Okinawa governor calls for US troops to leave and for abolition of nuclear weapons on anniversary of brutal battle for the island
Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, right, bows after he offered a bouquet of flowers in front of a memorial at the Peace Memorial Park in Itoman, Okinawa, southern Japan Thursday, June 23, 2022
OKINAWA Governor Denny Tamaki called for Japan’s government to block construction of a new US military base and for the abolition of nuclear weapons as he marked the 77th anniversary of the Battle of Okinawa today.
The US amphibious assault on Okinawa lasted from April 1 to June 23 1945 and was among the second world war’s bloodiest battles, killing around 300,000 people including 150,000 civilians, around half the island’s population at the time.
Mr Tamaki said Okinawans’ thoughts turned to the suffering of Ukrainians facing Russian invasion as they remembered the victims of the huge ground battle, saying Japan should work to abolish nuclear weapons worldwide and renounce war so it would “never again become a battlefield.”
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