Have you watched  "Grave of the Fireflies" (1988)?

Grave of the Fireflies is a 1988 Japanese animated war film based on the 1967 semi-autobiographical short story by Akiyuki Nosaka. Set in the city of Kobe, Japan where I live and, it tells the story of siblings and war orphans Seita and Setsuko, and their desperate struggle to survive during the final months of the Pacific War.

Here is afterword by Akiyuki Nosaka in Japanese and English:

Do you know the black rain which fell after the atomic bombs exploded in Hiroshima and Nagasaki? It radioactively contaminated the areas and has been hurting people's health.

"Pica" 2025 is a play taking on the theme of the "Black Rain Lawsuit."

[Limited-Time Release]

Release Date: August 2–15, 2025

"This is a story about the sky and us after the black rain fell."

Don't miss it!

Have you heard of a real story of  atomic bombs & black rain? Please hear the real voice of a hibakusha, atomic bomb victim.

Seiji TAKATO on Atomic Bomb & Black Rain

 Do you know Kamishibai?

It is a kind of old-way Japanese street performance of storytelling with pictures.

If you have a plan to go to Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, how about visiting Dotonbori in Osaka? There, you might have a chance to enjoy Kamishibai.

During the Expo, one man is performing it daily in Dotonbori, Minami, Osaka.

The Kamishibai is read entirely in English, and the story is set in Hiroshima, where the atomic bomb was dropped, and tells the story of "Kei-chan" praying for peace.

Mr. Yoshimura said "I would like to present the Kamishibai to visitors to Japan, have them translate it into their own language, and spread it in their own countries" and "I hope it will become an opportunity to think about the abolition of nuclear weapons."

Please read the article below using AI translation for further information.

Peace-preaching Kamishibai to be performed daily during the Expo in Minami https://namba.keizai.biz/headline/5587/

or Launch of project to spread peace Kamishibai to the world: Showing for 184 consecutive days in Dotonbori during the Osaka-Kansai Expo https://newscast.jp/news/9660974 ←Scroll down and read it in English．

On March 24th, 2025, the US Navy minesweeper Warrior entered Kobe Port for the first time without submitting a non-nuclear certificate.

March 18th was the 50th anniversary of the Non-Nuclear Kobe Policy, in which Kobe City requires foreign military vessels calling at Kobe Port to submit a "Non-Nuclear Certificate" to prove that they are not carrying nuclear weapons. French, Italian and Indian naval vessels have submitted certificates and entered Kobe Port.

It is said that Kobe’s Mayor gave permission after a discussion between Kobe and the U.S. Consul General in which the U.S. Consul General stated that US vessels are not carrying nuclear weapons. 

As a citizen of Kobe, I feel really upset that our local sovereignty was violated by the US government. Warrior should have submitted a non-nuclear certificate if they respect Kobe citizens and want to bond our relationships for the future.

I don’t want to see our policy ignored as nothing and military vessels with soldiers carrying machineguns in Kobe.

 US Navy minesweeper Warrior enters Kobe Port for the first time without submitting non-nuclear certificate -  Kobe Digital 3/24/2025

I watched a movie filmed in 2024 by Director Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Here Children Do Not PlayTogether. This is his latest work to examine the deteriorating relations between Palestine and Israel after October 7, 2023.

In the film, one Israeli man tells Makhmalbaf that the words, peace or hope, have been dead there. The words no longer have the meanings to stand for.

I was so shocked by this comment, as in one sense it sounds true, in another sense I believe we still have some power to revitalize the words.

I can still present you my poem inspired by Makhmalbaf more than 20 years ago.

Director Makhmalbaf

Is filming for the children

Dying of hunger

With a prayer that falling

Bombs change into seeds of wheat

降り注ぐ爆弾麦に変われよと

マフマルバフはカメラを回す

Hurisosogu Bakudan mugi ni Kaware yo to

Mahumarubahu wa Kamera wo mawasu

The tanka poems from "Flowers and Bombs: Stop the Violence of the War Now!" by

Kaoru Kobashi

https://hanabaku.blogspot.com/

Mohsen MAKHMALBAF

Strain your ears at night

Then you may hear a voice of

Comet Lennon singing

A song of hope and courage

"War is over if you want it"

「戦争は終わるあなたが望むなら」

レノン彗星夜空に歌う

" Senso wa Owaru anataga Nozomu nara"

Lennon suisei Yozora ni utau

The tanka poems  from "Flowers and Bombs: Stop the Violence of the War Now!" 

by Kaoru Kobashi

https://hanabaku.blogspot.com/

               Happy Xmas (War Is Over)