Archive for April, 2008

The Last Himeyuri, ひめゆり — Iron & Blood & Fog

Sunday, April 27th, 2008

In a recent fictionalized retelling of the Himeyuri (so far only shown on independent Japanese TV), the producers of the movie chose the American Civil War song “Amazing Grace” as the theme music to draw the story together. It is a good choice; as a reflective message illustrating the terrible suffering of a dark […]

The Last Himeyuri, ひめゆり — Yukio sonnet

Thursday, April 24th, 2008

“cleaning the wounded” ZJC (2008)
This is Yukio, a 10 year-old girl from the story I am trying to tell of the Himeyuri nurses of Okinawa. The goal of this movie is not to judge one side or another but to tell a story; however, being an American born many years after all this happened, […]

The Last Himeyuri, ひめゆり — Prologue

Sunday, April 20th, 2008

Here is the first installment of my Himeyuri story. I must stress again (and throughout this project) that this is pure fiction. While the story is based on the last months of World War II and the Japanese nurse aides of Okinawa, the characters are not based on anyone living or dead.
The narrator […]

The Last Himeyuri, ひめゆり — an introduction (of sorts)

Sunday, April 20th, 2008

There is a fantastic story here, but I am not telling it; the story I am going to tell is a work of fiction. My story comes third-hand, from my poor attempts at translating Japanese, from snippets I’ve seen in non-translated Japanese action adventure movies, from my own imagination.
It is hard for me to […]