The area of Musashino, Tokyo, where the Nakajima Aircraft Company’s Musashi plant was located during World War II, was hit by a series of U.S. air raids. The plant manufactured aviation engines for the Imperial Japanese Navy’s Zero fighters, so Musashino was one of the major targets for aerial attacks.

Seventy-two years after the end of World War II, an exhibition titled “TARGET No. 357 — TARGET No. 357, a Targeted Town —” is being held at the Musashino History Museum. Valuable documents and materials regarding the plant were collected in the United States, in order to pass the wartime history on to future generations.

The museum spent almost two years from 2015 collecting about 2,000 documents and materials, including U.S. military papers and photos preserved at the U.S. National Archives. The exhibition is displaying classified documents in English and a mockup of the so-called one-ton bomb, among others.

A documentary film of U.S. B-29 bombers taking off from Saipan for air raids is also being screened. It includes a scene where a U.S. soldier said they would target a Nakajima Aircraft plant.

In the classified U.S. documents, the plant was designated as “TARGET No. 357.” During the war, about 50,000 workers … (read more)

via The Japan News