2025 marks the 80th year since Japan's WWII defeat in 1945. 20-year-olds are now 100, 5-year-olds are now 85, and the number of those today who have first-hand experience of war or even serving in the armed forces, has dwindled. The time will come when there will no longer be anyone left to tell their experiences of the war. Their stories, instead, will be told not by people, but by remnants. As this realization started to gain traction, the Keio University Fukuzawa Memorial Center for Modern Japanese Studies, which is responsible for researching and colleting historical materials, launched the Keio and World War II Archive Project in 2013. It has focused on locating and compiling objects connected to Keio University during the war, an endeavor that continues to this day. To mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, Keio University will hold the exhibition, "Stories Told by Remnants: Keio and WWII" (Third Osaka Special Exhibition) at the Keio Osaka City Campus from July 10 to August 31 to showcase memories of the war told through these items. Admission is free and open to the public. This special exhibition will serve as a synopsis of the full exhibition held at Mita Campus last year. In sharing this collection, the exhibition will go beyond showing the material possessions that people pass down, considering instead what stories these remnants can tell people and the new connections they can create. The Osaka venue will feature exclusive items new to the exhibition.
