A member of the Gunma Prefectural mothers liaison committee distributes a leaflet resembling a red draft paper to a high school student in the city of Tatebayashi, Gunma Prefecture, on Dec. 3, 2021. (Mainichi/Tetsuya Shoji)

       TATEBAYASHI, Gunma -- Ahead of the 80th anniversary of the start of the Pacific War, a Gunma Prefectural mothers liaison committee sought to stress the preciousness of peace by handing out leaflets designed to look like war-era draft notices in front of Tobu Tatebayashi Station on Dec. 3.

       The draft papers, also known as red papers, were issued by the former Japanese military, and people who refused to be conscripted were punished or arrested.

       The Pacific War between Japan and the United States broke out on Dec. 8, 1941 Japan time. Committee members gave out the leaflets to people including high school students on their way home, as they asked the passersby, "Do you know what happened on Dec. 8?" and, "Do you know what red papers are?"

       Committee member Michiko Akiyama, who oversees the leaflets' distribution, said, "We would like people to think about peace so there never is a world again in which people were sent to a battlefield with just a single piece of red paper."

       The committee is planning to distribute the "red paper" leaflets at six locations in Gunma Prefecture, including Maebashi, Takasaki and Isesaki on Dec. 8.

       (Japanese original by Tetsuya Shoji, Shibukawa Resident Bureau)

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