Today on Okinawa’s Memorial for the Dead, sincere prayers 79 years after the war, asking for everlasting peace in our world. (23jn24)

Splendor of Okinawa: Twins Fujiko and Tokiko, taken from our world just as they had bloomed into it, their names engraved with the all too many  at Mabuni. (23jn24)


On 23 June, Okinawa comes to grips with its Remembrance Day for the Dead, when organized combat was concluded 79 years ago in the Battle of Okinawa, which developed into a tragic maelstrom of ground, sea, and air combat that sucked in large numbers of common civilians.


Mabuni in the city of Itoman in Okinawa Island’s south was the scene of its final bloody battle. On this day, there, at its Stone Walls of Peace cenotaphs and elsewhere, at monuments to the souls of the dead and battle site remains, at every place in Okinawa Prefecture, crowds will come to visit and renew their pledges to everlasting world peace.


Governor Denny Tamaki there also will declare his message, “Our sacred duty, our mission, is to create a society of peace. At noon, he will call for a moment of silence on this Remembrance Day for the Dead. 


From 11:50 in the morning, at the Peace Memorial Park at Mabuni in Itoman, the Memorial Service for All the War Dead, sponsored by the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly, will be held to mourn the many fallen victims of war and to pray for everlasting world peace.


At the Memorial Service, a moment of silence will be offered up at noon and Governor Denny Tamaki will read out his Peace Declaration. Also in attendance will be Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Speaker of the Diet House of Representatives Fukushiro Nukaga, and Speaker of the House of Councillors Hidehisa Otsuji.


This year, additional names of those who lost their lives as a result of the Battle of Okinawa have been engraved on the cenotaphs. Among the 181 names added, 24 were born in the prefecture, making a total of 242,225 names engraved on the cenotaphs.


Original Japanese article: Ryukyu Shimpo, published Sunday 23 June2024 at 00:00.    https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/e8818b47fad7b4a44b0358236d08c282ccd87e04


Denny in the News:

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. 


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. 


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


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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