We must all remember Okinawa's tragic war

"At the end of the war, one after another, women leapt to their deaths from a cliff in Saipan/ Driven by things like virtue, duty, decency, fire and men."

The tragedy that occurred on Saipan a year before the end of World War II was described by Rin Ishigaki (1920-2004) in her poem, "Gake" (Cliff).

Many Japanese had immigrated to the island in the western Pacific that is now U.S. territory. The Imperial Japanese Army on Saipan was annihilated by U.S. forces in an intense battle.

Many civilians caught up in the battle were immigrants from Okinawa. The number of deaths is estimated at about 6,000.

One year later, another tragedy struck, this time on Okinawa. The Battle of Okinawa was described in a U.S. military report as a scene in which "all hell broke loose."

Sixty-four years ago on June 23, the Japanese army abandoned all organized resistance, finally ending the battle in which more than 200,000 military personnel and civilians died.

History weighs heavily in both Saipan and Okinawa Prefecture, but time passes relentlessly.

Last month, annual organized tours from Okinawa Prefecture to visit the graves of those who perished on Saipan ended because of the advancing age of the participants. Fewer people have firsthand knowledge of that time. Eyewitnesses who can describe the battle--things like how people ran for their lives, piles of dead bodies and mass suicides--are also growing scarce.

How can we pass on such memories of war from generation to generation? Attempts are being made.

Himeyuri Peace Museum in Itoman, Okinawa Prefecture, which marked its 20th anniversary Tuesday, is training staff called "explainers" to replace the "testifiers" who had belonged to the wartime Himeyuri student corps, a group of female high school students formed into a nursing unit for the Imperial Japanese Army.

Their job is to tell the truth about what happened in the Pacific War, no matter how gruesome. It is encouraging to see young people taking on the important role of passing down records of wartime "experiences."

Okinawa, an island once devastated by war, has been transformed into an island of military bases. "War" is deeply enmeshed in these islands.

Some say that history is prone to repeat itself, taking on different forms and wearing different clothes.

Instead of regarding Okinawa's "memorial day" as a day of remembrance for Okinawa alone, I aim to listen carefully to the lessons that sound from the depths of its tragedy.

--The Asahi Shimbun, June 23(IHT/Asahi: June 24,2009)