Letters from Chiran | Tomoya Kawamura

LETTERS FROM

CHIRAN

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"Letters from Chiran" is a mask storytelling played by Tomoya Kawamura, inspired freely by the story of a woman who arrived in World War II in Japan and the historical facts of it.

The play delicately unveils the difference of perspectives between the lives of ordinary people in the midst of a largely devastating war and those, who lightly make the decision of joining a conflict, compromising the lives of millions in the name of false ideals and personal satisfaction.

In the southern Japanese region of Kyūshū during WW2, the young pilots of the military base of Chiran, would always have their meals at the nearby "Shokudo".

This dining hall was owned by an old lady and she ran the Shokudo before and after the war.

In 1945 the pilots of the Japanese Special Attack Units, commonly known as “Kamikaze”, would share with her some of their stories and leave behind their last wishes and dreams, before beginning what was, for many of them, their last mission.

She tells us her story and the one of far too young “Kamikaze” pilots, in times where it seemed reasonable to somebody, to send the youngest generation of a nation to die in vain, in a completely senseless mission during an already lost war.

The question comes spontaneously: Is there any scenario where this sacrifice is acceptable?