Unexploded ordnance still haunts Okinawa 80 years after WWII battle

Japan Times

04-04-2025

Eighty years after the Battle of Okinawa, the largest ground battle fought on Japanese soil during World War II, the threat of unexploded ordnance still looms over the prefecture.
Despite decades of clearance efforts, roughly 1,900 metric tons of deadly remnants are estimated to remain buried beneath the land, a lingering danger from the U.S. military's intense naval bombardment — so severe it was dubbed the 'Typhoon of Steel.'
More than 200,000 people, including many civilians, were killed during the 1945 battle. An estimated 200,000 metric tons of shells were fired on the main island, and about 5% — some 10,000 metric tons — failed to explode, according to Japanese government estimates.
By the time Okinawa reverted to Japanese control in 1972 after decades of U.S. rule, about 5,500 metric tons had been cleared by local residents and U.S. forces. Since then, the Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) has removed more than 2,000 metric tons.
But a significant amount of explosives is still believed to be buried in residential areas, farmland and construction sites across the prefecture, threatening people's lives.
Accidents have persisted even after Okinawa was returned to Japan. In 1974, a modified Japanese landmine exploded near St. Matthew Kindergarten in the prefectural capital of Naha, killing four people, including a 3-year-old girl. The tragedy prompted the formation of a council comprising national, prefectural and municipal governments to coordinate ordnance detection and removal. GSDF teams have led clearance operations since.
On March 25 this year, a GSDF ordnance disposal unit carried out a disposal operation near an elementary school in the city of Nanjo in southern Okinawa. As a soldier shouted 'Ignition!' a deep thud echoed across the site. The operation wrapped up in about 50 minutes.
The team used a special tube-shaped device that fires a steel projectile designed to break the fuse of unexploded shells. The ordnance was placed inside a blastproof container specifically developed to handle the U.S. Navy's 5-inch shells — the most commonly found type in Okinawa.
'You never know when they might go off,' said Wataru Iwase, the unit's commander. 'We always go in with the mindset that failure isn't an option. I'm relieved we were able to finish safely.'
Despite ongoing efforts, incidents continue to occur. In 2009, a construction worker was severely injured in the city of Itoman when a buried shell detonated during excavation.
The Okinawa Prefectural Government fully subsidizes ordnance detection costs, but officials say progress is limited by financial and logistical constraints.
'We don't know where everything is buried, and our budget is tight,' a prefectural official said. 'That means we can only act when something is found.'
'This work won't end with our generation,' Iwase added. 'We have to pass on our knowledge and techniques to those who come after us.'
Translated by The Japan Times