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August 12, 2026
 

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BATTLE OF OKINAWA

Kohei Nohara (right) speaks about his war experience to students as teacher Naoya Arakaki asks him questions at Shonan Elementary School in Haebaru, Okinawa Prefecture, in June.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Aug 10, 2026
Battle of Okinawa survivor conveys message of peace through the classroom
As a 14-year-old in May 1945, Kohei Nohara fled his hometown of Haebaru on Okinawa¡¯s main island with his relatives to seek refuge as the battle got closer and closer.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi at a World War II memorial event in Okinawa on Tuesday
JAPAN
Jun 24, 2026
Takaichi heckled at WWII memorial in Okinawa
A small but vocal number of demonstrators shouted slogans throughout Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi¡¯s speech at an event commemorating the 81st anniversary of the Battle of Okinawa.
Okinawa war survivor Yasuko Onaga speaks about her experiences, in Naha on June 9.
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2026
81 years on, ex-Okinawa wartime student nurse urges no more war
With Okinawa marking the 81st anniversary of the end of the ground battle, Onaga, a resident of Naha, is making a powerful appeal for peace amid rising international tensions.
Participants lay flowers during the Okinawa Memorial Day ceremony honoring all war dead at Peace Memorial Park in Itoman, Okinawa Prefecture, on Tuesday.
JAPAN / History
Jun 23, 2026
Victims of Battle of Okinawa mourned 81 years on
The Battle of Okinawa was the most savage ground battle staged in Japan during the war, and Mabuni was the site of the last fierce fighting.
Yoshiko Goya speaks of her wartime experience during an interview in Nishihara, Okinawa Prefecture, on May 23.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Jun 23, 2025
Battle of Okinawa 1945: Memories of fire, flight and loss
As an 8-year-old, Yoshiko Goya fled her birthplace with six other family members and relatives. In the end, only three survived.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks at a ceremony in the Peace Memorial Park in Itoman, Okinawa Prefecture, on Monday.
JAPAN / History
Jun 23, 2025
Okinawa marks 80th anniversary of end of ferocious ground battle
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba spoke of the horrific ground war involving Okinawan residents, noting that 200,000 lives were lost, or about one in four Okinawans.
Former boy soldier Yoshimitsu Zukeyama speaks of his wartime experience during an interview in May in Ogimi, Okinawa Prefecture.
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2025
Battle of Okinawa turned child into a ¡®ghost soldier¡¯ still haunted by memories
Emotionally and physically depleted, the boy began to unravel after the war ended, with locals calling him a ¡°ghost soldier.¡±
Takeshi Yamaguchi, a professor at the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa Prefecture, speaks during an online interview on June 3.
JAPAN
Jun 20, 2025
Okinawa remains at mercy of armed forces, says expert
The prefecture hosts many U.S. military bases, following its occupation by U.S. armed forces after Â鶹´«Ã½ defeat in the Battle of Okinawa in the closing days of World War II.
A U.S. military plane takes off at the Kadena U.S. Air Force Base in Okinawa Prefecture in August 2023.
JAPAN
Jun 19, 2025
Okinawa marks 80 years since ¡®Typhoon of Steel,¡¯ with U.S. presence still a burden
On June 23, Â鶹´«Ã½ southernmost prefecture commemorates the end of the Battle of Okinawa, among the bloodiest ground battles of World War II.
Emperor Naruhito, Empress Masako and their daughter, Princess Aiko, meet with survivors of the war as they visit the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum in Itoman on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jun 5, 2025
Imperial family mourns WWII victims in two-day visit to Okinawa
The visit was Princess Aiko¡¯s first to Okinawa, which reflected the imperial couple¡¯s wish that memories of the war be passed onto the next generation.
The entrance to a cave on Okinawa¡¯s main island where a former Japanese soldier confessed to having killed a mother and child during World War II
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Jun 2, 2025
How the scars of war in Okinawa are being healed by a psychologist
A clinical psychologist has formed grief care groups for survivors of war across Okinawa to help try to heal their emotional scars.
Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki speaks during an event held on Ie Island in Okinawa Prefecture on Sunday to read aloud the names of people killed in fierce battles in the prefecture during World War II.
JAPAN
Jun 2, 2025
Event to read aloud names of victims of Okinawa battles begins
¡°I sincerely hope that Okinawa¡¯s wish for peace will spread¡± through the event, Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki said in an opening speech.
The beach on Aka Island, Okinawa Prefecture, where U.S. forces first landed in the 1945 Battle of Okinawa
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Kyushu
May 26, 2025
How a remote island escaped mass suicide in Battle of Okinawa
Residents had been told that, if captured, women would be assaulted and men mutilated by U.S. soldiers.
Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako arrive to greet guests at a spring garden party at the Akasaka Imperial Garden in Tokyo on April 22.
JAPAN
May 7, 2025
Emperor¡¯s family to visit Okinawa in June
During the trip, they will pray for the more than 200,000 people who lost their lives eight decades ago in the Battle of Okinawa.
A child welfare center in Naha in May 1966
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Apr 14, 2025
In Okinawa, war trauma carried by orphans still lingers
¡°War orphans were pushed to the margins of society after the war,¡± says one academic.
Residents of Zamami, Okinawa Prefecture, attend a memorial ceremony on Wednesday, the 80th anniversary of the U.S. military's landing on the Kerama Islands during World War II.
JAPAN
Mar 26, 2025
Victims of Okinawa battle remembered on 80th anniversary of U.S. landing
Over 200,000 people, including civilians, were killed in ground battles on islands in Okinawa.
Rieko Tamaki (left) tells her story about the Battle of Okinawa to university student Hinata Kinjo at a park in Yaese, Okinawa Prefecture, near the area where Tamaki¡¯s brother was killed during the conflict.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Mar 24, 2025
Battle of Okinawa survivor passes down memories of war
The 90-year-old woman still remembers the final moments of her then-14-year-old brother¡¯s life during the 1945 battle.
A man visits the Cornerstone of Peace, a monument in the Peace Memorial Park in Itoman, Okinawa Prefecture, with his family, including his great-grandchildren, on Sunday, the 79th anniversary of the end of the Battle of Okinawa.
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2024
Okinawa marks 79 years since end of fierce ground battle
During a memorial service, participants observed a moment of silence in honor of the more than 200,000 war dead and renewed a pledge for peace.
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2023
Victims mourned 78 years after end of Battle of Okinawa
Participants in a ceremony hosted by the prefectural government observed a minute of silence for the over 200,000 victims and renewed a pledge to pursue peace.
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2023
New device to speed up disposal of dud shells from Battle of Okinawa
The explosion-proof container is expected to reduce the evacuation area in a residential district during bomb disposal work to one third of the present size.
¡®Total whiplash¡¯: Foreign residents react to Â鶹´«Ã½ changing permanent residency rules
The entrance to the Tokyo Immigration Bureau in Minato Ward, Tokyo, in March. For some foreign residents of Japan, tightening measures for permanent residency have become one factor in a broader calculation over whether remaining in the country makes financial sense over the long term.
Yasukuni Shrine introduces ban on military attire and cosplay
People gather in front of thousands of lanterns on display at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on July 15 during the Mitama Matsuri, one of the capital's largest summer o-Bon festivals.
Many Indonesians named after Japanese anime characters
Some people in Indonesia are named Doraemon, the name of a lead character of the blockbuster anime series with the same title.
Strong wind and heavy rain forecast as tropical storm approaches Japan
Tropical Storm Chan-hom is expected to make landfall in northern Kanto between late Tuesday and early Wednesday.
Where do foreign residents in Japan want to die?
The Yokohama Foreign General Cemetery is one of the few cemeteries in Japan that allows burials, albeit with conditions for the deceased, including foreign nationality and permanent residency in Kanagawa Prefecture.
¡®Total whiplash¡¯: Foreign residents react to Â鶹´«Ã½ changing permanent residency rules
The entrance to the Tokyo Immigration Bureau in Minato Ward, Tokyo, in March. For some foreign residents of Japan, tightening measures for permanent residency have become one factor in a broader calculation over whether remaining in the country makes financial sense over the long term.
As Â鶹´«Ã½ concrete jungles sizzle, urban forestry offers an all-natural fix
People and birds find relief from the sun in Tokyo's Nakano Ward earlier this month. While experts agree that urban greening is crucial to mitigating the impact of climate change, trees are becoming even more scarce in Japanese cities.
Â鶹´«Ã½ brewers experiment with a secret ingredient: music
At Smoke Craft, a craft beer brewery in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture, music isn't just a background to the brewing process ¡ª it's an ingredient.
As countries ban social media for children, Japan mulls a different approach
Data from NTT Docomo¡¯s Mobile Society Research Institute released in June found that 55% of respondents across all age groups said they fiddled with their phones when they had nothing to do, even when another person was in front of them.
J. League enters new era as league kicks off first fall-spring campaign
Players from each J. League club pose during a kickoff event on Monday ahead of the start of the 2026-27 campaign.

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