War Museum Snafu

During the tail end of July, I spent the greater part of the morning hiking up Mt. Nasu. I did a little video on it (one of the videos I am the most proud of). Generally when I work on video projects, I don't organize the project files that well. All the video files sit in one folder that usually has bizarre or obscure name. This is always a little strange to me, partly because, when I'm on the clock, I'm super organized. Off the clock, its a different story. And this is where it really bums me out.

On the ride back from Nasu, I went to a War Museum. Most notably, a WWII museum. The place was falling apart. Equipment was rusting, the clothes were tattered, and there was dust everywhere. The reason though I spent the ¥1,000 to get in to a moldy old museum, was to see the perspective of the Japanese over a war that changed the world.

The museum didn't appear to hide the flaws or really even give a story of what happen. More or less, it had a selection of weapons, scraps from news papers, uniforms, broken down old airplanes, the list really goes on. There wasn't a bias that was created or apparent. It was more or less "Here is everything, you make up your own mind".

The reason I'm telling you this is because I spent a long time gathering footage of this place. I had some great shots and wanted to offer my perspective of this little old museum. Sadly, I won't be able to share it with you at the moment (unless I go back). My sloppy organization skills somehow got me to accidentally delete that folder, that contained all the video files I could stitch a storyline together.

I found this museum very important. In all honesty, I find all museums important. History being the most important of them all.

World War II isn't taught to much the students in Japan. Mostly, all they seem to know is what happened at the end; the fire bombing of their country, fat man, and little boy. Which, are horrible things but if you study history, you might know why Enola Gay came for a visit.

When I was in the public education system, I had some history teachers that were willing to teach students the horrible things my country did. I know plenty of stupid things America has done. No country is perfect and no country should try and hide their history. We can't change the past but what we can do is prevent the same things from happening again. With recent the recent debates between Japan, China, and Korea over text books, you can see why stories like this would never see the light of day. It's is a shame because it is important. Failures and immoral acts are just as important to learn as successful and righteous acts.

Anyway, thanks for spending a few minutes to read this. I appreciate it! Maybe I might visit that museum again sometime soon!