Japan Press Weekly

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2008 June 18 - 24 [OKINAWA]

Okinawans mark 63rd anniversary of Battle of Okinawa’s end

On June 23, memorial services were held in many places in Okinawa for the dead in the Battle of Okinawa of 1945. Participants pledged to hand down Okinawa’s tragic experience to younger people in the effort to achieve lasting peace.

Many people who lost their loved ones in the Battle of Okinawa visited the “Cornerstone of Peace” at Mabuni in Itoman City, where the final fierce battle took place. In front of the Cornerstone on which the names of more than 200,000 people who died in the battle are engraved, they offered solemn prayers.

In the afternoon, a ceremony was held by the prefectural government at the Mabuni Hill Memorial Park, with 5,670 people, including members of bereaved families attending and offering a minute of silence.

Governor Nakaima Hirokazu read the “Declaration for Peace.”

Prime Minister Fukuda Yasuo made an address.

Kano Eisuke, a fourth-grader at Yomitan Elementary School in Yomitan Village read his poem for peace, titled “Watching the world.”

On behalf of the Japanese Communist Party, House of Representatives member Akamine Seiken took part in the ceremony and offered flowers. JCP Prefectural Assembly members also pledged for peace. - Akahata, June 24, 2008