Ishiba Visits Himeyuri Monument in Okinawa

   Itoman, Okinawa Pref., June 23 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Monday laid flowers at a monument in the city of Itoman in the southernmost Japan prefecture of Okinawa that was erected to remember the Himeyuri corps of female students who died in the Battle of Okinawa during the final phase of World War II.
   He was the first sitting prime minister in 13 years to visit the monument.
   "I visited this place with a desire for peace and the admonition that I must etch the misery of the war in my mind again," Ishiba told reporters.
   The visit by Ishiba, who heads the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, came after Shoji Nishida, an LDP member of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of parliament, faced a public backlash for saying that exhibits about the Himeyuri corps were a rewriting of history.
   Earlier on Monday, Ishiba attended a memorial ceremony to remember people who lost their lives in the 1945 fierce ground battle in Okinawa.

(2025/06/23-19:04)

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