"I saw the face of an American pilot coming towards me," he said. Former boy soldier Akiji Takase, 93 years old. "It was a world where going to war was the norm and people who didn't were considered no good." Born and raised in Gunma Prefecture, Takase applied to become a boy soldier in the navy without telling his parents when he was in junior high school. Takase left his parents and entered a school to train warship crew members in February 1944 in Yokosuka City, Kanagawa Prefecture. We visited the site of the school, which is now a defense-related facility. At school, students were trained to find submarines in the sea by sound, and if they got bad grades or were reprimanded, various punishments awaited them. The most painful punishment was the one called "batter." "You hold a pillar in the hallway and stick your butt out like this. If you do that, you get three or so." Batters are hit hard on the buttocks with a hard, thick wooden stick. The training was so strict that some students committed suicide. After graduating from school, Takase was assigned to the destroyer "Harukaze." When he first saw the "Harukaze" on the quay at the port of Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, where the Maritime Self-Defense Force base is still located, he couldn't hide his surprise. "The ship was covered in damage, red and rusty...I wondered if I was going to board this." The Harukaze was covered in wounds from the previous battles. In June 1945, the war situation worsened. Sasebo Port was frequently attacked by aircraft, and Takase also experienced combat. His role was to carry bullets for the machine guns. The "Harukaze" retaliated with machine gun fire against the American fighter planes that were firing at him. "I could see the American pilot's face coming towards me," said Takase, and he felt like, "What the hell!" He also witnessed the Sasebo air raid by the American military, in which more than 1,200 people were killed, from the "Harukaze." He pointed his binoculars at people fleeing, but there was nothing he could do. His granddaughter Sayaka, who visited the places where Takase experienced the war with him, said, "I feel like I understand better what he felt during the battles and when he watched the air raids." August 1945. Japan was defeated. When he returned to his hometown, his parents were very happy. However, two of his four older brothers were killed in the war. Aoki, a native of the same town who trained at the same school as Takase, was also killed in the war shortly after graduating. Japan's casualties in World War II were approximately 3.1 million. Many people lost their families. 78 years have passed since the end of the war. Takase says, "I would like to live in a quiet world where we can feel safe." ◇Nippon Television News Bureau's social media Twitter / news24ntv TikTok / ntv.news Facebook / ntvnews24 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ntv_news24/... ◇【Latest news now available】Nippon Television News https://news.ntv.co.jp/ #war #WWII #Japan #America #child soldiers #military #navy #destroyer #fighter plane #bombing #parents #children #life #peace #Yokosuka #Sasebo #record #history #testimony #experience #newsevery #Nippon Television #Feature