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NHK
a day ago
- General
- NHK
Japan's Imperial family prays for souls of war dead in Okinawa
Japan's Emperor and Empress, along with their daughter, have offered condolences to the souls of people who died in the southwestern prefecture of Okinawa during World War Two. Emperor Naruhito, Empress Masako and Princess Aiko visited the National War Dead Peace Mausoleum in the Peace Memorial Park in Itoman City on Wednesday. This is the couple's second visit to Okinawa since the Emperor ascended the throne, and the first for the Princess. This year marks 80 years since a fierce ground battle took place in the prefecture toward the end of the war. Itoman was the site of the final fighting in the Battle of Okinawa. After arriving at the mausoleum, the Imperial family prayed in front of the charnel house, which holds the remains of more than 180,000 people, and then laid a bouquet of flowers. The three next moved to the Cornerstone of Peace where the names of over 240,000 who died in the battle are engraved. They were briefed about those whose names were newly inscribed this year. The Imperial family then visited the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum where they read accounts of survivors of the battle. At the mausoleum, the Emperor, Empress and Princess spoke to a number of relatives of the war dead. Afterwards, one of them, Arakaki Ikuo said he told the Imperial family that he lost three family members in the battle. He told them that he remembers being held by his grandmother, and that he still grieves over the loss. He said he asked them to help achieve world peace. Arakaki said it was great honor that he was offered words of encouragement by Princess Aiko who wished him good health and prosperity. Another relative, Chinen Yukichi said he told the Imperial family that his father and elder brother died in the war and his mother had become a widow at the age of 36. He said the Imperial family acknowledged the difficulties he experienced, and that he felt encouraged by their words. Chinen said it is difficult to convey the reality of the war to younger people, but he said he will do his best.
Japan Times
4 days ago
- General
- Japan Times
Event to read aloud names of victims of Okinawa battles begins
An event began on Ie Island in Okinawa Prefecture on Sunday to read aloud the names of more than 240,000 people killed in fierce battles in the prefecture during World War II. The event will run through June 23, when a ceremony will be held to mourn the victims whose names are engraved on a monument at a peace memorial park in the Okinawa city of Itoman. "The experience of the tragic war is the origin of thoughts shared by people in the prefecture who wish for peace," Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki said in an opening speech for the event. "I sincerely hope that Okinawa's wish for peace will spread" through the event, he said. Yui Tomoyose, a 13-year-old who participated in the event for the first time, said that the names of victims that she read aloud included that of a newborn child. "I felt sad that there was such a small child," she said. "I realized once again that many people had died." Naomi Machida, a 68-year-old member of the committee that organized the event, said, "At a time when wars are taking place around the world, we want to send out the wish for peace from Okinawa." Participants can join the event at sites in Okinawa and elsewhere in the country as well as online to read the names of all the victims in a relay system. About 6,000 people from Japan and overseas had applied for participation as of Sunday, according to the organizers. The event started in 2022. Last year's participants totaled some 5,800 people.
NHK
07-05-2025
- General
- NHK
Japan's Imperial family to visit Okinawa next month
Japan's Emperor and Empress, along with their daughter, will visit the southern prefecture of Okinawa early next month to commemorate 80 years since a fierce battle there near the end of World War Two. Many civilians were caught up in ground combat in Okinawa from March through June 1945. More than 200,000 people were killed. The Imperial Household Agency says Emperor Naruhito, Empress Masako and Princess Aiko will begin their two-day trip to the prefecture on June 4. It will be the couple's first visit in two years and seven months, and the princess's first. The family will go to a national cemetery in the city of Itoman, the site of the last brutal fighting in the Battle of Okinawa. They will lay flowers outside a structure that holds the remains of more than 180,000 people. The family will also visit "the Cornerstone of Peace," where the names of those who died in the battle are engraved, and a peace museum. They will also speak with survivors of the battle. The following day, the family will visit a memorial museum in Naha City displaying artifacts linked to the sinking of the Tsushima Maru. The ship was carrying evacuees from Okinawa to Kyushu when it was attacked by US forces in 1944. Nearly 1,500 people, including 780 schoolchildren, were killed. The family will then see an exhibition commemorating the 50th anniversary of Ocean Expo 1975, which was organized to mark Okinawa's handover to Japan from the United States in 1972. They will also inspect reconstruction work at Shuri Castle, a prefectural landmark destroyed by a fire six years ago, before heading back to Tokyo.
