{
  "id": 2650537,
  "title": "Son of WWII Japanese Soldier Works to Spread Awareness About PTSD, Emotional Wounds from War",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/22/son-of-wwii-japanese-soldier-works-to-spread-awareness-about-ptsd",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-08-22T21:00:41.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Japan News by The Yomiuri Shimbun",
    "slug": "the-japan-news-by-the-yomiuri-shimbun",
    "url": "https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/society/general-news/20260823-344840/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The son of a former Japanese soldier who served in World War II is dedicated to raising awareness about the emotional trauma and PTSD experienced by soldiers and their families. Akio Kuroi, now 77, first noticed similarities between his father's vacant expressions and those of Vietnam War veterans suffering from PTSD. This sparked his curiosity about whether his father could have also suffered from PTSD. Kuroi found his father's military records and discovered he had been involved in the suppression of bandits and U.S. air raids, causing heavy casualties. Kuroi began searching for other bereaved families to share their stories, eventually founding an association for these families in 2023. Although war trauma had been acknowledged in the West since the end of World War I, the Japanese military continued to deny its existence. In 2024, the association called for a government survey on the psychological trauma suffered by demobilized soldiers and their families. The survey estimated that around 8% of war-wounded and sick individuals suffered from mental illness or neuroses, with PTSD possibly being one of them. Despite the progress, the association continues to push for a broader understanding of the emotional wounds endured by former soldiers and their descendants.",
  "summary": "The impact of the psychological trauma suffered by soldiers and others during World War II remained unknown for a long time after the war’s end. But the impacts are gradually coming to light in recent years as the children and grandchildren of the soldiers look into the pasts of those who died without speaking about their experiences.",
  "key_points": [
    "Akio Kuroi, 77, works to raise PTSD awareness in families of WWII Japanese soldiers.",
    "Discovered father's military records showing involvement in suppressing bandits and U.S. air raids.",
    "Founded association for bereaved families in 2023, pushing for government survey on mental illness."
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}