Okinawan photojournalist’s lens on VietnamーNHK WORLD-JAPAN NEWS
we feature veteran photojournalist Ishkava Buno from Okinawa as a young man he covered the Vietnam War photographing people living on the battlefields that often suck through farms and villages and his gaze fell on the vulnerable children looking over their wounded mother a girl who lost her right arm and leg another watching as her village is attacked for Ishkawa these young people are forever etched in his heart half of a century since the end of the war at 87 he makes his way to Vietnam in the hope of seeing their faces again all of these children lost their right arms i definitely want to know what kind of lives they’ve led since then me with just several images as clues Ishiawaabuno is hoping to track down people he photographed in those long ago dark days in his pursuit he comes across a village that had been fiercely attacked by US forces there a 90year-old woman who lost five family members recounts that time the boat came by river into our village when we sense the presence of boats we’d run and hide under the floorboards of our house but no one from his past emerges in this village where nearly 300 ordinary people were killed or injured [Music] for my reporting I also rode on a river patrol boat and saw soldiers with large machine guns firing at villages listening to the woman’s story I could imagine this village was also attacked like that takes me right back to the Vietnam War an estimated 3 million people including civilians were reportedly killed in the Vietnam War ishiawa noticed parallels with the mass civilian deaths in the brutal Battle of Okinawa during World War II that made the Okinawa native all the more determined to expose the reality of the Vietnam War to the world [Music] parents suffer and children grieve children suffer and parents grieve [Music] the sister was injured and the brother was traumatized i saw tons of scenes like this his mission to track down the memorable faces from his images turned up no traces but he does get to reconnect with an important person from that period famiso he found the 10-year-old observing her village under siege and grenades being hurled into the trenches ishiawa trained his lens on the defenseless girl an inongruent sight on the battlefield [Music] it’s been over 10 years since he last met so now 68 years old [Music] are you my stale a girl he encountered one day amid the chaos on a deadly battlefield [Music] survivors they could share this moment together the eyes that once gazed upon battlefield horrors now tenderly watch over a granddaughter [Music] an Okinawa saying nuid takara means life is the ultimate treasure it’s Ishiawa’s motto [Music] [Music] a ceremony commemorating 50 years since the end of the war ishikawa Buno has come as an invited guest i am still a journalist after all i would like to take photographs in the press section [Music] once a photojournalist always a photojournalist in the Gaza Strip in Palestine refugee camps hospitals and schools are right now being targeted in the same way the chain of life is broken for those who have died i want to continue conveying the message that peace means being able to lead a normal life i’m still active in my work and will keep it up although Ishkawa could not reunite with many whose portraits he captured he was lucky to share time with Soul who witnessed the horror of the war you could see the incredible joy he took in seeing her so well and buoyant and that simple act of sharing fresh watermelon the warmth the two shared it was the picture of peace
An 87-year-old Okinawa photojournalist who covered the Vietnam War returns to meet people whose portraits he captured. #vietnam #japan #usa #ww2 #children #journalist
More stories on Vietnam: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/tags/135/
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