Hawaii

　　Japan is now in the midst of the holiday season called "Golden Week". I got 5 days off from May 3rd to 7th and am going to Hawaii with my wife and my eldest daughter. I'm thinking to spend a relaxing vacation in Honolulu, like jogging along the route of the Honolulu Marathon, which I'd like to join in the not so distant future, or wandering along the coastline and in downtown, or cooking something with local ingredients, because we'll stay at a condominium equipped with kitchen utensils.
　　In 2001, the fisheries training vessel Ehime Maru, whose home port is Uwajima City, where I had spent time in my little kid days, collided with a careless U.S. submarine off the coast of Honolulu. Several high school students and teachers were killed at that time. The bodies of some of them haven't yet been recovered. I'd like to offer flowers or something from their home town to mourn their death in front of their monument. I'm going to also visit the USS Arizona Memorial for the same purpose. I had been eager to see Pearl Harbor since long ago, but I was afraid that some Americans would look triumphant against Japanese tourists at such memorial places. However, the situation around the evaluation of the war has drastically changed. If someone criticizes Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, I can easily rebut them.
　　Top secret items or the truth about what had happened during and around the Great East Asian War have been uncovered one after another. "Mirror for Americans: JAPAN", which was prohibited to publish for several years after the war by Douglas MacArthur, is already known after the publication of its Japanese translation. "Freedom Betrayed", the book written by the former US President Hoover Herbert is the same. Lots of people now know who wanted to wage the war and who tried to avoid the war. Carrying "Freedom Betrayed", I'm visiting the Memorial and paying tribute to the victims trapped in the battleship.

日本はゴールデンウィークと呼ばれる休暇シーズンに入る。５月３日から７日まで休暇が取れたのでハワイへ行くことにした。ホノルルでのんびり過ごすつもり。いつか参加したいホノルルマラソンのコースをジョグしたり、海岸をブラブラしたり、コンドミニアムに滞在するのでハワイの食材で何か料理をしてみたい。

２００１年、愛媛丸という漁業実習船がハワイ沖で潜水艦と衝突して沈んだ。教師や生徒が亡くなっている。母港は宇和島市。僕が子供時代を過ごした街だ。その愛媛丸犠牲者慰霊碑にも花を手向けたいと思っている。また、戦艦アリゾナ記念館にも訪れるつもり。ここへ行くと、アメリカ人がしたり顔で日本人に厳しい態度を取るのではないかとこれまで訪問する気にはなれなかったのだが、今は違う。何か言ってきたら１０倍にして反論してやる。

大東亜戦争に関する新事実がどんどん出てきている。今や、あの戦争を望んだのは誰なのか、誰が始めたのか、こういった問題には答えが出ている。Mirror for Americans: JAPANだけではない。元アメリカ大統領が書いたFreedom Betrayedもある。堂々と訪問し、今も戦艦内部に残されている亡くなった方々に手を合わせるつもりだ。今書いているマラッカ海峡クルージング記の後で、ハワイ旅行記も書く。