80 years after the Tsushima Maru incident, Okinawa Prefecture Governor, schoolchildren and others attend ceremony along the Uken Funoshi Coast to mourn the victims and pray for peace. (30au24)

Splendor of Okinawa: Basil, beachside Mihama, 23au24.


80 years have passed since the Tsushima Maru, a ship used for the evacuation of a large number of Okinawan children, was attacked with torpedoes and sunk by a US submarine.


On 24 August, a memorial ceremony was held for the victims who washed ashore along the Uken Funoshi Coast at Uken Village in Kagoshima.


In addition to local residents, participants included Okinawa Prefecture Governor Denny Tamaki and school children from Okinawa and Amami, who are studying about the Tsushima Maru incident in a peace studies exchange program.


About 100 people, their hands clasped in prayer before the memorial monument, to pray for the eternal happiness of the victims and lasting peace in the world.

　

The Tsushima Maru set off from Naha Port on 21 August 1944 with about 1800 passengers, including 1661 children from Okinawa national schools. On the following day, 22 August, off the coast of Akuseki Island, it was hit by torpedoes from a US submarine and was sunk. According to the Tsushima Maru Memorial Association, at least 784 children were among the 1484 confirmed victims


A few of the survivors and a great many of the corpses washed ashore at Uken Village, Yamato Village, and Seto Town on Amami Oshima. The local residents rescued the survivors and interred the dead.


In the settlement of Uken. To keep the memory of the event alive for future generations, with the cooperation of the village, a memorial monument was erected in 2017, and, under the organization of the settlement, the memorial ceremony has been carried out every August since then. 5 children from Peach Tree School, a children’s psychological treatment facility in Kyoto Prefecture, who were visiting Amami for peace studies, were also among the participants this year.


In his address, Memorial Ceremony Executive Committee Chair Uken District Mayor Masatomo Tsuda commented, “When we think of the victims, whose lives were tragically lost, despite the passing of many years,  our hearts are pained. Considering the present world’s condition, under the instruction of our past wars, we pray first for the continuance of tranquility in our daily lives, free of strife.” 


Governor Tamaki, Kagoshima’s Oshima Mayor Keisuke Matsufuji (representative reader), and  Uken Village Mayor Akira Motoyama, among others, offered their words of mourning.


Governor Tamaki touched on the peace studies exchange program for school children, carried out under the sponsorship of Okinawa Prefecture since 2018. He noted, “80 years have passed since the event. But Okinawa Prefecture, Uken Village, and Akuseki Island memorial monuments are passing down to future generations, who have no knowledge of our war, the tragedy of war the preciousness of peace. I earnestly pray that we can deepen these exchanges to continue this memory in Okinawa and Amami Oshima for our children in future generations.”



Original Japanese article: Nanjo Daily Newspaper Company, published Sunday 25 August 2024 at 13:01.

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/9a5db290a3ead5400bf332a7ec936a4700ea76f6


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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