Donald Keene’s WWII Experience Underlines Need for Peace, at Library Talk in Tokyo

By Futoshi Mori / Japan News Senior Writer

18:01 JST, August 23, 2025

An open discussion on Donald Keene, who introduced Japanese literature to the world, and on the Pacific War was held Saturday at the Kita City Central Library in Tokyo. Keene’s adopted son Seiki Keene and a Japan News senior writer, Futoshi Mori, spoke about Keene’s war experiences and the scholar’s desire for peace as an ardent pacifist.

During the war, Keene served as a language officer in the U.S. Navy in Hawaii, translating Japanese military documents and the diaries of Japanese soldiers. This experience proved one of the cornerstones of his later career in Japanese literature studies. In June this year, Seiki and Mori visited Hawaii together to trace Keene’s footsteps and scatter his ashes in the ocean off the coast. Keene died in February 2019 at the age of 96.

The discussion was held as part of a peace memorial event organized by the Kita Ward government, and about 80 people chosen by lottery filled the venue. A presentation was given on the recent trip to Hawaii, with photos and videos, and Seiki shared episodes from Keene’s daily life that showed his hatred of war. Mori discussed the diaries and letters of Japanese soldiers that he copied at the U.S. National Archives in 2005 for a series marking the 60th anniversary of the end of the war.

“Keene’s words, ‘If we understand each other well, war can be avoided,’ carry even more weight now,” said Mori. “I am once again strongly convinced that war, which takes so many lives, must be avoided at all costs through mutual understanding.”

Seiki said, “I will carry on my father’s desire for peace and continue to convey this message to many people.”

The trip to Hawaii was featured on the front page and a special page of The Japan News on Aug. 11, as part of a series of articles commemorating the 80 years since the end of World War II.

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