Japanese royal family supports peace while touring Okinawa
1 of 5 | Japan's Emperor Naruhito, Empress Masako, center, and Princess Aiko arrive at the National Cemetery at the Peace Memorial Park in Itoman, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, on Wednesday. Photo by Keizo Mori/UPI | License Photo
June 4 (UPI) -- Japan's imperial family honored the war dead in Okinawa on Wednesday, where the last major battle of World War II occurred 80 years ago, from April 1 to June 22, 1945.
Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako brought their daughter, Princess Aiko, with them during a two-day visit to the Okinawa Prefecture, The Japan Times reported.
The trip is to remember the deaths of an estimated 110,000 Japanese soldiers, 12,520 U.S. soldiers and an unknown number of Okinawan civilians who died during the battle.
"I hope it will be an opportunity to reflect deeply on the value of peace and renew our resolve to uphold it," Naruhito told media before embarking on the trip.
The royal family's visit also underscores its commitment to peace while making planned visits to place flowers at the National War Dead Peace Mausoleum in Itoman on Wednesday.
The mausoleum contains the remains of an estimated 180,000 civilians and soldiers who died during the long and bloody battle.
Japan's royal family afterward visited the Cornerstone of Peace, which has the engraved names of 240,000 war victims, and then the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum.
While there, the royal family spoke with some of the family members whose forebears died during the battle, Kyodo News reported.
A 91-year-old survivor of the battle for Okinawa told reporters that Princess Aiko told her she "felt the importance of peace" during the visit.
Emperor Naruhito has been a staunch supporter of peace and is a direct descendant of Emperor Hirohito, who led Japan before and during World War II.
The royal family also visited with Okinawans in their 20s and 30s who help to preserve wartime stories and share them with visitors at the memorial museum.
The royal family on Thursday will visit the Tsushima Maru Memorial Museum to lay flowers for the victims of the Tsushima Maru evacuation ship, which a U.S. Navy submarine torpedoed and sank on Aug. 22, 1944.
The vessel was carrying 1,800 civilians who were being evacuated, and 1,484 died when it was sunk near the island of Akusekijima in the Kagoshima Prefecture.
Emperor Naruhito, Empress Masako and Princess Aiko also will visit Shuri Castle on Okinawa.
The castle's main hall is being rebuilt after a 2019 fire destroyed it.
The royal family will return to Japan on Thursday night after completing their tour of Okinawan sites.
They also have a memorial visit to Hiroshima on June 19 to remember the victims of the Aug. 6, 1945, atomic bombing by the United States that killed up to an estimated 135,000, including between 60,000 and 80,000 who died when the bomb detonated over the city.
The U.S. Army Air Force dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki three days later, which killed an estimated 40,000 people upon detonation over the city.
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