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Silent Histories

by Kazuma Obara

Photographs: Kazuma Obara

Publisher: RM Verlag

162 pages

Pictures: 217

Year: 2015

ISBN: 978-84-16282-30-2

Comments: Clothbound, 25.7 × 18.2 cm, English edition.

Silent Histories is a testimony to the tragedy of indiscriminate bombing by US forces during the War in the Pacific, which killed 330,000 Japanese and in-jured 430,000 more. The figures are imposing: some 9.7 million left homeless and more than 2.23 million homes destroyed in more than 200 different cities. In the midst of this enormous destruction, many children were orphaned in an instant or suffered burning or mutilations that marked them for life.

Japan achieved its economic recovery in the wake of wartime devastation. This remarkable growth has been dubbed the “Japanese economic miracle.” In spite of this unprecedented prosperity, however, children with war injuries have been forced to live harsh lives, unable to cure their wounds. They have lived in the shadows, concealing their pain, hiding their scars, and sparing others the discomfort of seeing them.

Silent Histories was originally published in 2014 in a special limited edition of forty-five handmade copies.

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