The search for remains, and closure, in OkinawaーNHK WORLD-JAPAN NEWS
80 years on the battle of okinawa remains one of the darkest examples of our ability to harm each other when the guns fell silent more than 200,000 people had died the figure includes about a quarter of the southern japanese prefectures residents at the time the city of ittoman holds a ceremony on this day every year to remember the war dead my co-anchor yamasa arena is there now so reena can you tell us about what’s been happening today hi ruji i’m at the peace memorial park not far from where the fighting eventually stopped on my left you can see the cornerstone of peace these tablets bear the names of over 240,000 people who have died in war most in the battle of okinawa not just japanese troops but citizens and us soldiers too it’s obviously a very significant day for people in okinawa and you might be able to see even after dark there are so many people visiting here to pray i’ve been here since early this morning here’s some of what i’ve been seeing people [Music] came to mourn and pray and some had words of caution about the world today i really don’t want war to happen again this battle took place 80 years ago but the current era is not peaceful either i hope everyone learns more about peace [Music] hundreds of people observed a moment of silence elementary school student ibuki wrote a poem his grandmother survived the war despite suffering serious injuries [Music] while some honor their relatives who survived others say they still don’t know what happened to their loved ones according to okinawa prefecture the remains of over 2,500 people still haven’t been found the national government has team searching okinawa also offers subsidies to organizations but in reality the vast majority of this work falls to volunteers i spoke with those who dedicated themselves to finding okinawa’s lost victims and a quick warning this report contains images of human bones for decades 71-year-old guushken takamatu has been looking for the dead as a child he found his first born in the jungle near his home he’d always known there were war dead out there waiting to be found for years he worked alone as a volunteer before founding his organization he says they found the bones of about three or 400 victims so far once or twice a month he ventures into the jungle near ittoman city the conflict’s last battleground also [Music] fears if we leave the past buried we’ll end up making the same mistakes relatives hope efforts like those will soon bear fruit kobashi tommoyuki is 82 and still looking for his sister she died in the battle but for years he didn’t even know she existed his older brother learned about her just eight years ago it said they had a sister mitko she was 19 and already married when she died kobashi was only two at the time kobashi thinks his parents were so busy rebuilding their lives after the war they didn’t talk much about what happened every year he visits the cornerstone to pray her name engraved here is all he has left of mitko he recently submitted dna samples to japan’s health ministry in the hopes someone will find her kobashi says he still hopes they can be reunited he said it’s his duty to find michiko before his own time runs out one thing that struck me is the grueling work it takes to find these bones kushken is out there rain or shine going where few people go finding these remains is a huge task that only gets harder with each passing year but recent developments offer a glimmer of hope nhk world’s sano yoshaka has that story this us military document was compiled by a unit tasked with recovering the bodies of fallen american troops and burying enemy dead it’s now emerged it may reveal where the remains of japanese soldiers and civilians are buried a combination of numbers and letters this is the grid map this map was used by the us military during the battle of okinawa four-digit numbers indicate areas of about 900 square meters they were further divided into 180 square meter sections that were assigned a letter so this is what they use to incorporate information such as artillery targets into their reports the numbers and letters hint where the remains of japanese war dead lie nhk created this map based on american military records the colored squares show how many remains are thought to be buried there there are about 30 such areas between uraso city to ginowan city where a us base is currently located fierce fighting took place there when nhk checked with the central government they said they had already searched the sections framed in turquoise but found no remains however as a result of nhk’s inquiry the government newly identified the seven plots framed in pink as locations where remains may be found according to us military records a total of 18 japanese were buried there we asked a local land expert to analyze the plots it’s possible they were buried around here but watanabe points out that with only this information locating the remains will be difficult as the sections are large each plot is about the size of a school premises so even if the remains are said to be there it’s really difficult to find them still he says that by using technological solutions it will be possible to narrow down suspected burial sites and determine whether investigations can be conducted of the seven sites the government recognizes watanav says five have already been developed but the other two are unchanged from wartime thick with jungle and could still be examined i think that finding remains is only possible if there is technology that allows past topographical maps aerial photographs and current maps to be overlaid on top of that if people who were around then are still alive we can ask them what it used to be like and add that information i think that would be a way to narrow down the possibilities collecting remains of the world dead is a neverending task but hopes are rising that technological advances will lead to a breakthrough sanoa nhk world okinawa i’m joined now by yoshaka he’s also a correspondent here in okinawa so i understand the search for remains has also become a political issue can you tell me about that well the issue has to do with the soil after the war the us military built tons of bases here in okinawa about 70% of us military facilities in this country are here so there are big plans to relocate one of them air base offshore mhm to do that the japanese government plans to take soil from the southern part of okinawa’s main island and put it in the ocean so there was an immediate outcry many feared the war dead will wind up being thrown into the sea to build a base for buried military that killed them mhm for those searching it feels like some remains are at risk of being lost forever so when it comes to these bases the opinions are very divided right exactly it’s put a big strain on people in okinawa among the many issues is crime last year the number of us personnel and their family members charged with criminal offenses here reached a 20-year high while the japan us alliance is built on this military presence in okinawa many here say the bases aren’t worse burden and the counterargument is that it provides okina with some measures of security how does people here um grapple with that it’s not that easy but again trauma runs deep here in more ways than one let me explain purely hypothetically let’s say china does take military action in taiwan if that if that happens japan plans to evacuate thousands from okinawa’s remote islands mhm there were also mass evacuations back during the war in the end over 1,400 people including many children died when their ship sank in an attack those tragedies are not easily forgotten mhm but there’s also bigger fear about the role the island would play in a regional conflict parts of okinawa have been basically used as a front line to protect the rest of japan people here have an expression takara it means life is the ultimate treasure it cannot be replaced so it should not be thrown away for something as nonsensical as war thank you very much for your insight in the last few days i’ve seen the depth of okinawa’s scars and the people here tell me they are sudden saddened by conflicts today in places like gaza and ukraine they want their voices to be heard so that a tragedy like the battle of okinawa never happens
The Battle of Okinawa ended 80 years ago, and many residents are still desperately looking for relatives who died. Newsroom Tokyo’s Yamasawa Rina reports. #japan #ww2 #china #taiwan #okinawa #usa
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