World: Japan: To Count the Dead

LIKE all cities at war, its population varied from day to day, hour to hour.

Soldiers in their khaki uniforms shuttled in and out. Students trooped in from the countryside, commandeered to work in the munitions factories. A tide of refugees restlessly washed the streets, seeking sanctuary. Yet many of the ordinary routines of life persisted, and even some of life's small pleasures.

It was the habit of Shigeru Miyoshi, 41, a foundry foreman, and Saburo Goto, 44, a druggist, to go fishing on Sundays. On this particular Sunday the catch was good—a basket...