Photo/Illutration The Asahi Shimbun company flag kept at The Asahi Shimbun's Naha Bureau (Norio Yatsu)

Reiko Watanabe, 60, visited The Asahi Shimbun’s Naha Bureau in Okinawa Prefecture last week with her family.

The “item” she had made the trip for was taken out of its box and gently unfolded.

It was an old Asahi Shimbun company flag that once belonged to her grandfather, Toshito Munesada. Watanabe was seeing it for the first time in this 80th year since the end of World War II.

Munesada was an Asahi Shimbun reporter stationed in Okinawa during the war. He wrote stories in an underground bunker amid shell barrages that were intense enough to alter the terrain.

His final dispatch read, “(If we counter-attack), we will be annihilated by massive enemy fire.”

Having fled to the southern part of the main island of Okinawa, Munesada apparently held on to the flag until his death.

The flag was taken to the United States as a war souvenir, but was returned in 1995 to the Naha Bureau for safekeeping.

At Watanabe’s family home, only one small stone served as the substitute for Munesada’s ashes.

She often wondered what Okinawa, the place of her grandfather’s death, was like. But she felt no desire to visit it as a tourist and did not know what she really wanted to do.

Three years ago, she learned of the flag.

“I’d never even imagined its existence,” she recalled.

Its discovery ended all hesitation.

Watching the flag being unfurled, she was struck by the surprising vividness of its red-and-white design. And she also experienced a strange sensation.

“I’ve got goosebumps all over,” she said. “I knew about my grandfather only in writing, but now I am definitely feeling my grandfather’s very real presence.”

The following day, Watanabe and her family all stepped together into the bunker where Munesada was reportedly seen for the last time.

There were small bone fragments, a button and shrapnel.

During her short visit to Okinawa, Watanabe constantly reminded herself that, having discovered what had happened in her grandfather’s days, she must relay the message to posterity.

“I’m leaving it all to you,” she said, tapping each of her children on the shoulder.

—The Asahi Shimbun, Feb. 12

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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