https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqIBJLOEDSE
After reading and watching the Barefoot Gen 1, I stumbled across Barefoot Gen 2 which is three years after the end of the original movie in 1948. The setting of the movie stages where they are living in the after effects of the bombings. Students were being taught in buildings with no ceilings then later it rained or buildings that have been obliterated by the bombs. I believe this image portrays how civilization was for the Japanese for quite some time. It must have taken them decades for Japan to fully rebuild their cities. In the next scene one of the students points out the window to a girl listening and watching in on the class. The professor calls her "homeless," this shows that after the bombing in Hiroshima a lot of survivors that were children did not have no places to be besides orphanage due to their parents being killed and their homes destroyed. Police or "Street Kid Hunters" would find children in the streets and beat them then force them into orphanages. This portrays a strong depiction a problem Japan was facing after the bombing, a great number of children being unaccompanied after the bombing.
Yes, a lot of children were left on their own and the government/emperor didn't care what happened. If they did, these children certainly didn't receive help right away.
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing how much Japan has grown since the days of roofless houses. Going back to the imagery and the sayings of the wheat, Japan, like wheat, has weathered throwing the trampling feet and cold harsh weather and prospered.