In a memorial service, Okinawa to mourn the loss of 1484 students and others in the sinking of the Tsushima Maru 81 years ago today. (22au25)

Splendor of Okinawa: Lantana, Gushikawa RC Church, 3au25

In the midst of World War II in 1944, a US submarine sunk the Tsushima Maru, leaving  1484 named and confirmed dead, including children.


Today, on 22 August, the 81st anniversary of the sinking, a memorial service will be held to remember the souls of the children and other victims at 11 a.m at the Tiny Cherry Blossom Pillar in Asahigaoka Park in the Wakasa District of Naha.


Representative of the Board of Directors of the Tsushima Maru Memorial Committee Masakatsu Takara will offer the memorial address and Governor Denny Tamaki and Naha City Mayor Satoru Chinen will attend with messages of condolence.

　

Following last year’s lead, taking into account the advanced age of some mourners, seats will be arranged in the nearby Tsushima Maru Memorial Museum, where the site of the memorial service will be broadcast live.


This year the portraits of 5 more victims have been newly added to the museum’s Tsushima Maru display, bringing the number of portraits of the dead to 417.


The Tsushima Maru set out on 21 August 1944 with 1788 aboard, including school children evacuees, bound from Naha to Kyushu. On the evening of the next day, 22 August, in mid-route near Akaishi Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, the ship was attacked by the US submarine Bowfin, torpedoed, and sunk.


Original Japanese article: Ryukyu Shimpo, published Friday 22 August 2025 at 07:41

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/03a0fc8530002ec693fe85411a1829952e91868b


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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