200,000 mourned with renewed vows on Souls Memorial Day, marking the anniversary of the end of the Battle of Okinawa. (23jn22)


Splendor of Okinawa: Cooperleaf, by roadside Uruma, 9jn22


Okinawa Prefecture commemorates 23 June as Souls Memorial Day to mourn the more than 200,000 lives lost on both the Japanese and US sides in the final stage of the Pacific War in the Battle of Okinawa. 


23 June this year marks 77 years since the day the Former Japanese Army ceased coordinated resistance on Okinawa. This year too, the landmark 50th anniversary of the Reversion of Okinawa from US rule to Japan was also commemorated, with the whole world on edge over the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 


The final battle of the Okinawa campaign was at Mabuni in Itoman. At the Peace Memorial Park there, with Governor Denny Tamaki and others present, the memorial ceremony (sponsored by the Prefecture and others) was held to mourn all the war dead with renewed vows for everlasting peace. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida attended as the first prime minister to do so in 3 years.


As a precautionary measure due to Covid-19, those attending were limited to about 340 dignitaries and invitees, and the procession of the general populace was omitted  for the 3rd year in a row.


Original Japanese article: Kyodo News, published Thursday 23 June 2022 at 08:32

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/75703fefc348c7f8ce946fbab4e92d9ec85a8a69


Denny in the News: news about Okinawan Governor Denny Tamaki.

Denny Tamaki is the governor of Okinawa Prefecture in Japan. Although Okinawa is important as an international tourist destination and a key element in strategic US Military Forces, its governor receives very little coverage in the Japanese press and almost none in the English language media. 

  1. This blog hopes to  translate one news article a day on the governor.  It is unsponsored and unauthorized. The translator simply hopes to improve his skills and perhaps give the governor an English speaking audience. 

  2. Any suggestion on improving the translation will be gratefully accepted. However, please leave political comments for another forum.

  3. Where they occur, words and phrases in Ryukyuan (the Okinawan language) are rendered in italics and translated in parentheses. Names  whose readings are uncertain are rendered as Name (=Kanji?) as in Nagayuki (=長行?). Any corrections in such instances would be gratefully appreciated.

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