Newsletter

April 1, 2020

OBON SOCIETY
Pandemic Problem
Coronavirus has turned the world upside down and forced many businesses to suspend their services.
Here at OBON SOCIETY we are happy to report very little change in our operations.
OBON SOCIETY has never had a centralized base of operations where our teammembers gather to work. Our eﬀorts require the unique skills of a variety of people
scattered across many diﬀerent time zones. In fact, we have never met face toface with several of the people who have worked for us during the past six years.
As a result of our unique organization OBON SOCIETY is practically unaﬀected bythis current pandemic. Our team receives packages, processes the items we aresent and uploads the data to our scholars. They, in turn, carry out the search forsurviving relatives and the items are returned. We feel truly blessed to report ouroperations are working exactly as they were last year at this time.
However, this coronavirus pandemic is interrupting the Returning Ceremonies in Japan. Instead of publicgatherings the items are mailed directly to the families. Also future OBON SOCIETY board meetings will
be held via teleconferencing.
Judging from the amount of inquires we have received these past couple days it seems that some people
are using their confinement at home to clean our their closets and put things in order. We are receiving a
number of inquiries every day.
Yesterday I received an email from "John"
with this image of a flag his father had
given him twenty-six years ago. He wants
it returned to the family. However, after aquick glance our scholars suspect it camefrom a school near Osaka. We will have toexplore this in more detail when John
mails the flag to OBON SOCIETY for athorough search.

On the same day we received an inquiry
from Shane. His grandfather, a U.S. Marine,
returned home from the war with twoKatana. A tragic house fire destroyed all of
Shane’s belongings, but these two blades
survived and he wants OBON SOCIETY toreturn them home to their family in Japan.
Note: Without any identifying tags with family names and addresses it
is impossible for OBON SOCIETY to find the correct family in Japan.

OBON SOCIETY P.O. Box 282 Astoria, Oregon 97103 503-741-3733 contact@obonsociety.org
501(C)(3) Non-profit

One good deed leads to another
Last October OBON SOCIETY was invited toattend a very special ceremony in Santa Fe, NewMexico. For the first time in history a Yosegaki
Hinomaru, that had been proudly displayed in theNational Guard museum, was removed andoﬃcially presented to OBON SOCIETY for thepurpose of returning to its family in Japan. The
local newspaper wrote a cover story of thisunique gesture of peace and reconciliation.
This news story prompted action from Mr. Lee ofSanta Fe who had a flag in his possession. Thisflag was shipped to OBON SOCIETY and we
fortunately found the family. Mr. Lee was very
pleased with this news and wrote the letter below
for us to translate and send along with the flag.

October 2019 the New Mexico National Guard, in cooperation
with American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor Memorial
Society, presented a Yosegaki Hinomaru to OBON SOCIETY.
(L to R) Rex Ziak; Jan Thompson, President ADBCMS; Major GeneralKenneth Nava; Margaret Garcia, daughter of Bataan Survivor; Keiko Ziak;
Bethany Glenn, Board Member of OBON SOCIETY.

marui hinogake yoseillis LeThe W

OBON SOCIETY P.O. Box 282 Astoria, Oregon 97103 503-741-3733 contact@obonsociety.org
501(C)(3) Non-profit