Okinawa marks 74 years after end of fierce ground battle
June 23, 2019
Itoman, Okinawa Pref.--Residents in Okinawa Prefecture, southern Japan, mourned those who died in the Battle of Okinawa in the final phase of World War II, on the 74th anniversary on Sunday of the end of the fierce ground battle.
A memorial ceremony sponsored by the Okinawa prefectural government took place at the Peace Memorial Park in the Mabuni district in the Okinawa city of Itoman.
Some 5,100 participants, including Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the heads of both chambers of the Diet, the country's parliament, renewed their pledge for peace and observed a minute of silence for the war dead from noon (3 a.m. GMT).
The annual ceremony was the first since the new Japanese era of Reiwa started on May 1 and since Tamaki took office last year. Mabuni was the venue of the last fierce fighting during the Battle of Okinawa.
Tamaki vowed to help achieve permanent peace by conveying Okinawa's heartfelt desire for peace throughout the world and correctly teaching the importance of peace to the next generation.
The governor urged the central government to give up the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma air station in Ginowan, Okinawa, to the Henoko coastal district in Nago, another Okinawa city, and work to resolve the issue through dialogue, touching upon an Okinawa prefectural referendum in February, in which a majority of voters opposed the base transfer.
Tamaki criticized the government for continuing its work on the base relocation by ignoring the outcome of the referendum, saying that it is disregarding the will of Okinawa residents and undermining local autonomy.
Meanwhile, Abe stressed his government's intention to promote the use of Okinawa land plots returned from the U.S. military, adding, "We'll do all we can to reduce Okinawa's burden of hosting U.S. bases and further facilitate the development of Okinawa."
At the memorial ceremony, 11-year-old Rena Yamauchi, a sixth-grader at an elementary school in Itoman, recited "Real Happiness," a poem she created, in which she underscored the preciousness of a life without war and the importance of achieving permanent peace.
Being able to smile with families and friends in the everyday life is the real happiness, and having dreams for the future is the greatest happiness, she said in the poem.
Yamauchi created the poem after knowing the atrocity of war through her visit to the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum in Itoman last month as part of a peace education program of her school.
On June 23, 1945, organized fighting during the Battle of Okinawa, the fiercest ground battle on Japanese soil during World War II, is said to have ended. Numerous civilians fell victim to the battle.
On the Cornerstone of Peace, a monument in the park in Itoman, the names of 42 war victims were newly inscribed this year, bringing the total number to 241,566. Jiji Press
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