Prayers for the repose of souls in every district of Okinawa on “Souls Day”, 80 years since the war’s end, bringing the facts and lessons of the Okinawa Campaign to the world. (29jn25).

Splendor of Okinawa: Silver Cockscomb, roadside Uruma, 13fe24


Organized fighting in the Okinawa Campaign ended on 23 June, 1945, now memorialized as “Souls Day”, when the over 200,000 war dead are mourned and, across all of Okinawa Prefecture, a moment of silence is coupled with an oath for peace. 


At the Peace Memorial Park in Itoman City’s Mabuni District, services, sponsored by the Prefectural Assembly, are held for all the war dead in Okinawa.


With the 80th year since the end of the war seen as pivotal, and in the midst of the issue of continuing statements on the significance of the history of the Okinawa Campaign,  voices still rise up from the prefectural people who experienced the horrors of that land battle, requesting continually to the world to heed the facts and lessons of war.


At the memorial service, Governor Denny Tamaki issued his Peace Address, noting, “In the spirit of all the world’s nations, we would like to contribute to the realization of everlasting peace along with international society.”　


Also at the service, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and President of the House of Councilors Masakazu Sekiguchi attended with Chief Justice Yukihiko Imasaki, making it the first time in 30 years for the heads of all three branches to attend.


Invited for the first time to the service were UN Undersecretary General for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu and Representative Shigemitsu Tanaka of Hidankyo (the association of atomic bomb victims), the winner of the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize.


Touching on the use of military force by the US against Iran, Undersecretary General Nakamitsu pleaded, “It is essential that we calmly explore, not the road to war, but the path to peaceful coexistence, and the path to a world without nuclear weapons.　


Tomigusuku City Iraha Elementary School’s 6th grader Ibuki Shiroma was chosen to read his  “Poem for Grandma” as the “Peace Poem”.His poem pledged his striving for peace through, “Living out my life fully, a life granted by my links to my grandmother”.


Original Japanese article: Ryukyu Shimpo, published Tuesday 24 June 2025 at 07:11

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/24ec9a2b9d11986c07494e4dbd9a5b860a4868b7


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 the 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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