Japan marks 70th anniversary of Okinawa Battle

AFP, ITOMAN: Japan marked the 70th anniversary yesterday of the end of the Battle of Okinawa, the bloodiest episode in the Pacific War, which killed 200,000 people. The ceremony took place in Itoman, at the southern tip of Okinawa, near the spot where terrified locals had jumped from cliffs or were pushed to their deaths in June 1945 on the orders of Imperial Army soldiers taught never to surrender. Thousands of visitors, many of them survivors of the war, filed past black marble monuments inscribed with the names of the fallen, to pray and leave flowers early morning, amid tight security. Japan's premier was heckled at the ceremony as anger flared over the US military's continuing presence. Shouts of "Go home!" could be heard as the premier took the podium.
Abe, who appeared rattled, told the audience Japan had for decades enjoyed the dividend of peace after the horrors of World War II. "People in Okinawa have long been asked to carry a big burden for our security," he said. "We will continue to do our best to reduce (it)."
Governor Takeshi Onaga was warmly applauded by the 5,000-strong crowd after using his speech to denounce "the heavy burden" of American bases in Okinawa, host to more than half of the 47,000 US service personnel in
Japan. "Seventy-three-point-eight percent of US military facitilites (in Japan) are still concentrated in our prefecture, which makes up only 0.6 percent of the country's land area, he said.
More than 100,000 Okinawans and 80,000 Japanese troops died in the 82-day battle for the strategically placed island chain. Over 12,000 American soldiers also perished in what many had feared was a foretaste of the fight they would have to wage for the Japanese mainland.
That invasion never came, partly because of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, with a cowed Japan surrendering in August 1945. Okinawa was the only part of Japan in which battles were fought.

Japan marks 70th anniversary of Okinawa Battle

AFP, ITOMAN: Japan marked the 70th anniversary yesterday of the end of the Battle of Okinawa, the bloodiest episode in the Pacific War, which killed 200,000 people. The ceremony took place in Itoman, at the southern tip of Okinawa, near the spot where terrified locals had jumped from cliffs or were pushed to their deaths in June 1945 on the orders of Imperial Army soldiers taught never to surrender. Thousands of visitors, many of them survivors of the war, filed past black marble monuments inscribed with the names of the fallen, to pray and leave flowers early morning, amid tight security. Japans premier was heckled at the ceremony as anger flared over the US militarys continuing presence. Shouts of Go home! could be heard as the premier took the podium. Abe, who appeared rattled, told the audience Japan had for decades enjoyed the dividend of peace after the horrors of World War II. People in Okinawa have long been asked to carry a big burden for our security, he said. We will continue to do our best to reduce (it). Governor Takeshi Onaga was warmly applauded by the 5,000-strong crowd after using his speech to denounce the heavy burden of American bases in Okinawa, host to more than half of the 47,000 US service personnel in Japan. Seventy-three-point-eight percent of US military facitilites (in Japan) are still concentrated in our prefecture, which makes up only 0.6 percent of the countrys land area, he said. More than 100,000 Okinawans and 80,000 Japanese troops died in the 82-day battle for the strategically placed island chain. Over 12,000 American soldiers also perished in what many had feared was a foretaste of the fight they would have to wage for the Japanese mainland. That invasion never came, partly because of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, with a cowed Japan surrendering in August 1945. Okinawa was the only part of Japan in which battles were fought.