Produced by OCHANOMIZU UNIVERSITY SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL, GEIC and The Japan NewsSQUARE K
PROFESSIONAL EDITION, FEBRUARY 2018

THE PLIGHT OF STUDENTS IN WARTIME OKINAWA

Photo credit: Sayaka HiragaH

ave you ever compared ateenager’s life in WorldWar II with yours?
Ochanomizu University SeniorHigh School students visited“Himeyuri Peace MemorialMuseum” in Okinawa and learned
how Himeyuri students lived inthe time of WWII.
“Himeyuri Students,” a groupof 240 schoolgirls and theirteachers, were mobilized as nurseassistants during the Battle ofOkinawa in 1945. In this battle, theJapanese army and all Okinawa
residents fought against the U.S.
army on the Okinawa mainland
at the end of the Pacific War.
The Japanese Administration left
Okinawa as a sacrifice to delay theAmerican invasion of the Japanesemainland. On March 23, 1945,
Himeyuri students were assigned
to army hospitals in the southernpart of Okinawa, after being
educated as nurses by the army
for four months. In late May thatyear, they went south and began towork for other army hospitals inItokazu Abuchiragama.
“Gama” means cave inOkinawa, and many gama
were used by the residents andsoldiers as shelters and bases
during the Battle of Okinawa.
Itokazu Abuchiragama was one

Himeyuri Peace Memorial Museumof the largest gama in Okinawa.
About 600 injured soldiers wereaccommodated there. Himeyuri
students worked hard in thehopeless war situation. However,the Japanese army in Okinawa
including the hospital wasdissolved by the commander of
the Japanese army in Okinawa
on July 18 that year. Himeyuri
students were left in dangerous
battlefields. Some girls survived
by surrendering, while other girls
committed mass suicide in order
not to be taken as prisoners. In theend, 136 of the 240 girls died in
the Battle of Okinawa.
During the war, the Himeyuri
students stayed in air-raid shelters
for more than a month. One girlwho participated in the student

corps named Hisa said, “Theliving conditions at the time wereworse than one can imagine.”
In the shelter, the smell of pus,which the dead and woundedbodies gave off, filled the room,and the sound of water trickling
constantly echoed.
“Our environment was severe,
but the water shortage troubled us
the most,” said Yoshiko, a memberof the Himeyuri students corps.
It was the students’ job to draw
and carry water from the water
fountain outside. The way there
was dangerous, but what scaredthem the most was that it wassurrounded by dead bodies lying
on top of one another, the water
itself was red with blood, and theplace smelled of nothing but blood.

NOTICE TO READERS
This newspaper was createdby third-year students in the Kiku
class at Ochanomizu University
Senior High School. The school
is situated in the middle ofBunkyo Ward, which is wellknown as an education hub.
There are currently more than
20 high schools and plenty ofpublishers in this area. It is also
famous as a place where manyof Japan’s greatest novelists andpoets got their inspiration towrite, such as Natsume Soseki
HiguchiHiguchi.
Ichiyoand Ichiyo

Our school was designatedas a Super Global High School(SGH) in 2014. We have worked
on various projects ever since inorder to learn how to contributeto global peace and welfare as
global citizens. For instance, lastyear we conducted a study on
selected topics in groups, namely“Economic Development andEnvironment,” “Life, Healthcareand Sanitation,” “InternationalCooperation and Gender,”“International Relations andSolutions,”“Information

Technology and Creativity,”“Non-verbal Communication”
and “Globalization of Music.”
This is our final SGH project
to compile the research we havecarried out so far. We launchedthis paper to convey the major
issues from the point of view ofJapanese high school students.
We hope that our work opens up
a discussion for the readers.
By Sayaka Nohara

At first, the students had doubts
about the environment they werein and how injured soldiers weretreated. They were forced into toughbattles by the Japanese government.
For example, they were told to mix
potassium cyanide in the milk forthe critically ill patients to drink, asthese patients would encumber theHimeyuri and other soldiers when
they had to move to another shelter.
But as time passed, they
became accustomed to theircircumstances and environment.
The Himeyuri coped with thesituation dispassionately when theU.S. army sprayed carbon dioxide
into the shelter, or when the air
raid shelter became overcrowdedwith people escaping from theU.S. army. Kiyoshi, one of themembers of the army, wrote ina note, “Himeyuri girls were ourmoral support.”
More than 70 years havepassed since WWII, and thememory of the war is fading.
The “Himeyuri Peace MemorialMuseum” reminds us of theimportance of the peace people
have today.
By Ariko Kato, Saki Koike,
Riko Shima, Sayaka Hiraga,
Ryoko Yamaguchi and Yuyu
Yamanaka

Square K
Published by a group of 40 students ofOchanomizu University Senior High School,a national high school in Bunkyo
Ward, Tokyo, in cooperation with the notfor-profit Global Education Information
Center (GEIC) and The Japan News.
Publisher: Ochanomizu University SeniorHigh School
Project Supervisor: Takayuki Tsukui
Project Coordinator: Junji Sakurai(GEIC)
Editor: Yuka Tashiro
Assistant Editors: Kanami Takemura,
Asahi Kawashima
Contributing Editors: Ayano Usukura andYumiko Mori (J-Proze Co., Ltd.)
Staff Writers: Yuka Tashiro, Kanami
Takemura, Asahi Kawashima, Sayaka
Nohara, Mayuko Tanaka, Misaki Izumi
Contact: 2-1-1 Ootsuka, Bunkyo Ward,
Tokyo, Japan 〒112-8610
URL: http://www.fz.ocha.ac.jp/fk/

2

SQUARE K

PROFESSIONAL EDITION, FEBRUARY 2018

Quiz Challenge: Answer the questions written at the top of the pages 3, 4Special yarn

extrafine mohair yarn. One gram of Angolagoat hair turns into 44 meters of the yarn. Thefactory currently focuses on developing thisyarn in order to make it the only such factory in
the world. The head of the company said that
it was good to put emphasis on strong points.
People should keep this in mind.
Clearly, the efforts that people made toachieve their aims are still supporting lives
today.
By Yumi Kitano, Saori Kido and Nanako
KimuraLiven up Your Lunch with Udon Noodle

Have you been unhappy
about your lunch?

“cold udon noodles,” which is traditional
Japanese thin wheat-flour noodles (Photo 2).
Of course, cold udon noodles are cold from thebeginning, so there is no need to worry about
them getting cold. In addition, we can enjoy
variations by changing the toppings. Students
can get rid of their dissatisfaction by taking andeating this wonderful lunch!
Japanese packed lunches can be wonderfulby putting some thought into them. Why don’t
you take cold udon noodles to school?
By Satomi Kawarai, Amiri, Takasu, Yuki
Kageyama and Yuka Itani

Dishes becoming cold

2218No63%
Others20No. of students

Result of research (Graph 1 and 2)

A typical packed lunch (Photo 1)

What is your specific complaint?
A fixed menu

Yes37%

Photo credit: Yuki Kageyama

ost Japanese students take obento, orpacked lunch, to school. Generally,
there are certain kinds of dishes andrice (Photo 1). Some students are satisfied
with it, whereas others have complaints. A
survey was conducted to explore “the idealpacked lunch.”
According to the survey, which targeted 103Ochanomizu University Senior High School
students, 37% of students are not satisfied with
their lunch (Graph 1). The main complaints area fixed menu and a lack of tastiness because thedishes are cold (Graph 2).
Based on this result, which shows thatstudents want an unexpected cold and tasty
menu, we found the perfect box lunch. It is

Photo credit: Satomi Kawarai

Mdays, almost all the cars are equipped withair bags. They are needed to save passengers’
lives. While they are known all over the world,
the inventor of them is not well known. The
inventor is a Japanese man named Yasuzaburo
Kobori.
He had been working on research into airbags since 1964. His idea of air bags was not
accepted by the government owing to the useof gunpowder. At last, he obtained 14 patents
around the world. Unfortunately, he sufferedfrom poverty and committed a double suicide.
He died without his patent being put into
practical use. However, his invention stillsaves many people’s lives today.
The last topic is a special yarn calledmohair. Mohair yarn is made in Niigata, Japan.
In 2009, the former first lady Michelle Obama
wore a mohair cardigan at the inauguration ofthe president.
Sato Senni, a traditional yarn factory,
employs a special technique for making thematerial. The company’s corporate performance
took a downturn for a while. It can create

Credit: Yuki KageyamaThree different people, who will be
introduced below, invented Cup
Noodles, air bags and special yarn,respectively. Revolutionary inventions always
have a story and a dream.
Today, instant noodles are popular amongpeople around the world. A certain Japanese
invented it. His name is Momofuku Ando.
In the 1950s, Japan suffered a food shortage.
Ando was a businessman from Taiwan. He
tried to promote noodles as a menu for school
lunch because of their high nutrition. This
was the beginning of the invention of instantnoodles.
He found ways to keep the quality of dried
noodles and to put them in the best position in acup. He sold it with cups to foreigners who did
not know “donburi”, or big cups for noodles.
He wished his invention would spread aroundthe world and his dream came true.
Finally, today, anyone can eat Cup Noodleseasily. However, this is owed to the splendorof Japanese techniques.
The same is also true for air bags. These

Photo credit: Sato Senni

Curious Inventions Now Part of Our Lives

The ideal packed lunch (Photo 2)

SQUARE K

PROFESSIONAL EDITION, FEBRUARY 2018

3

Q1. What belongs to you but other people use it more than you?

lan International Japan says that many
girls in 65 developing countries andEastern European countries are notable to receive secondary education today.
Because of this, there is a great economic loss
every year.
Can you imagine how much this loss is? It is
ten trillion yen. The reasons for such a loss are
said to be the respective countries’ thoughts orcustoms. For example, girls in some countries
are obliged to do housework while boys are
studying at school. Girls in some countries haveto get married in their teens when they should
be studying at school. In addition, girls in somecountries are at a high risk of catching HIV or
AIDS because they don’t have any knowledge
or information about these diseases.
To improve such situations, support fromdeveloped countries is essential. The graphis the result of a questionnaire aimed atOchanomizu University Senior High School
students from the 1st to 3rd grade. A total of
120 students provided answers. According to
the questionnaire collected at Ochanomizu
University Senior High School, most students
said they would like to support girls in suchcountries. In addition, most of them answeredthat they would like to provide support bydonations.
However, providing them with financial
support is not enough because it does notchange people’s fundamental ways of thinking.
To support them effectively, you need tounderstand their conditions and to engage
locally. Through these activities, they would“W

realize the importance of reducing inequality,
which would promote actions to solve theproblems.
As the results of the questionnaire show,
many students think building schools in places
facing problems is effective. However, building
on its own is not sufficient, as mentioned above.
For instance, in Sudan, a serious problem isthat the early marriage rate is high because theresidents have a low level of awareness of therisks of early marriage. Plan International Japan
went to a site and organized a girls’ educationclub at schools to change the way of thinking.

This enabled local people to act independently
when they are without support.
Most people think of support as financial
aid; however, it is necessary to know otherapproaches. An effective way to promotevarious kinds of aid is to change your mind asa supporter.
By Saki Uchima, Nozomi Uchida, Michika
Hihara, Ayako Mizuno, Yuka Yamada andMomoka Mizumura

Credit: Michika Hihara and Ayako Mizuno

PA More Subtle Approach to Foreign Aid

Changing the Image of Developing Countries

hat kind of image do you haveof developing countries?” In
response to this question at
Ochanomizu University Senior High School,
about 80% of students answered that they
have negative images, such as unsanitary,
undeveloped medical care and shoestring
facilities. However, the truth is a little different
in terms of obstetrics and gynecology.
Do you know about the unique project ofintroducing a stamp card into a maternity
health-record book? This is one of the projects
aimed at reducing the death rate of babies. InGhana, a handbook for pregnant women was
originally separate from a handbook for thehealth of babies. However, the mothers didn’t
understand its content. Then, in order to getpregnant women to know the importance ofmedical examinations, Japan International

Cooperation Agency (JICA), an organizationthat provides support to developing countries,
made a stamp card and gave a stamp every time
pregnant women visited a hospital. In addition,
JICA integrated a handbook for pregnant
women with a handbook for the health of babies
and a stamp card. Thanks to these projects, themedical examination rate in Ghana increased
from 8% to 50%.
In Sudan, from 2011 to 2014, Maternal andChild Health Empowerment Project Phase
was conducted. The high infant mortality ratein Sudan is caused by few pregnant women
receiving maternal and child health services.
That is why this project set a goal of improving
the ability of midwives in order to create anenvironment where inhabitants can receive
diagnosis easily. About 41% of midwives invillages received training for childbirth. As aresult, the number of births in three hospitals
increased by 51% and many women canreceive safe and sanitary maternal and childhealth services.
After reading this article, what is yourimpression of Ghana and Sudan? In general,
students, especially in developed countries,
have a bad image of developing countries
because they often study them in comparison
with developed countries. However, developing
countries are making progress every day and thedeath rate of babies is decreasing year by year,
at least in Ghana and Sudan. As a result, you
may find that your impression of developing
countries changes gradually into a good one.
By Saho Nishimura, Nanako Miyamoto,Chinatsu Ishikawa, Yurika Kuroyanagi,
Yurina Yonekawa, Maki Doi and Arisa Abe

4

PROFESSIONAL EDITION, FEBRUARY 2018

SQUARE K

Q2. Take off my skin – I won’t cry, but you will! What am I?

Credit: Cambridge University Research Team

Small Creatures May Have Big Impact on World

Photo credit: Kana Negishi

Galleria Mellon Ella eating a plastic bag

Euglena ramen (Yamate Ramen, Tokyo)

Today, we human beings face many
global issues, but scientists have found
two small creatures that could possiblyto help
helpus.us.
First, researchers at Cambridge University
discovered plastic-eating caterpillars inApril 2017. The caterpillar is of a mothcalled Galleria Mellon Ella, known foreating beeswax. This astonishing fact wasdiscovered by Federica Bertocchini, a British
amateur beekeeper, when she was removing
the parasitic pests from honeycombs in herhives. The worms were temporarily kept in aplastic shopping bag and the bag was found to
be full of holes. The experiment showed that
this “wax worm” could make holes in a plastic
bag in 40 minutes. “This discovery could be
an important tool for helping to get rid of
the polyethylene plastic waste accumulated
in landfill sites and oceans,” said Dr. Paolo
Bombelli, a biochemist at University

Cambridge and one of the researchers ofthe study. Though it takes about 100 to 400
years to break down, about 80 million tons ofplastic polyethylene is produced in the world
every year. If its chemical process could beidentified, this would lead to a solution tomanaging plastic waste in the environment.
(Reference: Cambridge University ResearchTeam)The second creature is “euglena,” which isa genus of green freshwater flagellates often
found in stagnant waters and classified asalgae. It is a common creature in Japan, butrare as a microbe in that it has both animaland plant characteristics. It thus has great
potential. Ochanomizu University SeniorHigh School students interviewed Euglena
Corporation from the University of Tokyo,
which conducts various research studies onsolving energy and food problems throughthe use of euglena. Euglena’s oil formation
is suited for jet fuel for airplanes and is also

a good source of clean energy. Fifty-ninenutrients in euglena provide a rich source ofnutrition for a well-balanced diet. Euglena
Corporation thus supplies poverty-stricken
areas of developing countries such as
Bangladesh with its cookies and supplements.
In Japan, it has been popular in various healthfoods, such as juice, snacks, ramen and so on.
Euglena Corporation is expanding its work tocreate a sustainable future using euglena.
The company believes that it won’t be long
before we live on its power.
Scientists expect these creatures to bebeneficial in solving environmental problems
issues inthethefuture.
infuture.
By Rina Kurihara, Kana Negishi andAkiko Yamabe

Answers to quiz
A1. Your name
A2. Onion
Reference:
Rarejob English Lab. 2017/07/03(https://www.rarejob.com/englishlab/column/20170703/)

IR Bill Opens Path to Casinos in JapanThe House of Representatives approveda Draft bill for Integrated Resort Promotion(IR bill) on December 15, 2016. The IR bill is
intended to legalize gambling. Although thiswould seem to secure tourism resources andstimulate Japan’s economy, some are anxious
about the spread of gambling addiction andJapan becoming a hotbed of illicit activity.
Opinions thus varied on this bill. Let’s take acloser look at the process.
In consideration of the security andpeace throughout the country, Section
185 of the Criminal Code bans gambling
establishments like casinos. However, morethan 120 countries in the world have alreadylegitimated gambling. This fact encouraged
members of the Diet to form a league in 2002,
though many negative opinions remained.
It was not until 2013 that they submitted abill and regarded addressing this problem asimportant toward legalizing casinos.
The government’s plan is to build casinos
in such places as Osaka and Kanagawa, whichare expected to attract many foreigners during
the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. In addition, they aretaking measures to prevent people from being
too addicted to gambling. CLSA, a brokerage
firm, estimates that Japan could gain 4 trillion

yen if twelve casinos are introduced in Japan.
According to a public opinion poll conductedby the Nikkei, 27 percent of residents approvedof the plan and 59 percent of them did not.
A casino itself doesn’t necessarily havea bad influence on society. There are many
benefits in terms of the economy. The Japaneseare not very familiar with casinos, so it seems
that they should acquire specific informationand form their own opinions.
By Aimi Ishizuna, Mika Okajima, MiaNarishige, Chika Mochizuki and Yuna
Homma