Live US shells found in Okinawa

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Live US shells found in Okinawa

Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Representatives Akamine Seiken and two other JCP representatives of the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly on September 15 visited sites where unused U.S.-made shells had been discovered recently.

Okinawans are still at constant risk of accidental explosions of the wartime ammunition even 65 years after the war ended.

More than 2,100 bombs and an 8-inch cannonball made in USA were found in Itoman City and Naha City on September 8, respectively, followed by another 5,600 unused shells unearthed in Kitanakagusuku Village on September 10.

All these sites were where fierce battles took place between the United States and Japan during the 1945 Battle of Okinawa. Last year, a Japanese man was severely injured when a dud bomb exploded.

Akamine stated, “The government should request the United States to release information in regard to its tactical positions and location of trenches during the Okinawa Battle in order to determine where it had possibly abandoned its unused shells. The government should make every possible effort to collect such information.”

- Akahata, September 16, 2010