OBON SOCIETY: Three Returns in November
November 2019 Japan Trip

Connecting the Dots
Earlier this year we were sent four boxes of battlefield souvenirs that had been kept in a Canada since the endof WWII. The person who sent us these items turned out the be one of the most interesting and compellingindividuals we had ever met, although we didn’t know that at the time.

Our staﬀ researched each item he sent, as we do everything, and soon, by connecting the dots, we had found thefamily belonging to one tiny photo album. We communicated with the gentleman who sent us this album and hewanted to meet this family personally, which became more complex than what anyone would imagine because of
the demands of his unique career and also because he resides in Nairobi, Kenya, which is a long, long ways awayfrom Japan.
Our staﬀ connected more dots which connected to another family, and then another. While this was happening ourresearch team headquartered in Tokyo had a growing number of issues for us to resolve so, in the end, we decided
to make a trip to Japan ourselves, meet with staﬀ and return all three items. Also, we would meet up with thegentleman from Nairobi.

We spent hours in meetings with colleagues who had many questions about how to streamline our search process
and how to merge our operations into a more eﬃcient team.
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Later that evening Dr. Jarat Chopra flew in from Africa and we enjoyed a late night bowl of noodles as webecame acquainted and talked about the upcoming days. The following morning we had meetings with Shinto
Priests and with the Vice-Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Aﬀairs.

Later we had press conferences at the famous Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan and with the Kansai
Press Club in Osaka.

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With the media behind us it was time to return the items to their families. First was the photo album Dr. Chopra
had sent us which we traced to the Shikata family. Dr. Chopra had tried for 30 years to return these items andhis 22 hours of flight time from Nairobi to Japan was proof of his sincerity. Many members of this community
gathered to witness the return of this family’s missing brother item.

OBON SOCIETY had scanned several of the photos and enlarged them for the community to see. To our surprise Mr.
Shikata immediately recognized this family portrait and identified himself in shorts and white tee shirt. The purpose ofthis photo, Mr. Shikata explained, was to reassure the older brothers at war that everyone, including women andchildren, were working in the rice fields growing food for the family during their absence.

After visiting the family graves to welcome home theirbrother’s missing spirit, the Shikata family invited us
into their home for sweets, tea and more conversation.

In this photo album was a small
clipping that appeared in a local
newspaper during the war.
Apparently his mother had clippedout and sent to her son while hewas stationed in the Philippinesseventy-five years ago. It wasthrough this small article that OBON
SOCIETY scholars found clues,
connected the dots and quickly
located the correct family.

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Hideo Shikata

The following day we were up early and traveled to another return, this one was scheduled to take place in theoﬃce of the mayor in a medium sized city within Shizuoka Prefecture. Local staﬀers escorted us into a small
room where we met the nephew of the missing soldier. Mr. Nagasawa arrived with several envelopes of photos
and papers, of all that existed of his missing uncle.

Left: We moved to the mayor’s oﬃce forshort speeches and a simple returning
ceremony. Mr. Nagasaga brought along
the portrait of his missing uncle.
Above: The mayor and local oﬃcials
closely examined the flag, noting thesignatures of many prominent families
who continue to reside in the local area.

This flag had been on display in the Chippewa County Historical Society in Wisconsin for many years and it was thestaﬀ of the museum who felt this personal item belongs back with the family in Japan.
OBON SOCIETY
P.O. Box 282 Astoria, Oregon 97103
contact@obonsociety.org 503-741-3733
website: obonsociety.org YouTube Channel: OBON SOCIETY

A couple days later we were escorted into the oﬃce of the Vice-mayor of Kyoto city where the next returning
ceremony was scheduled to occur which involved a personal item belonging to a former resident of this city.

The vice-mayor Ms. Murakami wasattired in a traditional kimono for thisceremony.
Appearing to represent the Kobayashi family and receive his remains was four nephews who came dressed in theirformal attire. They brought along a small portrait of their missing uncle.

Above: The nephews
brought a small portrait of
their uncle Matsugoro
Kobayashi, apparently taken
while he was in thePhilippines.
Below: Keiko handed thepersonal flag to the eldest
nephew which wasimmediately unfurled andexamined for signatures.

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At the conclusion of this ceremony the eldest of the nephews was eager to tell us about a remarkable event. After his
recent retirement from work he fulfilled a long-held promise to visit the famous thirty-three shrines of the Saigoku
Kannon Pilgrimage. During the walk from shrine to shrine he contemplated his ancestors and prayed for them. Withina week of returning home from this pilgrimage he received the call that his missing uncle’s remains had been found.

Dr. Jarat Chopra was somewhat of a mysterious character to us at first. We did not pry into his personal history but

clearly there was a story behind this man. Occasionally a detail would appear in his emails that revealed a bit ofinformation, however, it was not until after several months of communication that we saw his eleven page resume andthen began to understand this unique and complex man.
Dr. Chopra, among other professions, is the person sent
to negotiate with warlords and splinter army groups inthose rare places on earth where governments do notexist, but medical care and food aid must arrive. TheU.N. calls upon his unique abilities to help them inplaces like El Salvador, East Timor, Northern Iraq,
Somalia and other places that average people would beafraid to visit. He also is a leading authority on peace
maintenance, international law and conflict resolution.
His family is native to India. When we asked about hisearly family history he mentioned the name of somerelative who put up opposition during Alexander theGreats eastward intrusion. In more recent times his family
suffered severely when they opposed the invasions ofBritain’s East India Company in 1849, and were punishedby having their family treasures carried off to England asbooty. In recent years his great uncle, a physician for theBritish Army, perished during the surrender of Singapore
in 1942.
Prompt, good-natured, generous with information and extremely kind-hearted, he was absolutely a pleasure to bewith every minute of every day. We asked him to deconstruct some interviews and meetings he had attended with
us and his analysis revealed such fascinating insights into political maneuvering, invisible to us, that our jaws
dropped open. He could read a room of high officials and evaluate the shifting positions and jockeying that wasoccurring with the same clarity X-rays can see through skin. We felt like we were attending graduate school.
And yet, he was no prima-donna. Subway trains and casual meals on the fly were just fine with him, as wereinexpensive businessmen hotels so tiny you barely could squeeze between the bed and the wall. And yet, on his
first morning in Tokyo he wanted to find a post office to buy a stamp and mail off a handwritten letter to his young
daughter. "Yes," he explained, "the electronic mail used these days does not produce memorable artifacts, so I write
real letters with stamps to her, should one day she decide to keep them."
OBON SOCIETY
P.O. Box 282 Astoria, Oregon 97103
contact@obonsociety.org 503-741-3733
website: obonsociety.org YouTube Channel: OBON SOCIETY