The ceremony started with the Shinto priests' prayer accompanied by the greetings of the commanders of the Air force, Army and Navy which were dispatched to guard the whole island. I heard that the magnitude of the ceremony was becoming bigger year by year. It might be the rising feelings of condolence to the victims of the sea battle. There were some errors in the usage of words on some papers and signboards, but I'd like to silently watch over the patriotic activities of the local people. All the victims' names were carved on the monument. I wondered if their families or the bereaved knew about this monument. I thought that the ceremony should have been reported overseas, but no correspondent was there. A few buses stopped in front of the relief toward the end of the ceremony and several dozen Koreans came out of the buses. What did they think about the historical facts which the relief had implied?
After the ceremony a lecture by our leader, a former member of the House of Representatives, Shingo Nishimura, was held in a nearby community center. His story was targeted to the young soldiers and local youth, and I was really moved. By the way, I found a funny drawing by a famous Japanese personality in the lobby of the center and I'll post it below.
神主の祝詞から式が始まった。国境を護る陸海空軍の責任者の挨拶、地元の行政のトップなどの挨拶があった。式の規模や、地元の慰霊祭に対する思いは年を追うごとに高まっていると聞いた。用語の使い方に少し勉強不足と思われたところもあったが、対馬を担う若者たちの成長を見守りたい。慰霊碑には全犠牲者の名前が彫られているという。ロシアの犠牲者の家族、遺族はこの慰霊祭のことを知っているだろうか。本来なら海外向けに発信できる大手メディアの活躍の場所であるが、残念ながら見かけなかった。式が終わる頃、朝鮮人達を載せたバスがやって来た。この丘からの眺望を楽しむためだろう。バスから降りてきた。前のエントリーで紹介したレリーフの前で立ち止まっている。反日教育に加えて嘘の歴史を教えられている人たちはレリーフを見て何を想うだろうか。
式が終わり、昼食を済ませ、我らが親分西村眞悟先生の講演会に出席。地元の若者たち、陸海空の軍人向けの力強く、感動的な話だった。最後の写真は講演会場の入り口に貼ってあった日本の有名なタレントの絵。ここにもやって来たらしい。
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