I found this so interesting and how drinking tea along with practicing zen buddhism is like a balance between your soul/spirit and nature.

yea its honestly just sad.

yes and I think that it really did save Japan, especially from the Mongol's planned attack with Kublai Khan.

I felt the same way, i wish there were more in-depth descriptions to truly grasp the battle and violent conflict (with both of their efforts and tactics when fighting)

I liked how you mentioned this; it's so embarrassing for them that they felt the need to this for their little egos.

yea, I believe this was their most unsuccessful conquest.

I really like your word choice here. It's not just about praying for a win, but having a mindset and faith in each other.

I really like how you worded this.

this is a good point; emotion and movement can really enhance/liven the story behind it.

i completely agree, this is very telling of today's society

oh i really like this metaphor, its kind of ironic because spiders are seen good luck in Japan.

I recognised this as well while reading

yes i agree, the descriptions were so vivid and it truly gives you an insight on how the damage destroyed peoples lives and its interesting that the writer said that he believes salvation is more important than what was lost.

yea i also found this surprising, but i do feel like they are a little more than puppets because of their strong and controlling power over the government

yea this is an intriguing point, it's definitely weird that the emperor just disregarded them.

i felt the same way; I did not know what was going on at first but now that I understand the meaning and story behind it, it is interesting to see the overall message behind the scroll.

i thought of this too; love the image you chose

same, I watched this anime as well

i really enjoyed this story as well; the descriptions of nature and vivid scenes and images were very captivating. The way that the story unfolds was interesting to read

I agree with this. All ideas should be expressed and taught in school regardless because that is reality. The world is filled with all different thoughts, beliefs, and ideals, so I would think that schools would want to use all different types of novels and books that express this and can teach young people what others experience in real life.

I find it sad how the school thought that it was okay to burn books and think just because they thought of them as “evil” and “poisonous”. I don’t understand how the school does not rather appreciate different perspectives and types of books, which can truly be a great learning experience.

I agree that letters are personal and real; they show you care and want to put more effort into the conversation.

I love the aspect of being more in the present when writing something to someone through a letter, which truly expresses how you feel and think at the time.

in middle school letter writing helped me feel less alone when my best friend moved to California. We wrote letters to each other because i did not have a phone, so I was able to stay in touch.

I am excited to read these letters.

I was shocked how Tokyo rose tried to persuade Japanese and Nazi causes through a radio station and the GI’s were encouraged to stop fighting, as the radios claims were false.

this is scary how manipulative US propaganda is; Seeing colorful misleading posters everywhere, implied that becoming a troop will be an “honor” to America but they were false visuals with no truth in how much death was actually occurring.

this was the most moving quote. Showing the true emotion of Aanenson, it makes you understand the reality of the war and the impact it had on the troops’ lives. They were surrounded by death and destruction most of their time serving and it eventually became hard to continue to have positivity and hope when writing. Living with constant fear of your life and the life of others that can be taken away at any point; it hard to keep inside. Although Aanenson wanted to initially reveal how he was truly feeling to the girl he loved, he knew it was best to not tell her, as she cannot prevent or do anything about it. He didn’t send the letter to keep his hope in their future. These troops crave comfort from their loved ones and writing letters probably relieves some of their suffering at least a little bit. Keeping messages and letters from family and friends allows them hold on to something that they know will always be safe with and bring them joy from reading it, so it was probably best to always write with positive outlooks in order to keep the hope and dreams of a better future and end to the war.

This revealed the truth behind how people had felt in the Japanese imprisonment camps. Being confined caused people to loose themselves and get caught up in negative thoughts. Forced into camps, people needed to endure the emotional and mental trauma of this, which clearly changed people.

This is my favorite quote from this article. It reveals how important and valued letters were to the soldiers and families/friends at home who received them. The troops specifically probably held on to them, treasuring what was from their loved ones, giving them hope and a drive to keep fighting in order to go home to them.

graphic movies and films of the war horrified people and I find it interesting how effective and powerful they were to engraving scary truths of what troops were actually living through.

This is an impactful meaning behind the radios and movies. They showed the true reality of what troops were going through and how everyone needs to keep having hope. Even though this caused worry, it also kept everyone informed and not clueless to what was occurring.