For the past 9 years I have been a social studies public school teacher. Currently, I have been working at the same urban district for the past five years. It is through my supervisor that I learned about the 2017 Peace & Reconciliation Asia Study Tour with the group New Jersey Alliance for Learning and Preserving the History of World War II in Asia or NJ ALPHA for short, of which, I am fortunate to have been granted a generous scholarship to participant in. 

As stated above, in the statement of NJ ALPHA, much of the atrocities of World War Two are often from not only the European Theater, but when it comes to the Pacific Theater, hardly anything is mentioned.  Surveying a handful of high school level textbooks, prove this point. 

The only book that somewhat talked about the Pacific Theatre beyond sea battles, kamikaze, Iwo Jima, or “Big Boy” & Little Boy was an AP History Book, of which I could not find the name, which toughed on the actions of the Japanese in just under 2 full pages (pgs 1032 - 1035).Though I have taught the history of World War Two, for many years, I have touched on the topic of the destructive force of the Japanese Imperial Army, however as with most things, there is so much more that I do not know, simply put because it wasn’t taught.  

On April 30^th, I was able to meet the few people from New Jersey as well as the other participants for this year’s tour.  Before meeting up, we were advised to watch a video of a previous trip

The meeting started off by everyone introducing themselves via video conference call.

After all of the introductions, we went on to cover the mission of NJ ALPHA, a basic history of the Sino-Japanese War, we were distributed the curriculum guides that they have developed for High School, books and recommended book list. We finished the meeting off by reviewing the trip itinerary, the process for applying for a visa for China and various travel tips. Once dismissed we were able to go out for Dim Sum at a local restaurant and conversation. 

Usually when I travel, I take much more time to conduct research so that I know what I am getting into. Since I’ve been teaching for almost 10 years, I know I am much more aware of some of the major atrocities than many of my peers.  Every year that I teach certain lessons, I take time to research and build upon my previous knowledge.  The topics of the Nanking Massacre, Comfort Women, and Unit 731 are something that I am familiar.  One of the most recent films to touch on this history is The Flowers of War (2011), which was based on the book, 13 Flowers of Nanjing, that was inspired by the diary of Wilhelmina "Minnie" Vautrin, an American missionary, in China during the Nanking Massacre in China where she cared and protection of as many as ten thousand Chinese refugees from the Japanese authorities.  

Though the movie can be pretty graphic and telling about the attack in Nanking, when it comes to this part of history, after seeing many of the pictures google offers at the click of a mouse, it is just one of those things that you cannot un-see nor forget.

Comfort Women is the term used to describe the women kidnapped, coerced, and or taken prisoner to be sex slaves for soldiers and other officials of the Japanese Imperial Army.  When learning about this, there were two points that remained in my brain,

1) As told in Kazuko Watanabe’s article, Trafficking in Women's Bodies, Then and Now: The Issue of Military Comfort Women, “...One Japanese Army doctor, Asō Tetsuo testified that the "comfort women" were seen as "female ammunition" and as "public toilets", as literally just things to be used and abused, with some "comfort women" being forced to donate blood for the treatment of wounded soldiers….At least 80% of the "comfort women" were Korean, who were assigned to the lower ranks while Japanese and European women went to the officers with for example Dutch women captured in the Netherlands East Indies (modern Indonesia) being reserved exclusively for the officers...

2) As a victim of the incident, in 1990, Jan Ruff-O'Herne testified to a U.S. House of Representatives committee: "In the comfort station I was systematically beaten and raped day and night. Even the Japanese doctor raped me each time he visited the brothel to examine us for venereal disease."

Reading about these stories, is one thing however sometime it truly takes a visual to get a clearer picture.  One very powerful video about comfort women that I usually share with my students is titled, Herstory Comfort Women Animation – English 

When it comes to World War Two, one popular area of study is often the human experimentation as performed by the Nazi’s, specifically the ones conducted by Josef Mengele.  However, many American’s are never taught about Unit 731, the covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army.  Live vivisection, germ warfare attacks, frostbite testing, syphilis testing, weapon testing, bacteriological or physiological experiments, rape and forced pregnancy, sex experiments were all the deliverers of death for at least 3,000 men, women, and children.  

The easy answer is, EVERYTHING! Honestly, it is the detail and experience that I am after to have a better understanding of this time period and to become a better teacher to my students to give them context that they would otherwise never have access to.  Furthermore, as a social scientist, it is quite obvious that learning about other people particularly their history will empower me to have better understanding of the world around me.  Honestly speaking, I’m pretty sure that I will become emotional during this trip, as I have in past trips, but I am hopeful that I will be able to make it through and learn a lot.