2009-07-31

American soldier's dog tag unearthed in Miyazaki


According to today's Miyazaki Nichi-nichi Shimbun, an American soldier's dog tag together with 30 bullets of 20-mm machine gun and 4 incendiary bombs were unearthed from a construction site in the Hyuga city, Miyazaki prefecture, on July 3. They are likely to be remains of B29 crashed at the site 64 years ago. According to the report, the name carved on the surface of the stainless-steel dog tag reads "JULIAN W STEELE".

UPDATE
According to this page in Japanese, all of the crews including Mr. Steele stayed alive after the crash, sent to Tokyo, where they were detained in a camp. All of them could return to the US after the war.

UPDATE 2
You can see a picture of the crews here.

2009-07-28

Runaway Girl by ROGUE

ROGUE was a Japanese rock group led by a vocalist/guitarist Okuno Atsushi in the late 1980s. It was one of my favorite rock groups in the late 1980s, partly because it was from my hometown, Maebashi.



After the breakup of the group in 1990, Okuno Atsushi had been working as a solo singer and an actor until last year.

Recently, I was shocked to learn that he had had cervical vertebrae damage when he had accidentally fallen off a building while he had been voluntarily helping his friend who is a scrapping worker. The accident took place last September, and, after that, his left arm and legs have been paralyzed; he can move only his right arm. I wish that he would recover from the injury, and some day he would be able to sing songs or write new songs.

2009-07-05

Whale-related school bullies in New Zealand

According to New Zealand Herald, a Japanese-born boy was seriously injured as a result of school bullying. He had been racially abused by the students who turned around and picked up him and dropped him on his head.

A 14-year-old suffered a potentially fatal blood clot in his brain after he was attacked by school bullies in what appears to be a racially motivated attack.

The teen, Japanese-born Ryotaro Wright, needed emergency brain surgery in Waikato Hospital after the attack at Forest View High School in Tokoroa this week. Doctors say he was close to death.

Four students have been suspended and police are investigating.

Ryotaro's father Llewellyn said yesterday his son had been racially abused by four students over the past few weeks, including being called "whale muncher".
According to the school's web page, Ryutaro was awarded Premium Student Achievement Award last year. I hope that he will get well soon.