Otaru, Hokkaido ¨C A 103-year-old former soldier of the now-defunct Imperial Japanese Army still vividly remembers suffering a sudden Soviet attack on one of the Chishima islands, also known as the Kuril Islands, he had been stationed three days after Japan¡¯s surrender in World War II.
¡°I want no more war,¡± says Shoichi Takahashi, also a former Soviet labor camp detainee in Siberia. ¡°War is simply unacceptable.¡±
A native of Aomori, Takahashi moved to Otaru in Hokkaido when he was 19 and became a fisherman. Later, he joined the army.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.