#rabaul

US soldiers wade through water on an island in the New Georgia group of the Solomons - June 1943

June 30, 1943. The Allies kick off a huge campaign in the South Pacific, and it is built around a clever, ruthless idea that would help win the whole ocean war. Do not take the enemy's strongest fort. Just cut it off and let it rot.

The problem was a place called Rabaul. The Japanese had turned it into a monster of a base, packed with planes, ships, and tens of thousands of troops, the anchor of their whole position in the South Pacific. Storming it head on would have cost a horrifying number of lives.

So the Allies decided not to. The plan was to land all around it instead, hopping from island to island, seizing the spots that mattered and surrounding the big base on every side.

It opened on this day with landings in the Solomons and on the coast of New Guinea, the first steps of the squeeze.

Over the following months they tightened the noose. They took the airfields, cut the sea lanes, and bombed Rabaul until its planes were gone and its harbor was useless.

And then they just left it there. A hundred thousand Japanese troops, dug in and ready for a fight that never came, completely sealed off and useless for the rest of the war. They sat on their mighty fortress while the war sailed right past them and on toward Japan.

It was a brutal kind of genius. Why pay in blood for a fortress when you can simply walk around it and leave the enemy to wither.

Porte-avions USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) attaqué par l'aviation japonaise pendant le raid sur Rabaul – Bombardement de Rabaul – Guerre du Pacifique – Papouasie-Nouvelle-Guinée – 11 novembre 1943

Do not tinker with your life (2)

As a matter of fact, Mr. Shigeru Mizuki was an extremely tough guy. Mr. Mizuki was a tall, big man for a Japanese male, back then. He had lived all his life eating well, sleeping well, and absolutely self-centred. I got the impression that he was originally born healthy, with body & mind, as well as born into a blessed family. Nevertheless, he seemed to have the kind of willpower that could change his surroundings.

That’s why Mr. Mizuki did not succumb to the negative energy within the underworld layers, instead, he had managed to send out his core messages to the world. His messages been repeating, even today, and spreading even outside Japan.

I have read one of his autobiographies ‘Do not tinker with your life’.

I was so impressed that the book has given me a lifetime of courage. Mr. Mizuki, when he was in the army, during WWⅡ, had been able to keep his own pace. He even overslept and was late, despite the pressure, at the height of the fascist Japanese army. Besides, he did not break down during his punishment. Finally, he was sent to Rabaul in East New Britain province, on the island of New Britain, in the country of Papua New Guinea. He was not supposed to return alive.

The reckless Mr. Mizuki, even there, dropped out of the severe army and wondered around the island. He joined the local indigenous people, and recovered his health.

He lost his left arm in WWⅡ, and he returned home as a one-armed man. No-one could stop him. He then produced the legendary manga-comic series with only one hand. He passed away, peacefully, in 2015.

“Be bone idle” is the message that had been written on the picture of his honouring monument.

Wonderfully tough!

人生をいじくり回してはいけない（２）

何を隠そう、この水木しげる氏は、とにかく頑丈な人物だったようだ。当時の日本人には珍しく長身で身体も大きく、生涯に渡り、良く食べ、良く寝た、至ってマイペース型だったそうだ。

もともと心身ともに頑丈に生まれ、それに相応しい環境に生まれたことは元より、自身のパワーによって、相応しい環境に自ら塗り替えていったような印象を受ける。だからこそ、幽界や冥界の邪気に負けずに、世論にメッセージを送り続けることに成功したに違いない。

わたしは、水木氏の自伝「人生をいじくりまわしてはいけない」を読み、感銘を受け、生き続ける勇気を頂いた。

水木氏は、第二次世界大戦中に、あの恐ろしいファシスムの境地に達した日本軍隊の圧力の中でさえ、寝坊、遅刻のマイペースを保ち続け、トコトン殴る蹴るの仕置きを受け続けても、全く怯まなかったので、最終的には‘生きては戻れない’と言う、パプアニューギニアの島嶼地方、東ニューブリテンにあるラバウルに送られた。

水木氏のマイペースは、そこでも、軍隊を離れ放浪、散策を行うに至り、島の原住民に出会い、触れ合うことで、どんどん健康を取り戻していったそうだ。

水木氏は、戦場で左腕を失い帰国した後に、数々のセンセーショナルな漫画や物語を残し、93歳の大往生で2015年にこの世を去った。片腕で、あれだけの力強い漫画を描き続けたのだ。

上記、水木氏の記念碑には「なまけ者になりなさい」と書いてある。