Japanese photojournalist recalls memories of war after 40 years

Japanese war photographer Ishikawa Bunyo, 77, who has visited Vietnamcountless times over the last 40 years since the war ended, says hisformer “battlefield” has seen tremendous development in recent years.

Ishikawaspoke at the opening of a permanent exhibition of 107 of his photos,titled 50 Years of Vietnam – War and Peace exhibition, at Ho Chi MinhCity’s War Remnants Museum on April 27.

Speaking to reporters, hepredicted that 10 years from now, Vietnam would appear even moredifferent to his eyes than it does today.

“I don’t know if I willbe able to come to Vietnam at that time, but I really want to,” hesaid, laughing loudly, adding that his advanced age might prevent afuture visit.

The conflict in Vietnam drew war correspondents from around the world.

Ashe pointed to his photos on the walls, he recalled how the USadministration was not particularly happy about some of the images thatits photojournalists were taking, particularly those of civilian deaths.

Ishikawa remembered a similar situation in his birthplace, Okinawa, where civilians were also killed during World War II.

Hesaid that whenever he shot photos of dying soldiers, farmers andchildren during the war in Vietnam, he remembered the war in hishometown.

Pointing to a photo of a Vietnamese woman named Tho andher son Cam, he said that their situation was similar to that of hismother during the war in Japan.

Ishikawa was able to meet Tho andher son 25 years later. Cam told him that his father, who fought in theAmerican war, lost one leg and drank a lot, making his mothermiserable.

One of his most impressive photos taken during the warin Vietnam is part of the new permanent exhibition. It depicts a womancarrying a child and running away from her house after it had beendestroyed.

The face of the mother, although wounded, shows her concern about the house, as there were still children inside.

The situation was the same, he said, with the war in Japan.

“Itis very hard for me to choose the most impressive photo, because all ofmy photos are my children,” he said, pointing to a photo of a militaryoperation conducted in 1986.

“There was a rumourabout northern soldiers in a village and I followed them. Napalm bombswere dropped on the village, and then civilians gathered at a certainspot. I could not understand why people attacked civilians,” he said.

The photojournalist clearly remembers the story behind every photo.

He said when he returned to his office in Vietnam to write captionsfor the photos, he could not get the images out of his head, and whenthey were published, he still could not forget.

Every time he prepares for an exhibition, he still remembers the old situations.

With these photos, Ishikawa said he wanted to help people to understand the violence of war.

When Ishikawa first set foot in Vietnam in 1964, he was working as afreelance photographer. He accompanied US and South Vietnamese forcesfor four years from 1965.

He later worked as a staffphotographer for Asahi Shinbun from 1969 to 1984, and then began acareer as a freelance photographer. Last year, he marked the 50thanniversary of his first trip to Vietnam.

The sameday, the museum also opened another permanent exhibition of 93 photos byVietnamese photojournalist Hoang Van Sac, who worked for the VietnamNews Agency during the war, covering the transport situation.

The collection is called Memories of Wartime Roads. “People sacrificedtheir lives to protect the roads from being destroyed,” Sac said.

VNA

Japanese photojournalist recalls memories of war after 40 years

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