Japan pm returns to wwii memorial ceremony

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was the first Japanese leader in three years to attend the memorial service due to the coronaviruses outbreak, making it the 77th anniversary of the end of a major World War II ground battle between Japanese and U.S. troops.

Okinawa Gov. In a peace declaration, Denny Tamaki said Russia's invasion of Ukraine evoked memories of the conflict in the southern island prefecture and pledged to continue efforts to abolish nuclear weapons and renounce war, so that Okinawa will never become a battlefield again. Over 200,000 civilians and soldiers from the Japanese and American military fought during the final phase of World War II. Fighting took place from March to June of that year.

Even though the island is headed for 50 years since the reversion from U.S. rule, Tamaki stressed the burden Okinawa continues to bear from hosting the bulk of U.S. military facilities in the country.

Tamaki also called for the central government to abandon the controversial ongoing project to relocate U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan to another location in Okinawa.

Kishida said that little by little we will gather visible evidence of reducing the burden of bases. The prefecture is home to about 0.6 percent of Japan's total land area, but it hosts 70.3 percent of the U.S. military installations in the country by acreage.

The event, held at the Peace Memorial Park in Itoman for the third consecutive year due to the Pandemic, was downscaled and attended by 327 people including guests and organizers.

Seiko Akamine, an 83-year-old resident of the prefectural capital Naha, said his father was killed in action during the battle and his sister was killed in front of him when she was hit by a shell.

One in four of the prefecture's residents died in the Battle of Okinawa, a fierce ground war that took a heavy toll on the local civilian population.

The names of 55 people were added to the list of war dead inscribed on the Cornerstone of Peace in Itoman Park this year, bringing the total to 241,686. The list covers all the war dead, regardless of their nationality or military status.