Photo/Illutration Noriko Kawarai receives a personal item that belonged to her uncle, Morihiro Murota, at Kanuma City Hall in Tochigi Prefecture on Dec. 20. (Naonori Nakamura)

KANUMA, Tochigi Prefecture--A shipping tag addressed to a Japanese soldier killed in the Battle of Iwojima was returned to a bereaved family member 77 years after World War II.

The wooden tag, measuring about 8 centimeters wide and 19 cm long, was collected on Iwojima island, now called Iwoto island, by a U.S. Navy member.

It originally belonged to Morihiro Murota, a resident of Kanuma, who was killed in the battle fought in February and March 1945.

“I heard that nothing came back from Iwoto,” said Noriko Kawarai, his 68-year-old niece,
who received the tag on Dec. 20. “I think it’s a miracle to receive it in good condition like this.”

The wooden tag contains the name of Murota’s father, Shunichi, suggesting it was attached to a package he had sent to Murota when he was an apprentice officer of the 311th Independent Infantry Battalion of the Imperial Japanese Army.

The tag said the contents of the package were four books, three dozen pencils, three packs of Seirogan anti-diarrheal pills, two packs of stomach medicine, three packs of cold medicine, and three packs of Jintan pills.

“Everything was hard to come by at the time,” Noriko said. “I think my grandfather did everything he could to get these items.”

Murota, who was assigned to a garrison in the island’s western district, was killed on March 17 when the Imperial Japanese Army launched an all-out attack against the U.S. troops who had landed on the volcanic island.

The bloody battle claimed the lives of about 22,000 Japanese soldiers and around 7,000 U.S. soldiers.

A 21-year-old U.S. Navy member found the tag after landing on the island on March 25, the day before organized resistance by Japanese troops ended.

The American was dispatched there to work on construction of an airfield and other projects.
He took the tag with him to the United States as a wartime memento.

Decades later, after he was hospitalized due to old age, his son found the tag while sorting through his father’s home. The son donated the tag to a war museum in the U.S. state of Minnesota.

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A photo of Morihiro Murota, center, taken before his departure to war, shows his sister, Mitsuko Kawarai, four years his junior, at front left. (Provided by Noriko Kawarai)

Daniel King, 58, a writer and researcher of Pacific War history, learned about the wooden tag and suggested returning the item to bereaved family members in Japan.

On Sept. 8 last year, Kanuma Mayor Shin Sato received a letter from King, who expressed his plan to return the tag.

Based on the name and address on the tag, Kanuma city officials found Mitsuko Kawarai, Murota’s sister, four years his junior.

Exchanges with Noriko, Mitsuko’s third daughter, confirmed the tag was Murota’s, the officials said.

King sent an email to the city government, saying it was “wonderful news” to learn that they found Murota’s bereaved family.

The tag was delivered to the Kanuma City Hall in October through King’s friend living in Kyoto, along with sand from the island.

Noriko had learned about her uncle from her grandmother and seen his photographs at her parents’ home.

She also read his diary and was impressed by his intellectual personality.

Her mother, Mitsuko, who used to describe how wonderful her brother was, died in October before she had a chance to see the tag.

“I had thought it was only natural not to receive any personal items of my uncle because few people survived on Iwoto,” Noriko said. "I had been told about the tragic stories from during the war, but I felt them in a realistic manner. I felt afresh that I should not forget them.”

She said she would place the tag on the family Buddhist altar but intends to later entrust the item to a museum or other institution dedicated to passing down war memories.

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