Hikari, Yamaguchi


Hikari is a city located in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan.
The city was founded three times: April 1, 1943, July 1, 1955, and October 4, 2004.
As of October 1, 2016, the city has an estimated population of 51,040, and a population density 560 of persons per km². The total area is 91.94 km². The name Hikari itself means "brilliance" or "light" in Japanese.
It is connected by railroad with a train station and route 188.
Hikari is bounded with Yanai, Kudamatsu, Shunan, Iwakuni and Tabuse in the Kumage District.
On October 4, 2004, the town of Yamato was merged into Hikari.

History

Municipal timeline

The Hikari Naval Arsenal included a fire-control factory, built in 1942, that employed about 600 people. It was one of the principal establishments for producing the Standard H.A. System at the rate of ~15 per month, along with bomb components, torpedo afterbodies, and misc. machined parts.
The Imperial Japanese Navy formed the Second Special Attack Force on March 1, 1945, at Hikari for conducting kaiten attacks. Rear Admiral Nagai Mitsuru was the Commanding Officer. On that same day, a kaiten crew training unit is also formed at Hirao, SE of Hikari.
This was one of four such kaiten training bases.
With hints of cessation of hostilities, bombing raids by U.S. forces were canceled. However, resumption of bombing was ordered on August 13, 1945.
The Hikari Naval Arsenal was consequently bombed the next day on August 14, 1945, taking 738 lives.
The attacking U.S. aircraft were 156 B-29 bombers of the 40th Bomb Group
stationed in Saipan, supported by P-51 Mustangs from Iwo Jima.
The 40th Bomb Group dropped 3,540 bombs on the Hikari Naval Arsenal, resulting in severe destruction.
Including this bombing, Hikari lost more than 1,200 citizens in World War II, both military and civilian.
After surrender, Allied forces found 52 kaiten at Hikari and destroyed them.
The former Hikari Naval Arsenal is now the sites for Nippon Steel Corporation
and vaccine manufacturing by Takeda Pharmaceutical Company.
Takeda discovered the hull of a Type 4 Kaiten under one of the buildings in August 1989, an attestation to the history of the site.
The Kaiten Monument, erected in 1996, honors Hikari Naval Arsenal kaiten pilots. Steel frames that once constituted the structure of the destroyed Hikari Naval Arsenal were used to build the Tsukumo Bridge.