At the memorial ceremony in Kagoshima for the Tsushima Maru, concern over how to pass on the story 80 years after the tragedy. (27au24)

Splendor of Okinawa: Angelwing Jasmine, roadside Futenma, 8mr24


During the Pacific Campaign of WW2, a great many people became victims in the sinking of an evacuation ship by the US Military. Even as people with firsthand knowledge of the tragedy become fewer and fewer, the  memorial ceremony for those victims is still being carried out at Uken Village.


80 years ago, the Pacific War was right at its crux. About 1500 civilians were boarded on the Tsushima Maru for evacuation from Okinawa. However, the ship was torpedoed and sunk by the US Military. A large group of student evacuees was among those aboard the ship. About 800 of those children lost their lives as victims of the sinking.


This year is the 80th since the Tsushima Maru was sunk. About 100 interested villagers, plus, for the first time, Governor Denny Tamaki and others from Okinawa Prefecture, from where the Tsushima Maru had set out,  participated in the offering of flowers.


Governor Denny Tamaki conveyed his thoughts, “We respectfully offer up our condolences in this ceremony for these victims. We further offer our gratitude, from the bottom of our hearts, to you, the people of Uken Village, for organizing this memorial ceremony every year.”


This memorial ceremony to pass on the story of the Tsushima Maru tragedy  to future generations began 8 years ago. However, people with actual memories of that time have advanced into old age. So, since last year, no one with experience of the war has been among those in attendance. 


People began to wonder how to pass on memories of the war to future generations. So, 5 years ago, Uken Village and Okinawa Prefecture joined in establishing their Peace Studies Exchange Project to create opportunities for students from various localities to study the history of the Tsushima Maru.


This year, students from Okinawa Prefecture, Uken Village, and Yamato Village considered the situation along the coast with so many bodies drifting ashore at that time so long ago.


Although the need is increasingly important, it is becoming more difficult by the year to continue to pass on to children now the history of those children who died 80 years ago at their same age.


Original Japanese article: Kagoshima Broadcasting (KKB), published Monday 26 August 2024 at 22:32

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/a3212a87957549a6ddfe7da520b793cf99648f14


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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