A new photographic exhibit by the Sociology and Anthropology Department opens in the Schroeder Hall Gallery on September 12 and runs until August of next year. Located on the second floor of Schroeder, the subject of this installation focuses on the repatriation of Japanese souvenirs gathered by U.S. soldiers and Marines during World War II.
More than 2,300,000 Japanese soldiers died in combat in the Second World War in various islands in the Pacific Theater during the fighting from 1941 to 1945. From them, tens of thousands of items were taken officially and unofficially by American and other Allied service personnel. Many items, such as maps and uniform unit designations, were used for legitimate military intelligence purposes to help win the war for the Allies. Many items, however, became private war memorabilia, gathered only as souvenirs, trophies, or keepsakes by Americans, and brought back to the United States. Most of the items collected privately had little military value, and certainly no longer do so.
Project Returned Memories Kiseki was formed in 2020 by a number of Japanese people living in the United States and Japan in an attempt to connect some of these items with the families of their relatives back in Japan. Many of these articles are quite personal and would have special relevance to the deceased Japanese soldiers’ families.
For example, a common item that Japanese soldiers carried with them was a small Japanese flag with the signatures of family members and loved ones, with messages wishing for the carrier’s good fortune and safe return. These were kept close on their person at all times. Japanese believe that a person’s soul stays in their precious belongings, so these items have both religious as well as personal significance.
Flags such as these, however, made for colorful and convenient-to-carry war souvenirs for the victorious Americans. Other items gathered included photographs, diaries, hats, helmets, and light weapons.
Project Returned Memories Kiseki is a registered nonprofit 501(c)(3) humanitarian organization and has returned hundreds of World War II artifacts to Japanese families. It has also donated scores of items to museums. The organization was originally founded by Dr. Yasuhiko Kaji, a Japanese doctor living in the United States in Ohio, who had been purchasing Japanese war memorabilia with his own funds and returning them to their original owners since 1971.
In 2020, Chizuko Tsukamoto-Jaggard became the executive director: “We believe that what the Japanese soldiers left behind should be returned to their families. We would appreciate it if you could spread the word and join our effort to bring peace and reconciliation in the heart of everybody affected by war, directly and indirectly.”
In this vein, Illinois State University Professors of Anthropology Nobuko Adachi and James Stanlaw—along with Sociology and Anthropology office manager Katie Shadid—have created an exhibit of photographic images currently held in the Kiseki collection. Dr. Adachi, herself a board member of Kiseki, and Tsukamoto-Jaggard will present remarks at the exhibit’s opening reception, which will take place at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, September 12, and is open to the public.
