was the right thing to do?
i watched the movie last sunday. it made me do research about it. it was a disaster no one would want to remember.
halap dikaw pan Hawaii!