4 boys held over vandalism of Okinawa mass suicide cave

September 18, 2017

NAHA, OKINAWA PREF.- Police in the southernmost Japan prefecture of Okinawa have arrested four boys on suspicion of vandalizing a cave in a local village where a number of residents committed suicide in the final phase of World War II.

The suspects, held by the Okinawa prefectural police department on Friday, have all admitted to the allegations, investigative sources said. They are 16 to 19 years old and residents in the central part of Okinawa's main island.

The boys are alleged to have broken a signboard and items kept at the Chibichiri Gama cave, such as origami paper cranes, between Sept. 5 and Tuesday, the sources said. Jiji Press