It's 75 years to the day since the Korean War broke out. Here's the headline from the Fukuoka-based Nishi Nihon Shinbun on 26th June 1950. The Korean War is always described as "someone else's problem" (対岸の火）for postwar Japan, but that wasn't true for the whole country.

Bases in Fukuoka immediately took in UN/US refugees from Seoul.

The maps showing the North Korean advance through Korea that were published in the Nishi Nihon Shinbun showed places that until five years ago, were home to many Japanese from Kyushu - who made up large numbers of colonial settlers. The geography would have been familiar.

As the North Korean Army advanced, Koreans from port cities on the south coast began to evacuate across the Korea Strait. Some told of rumours of "evacuation orders" on the radio. Lots of them spoke Japanese, and were interviewed by the Nishi Nihon Shinbun when they reached Japan

By August, Pusan was the backstop, and across the Korea Strait, Fukuoka's occupation bases and airfields were the frontline in the war. Trucks with the "red clay" of Korea still on their treads rolled through Fukuoka's streets. The battle injured were treated in its hospitals.

This re-connection, on the outbreak of the Korean war, between the two cities of Pusan and Fukuoka is the subject of the last chapter in my book. Which I should be working on now instead of tweeting...

対岸の火事！ごめん

Omg 70 years what is wrong with me. I’m a real historian I promise. Just one who is bad at maths.