Event to Read Aloud Names of Victims of Okinawa Battles Begins

   Ie, Okinawa Pref., June 2 (Jiji Press)--An event began on Ie Island in Okinawa Prefecture on Sunday to read aloud the names of more than 240,000 people killed in fierce battles in the southern Japan prefecture during World War II.
   The event will run through June 23, when a ceremony will be held to mourn the victims whose names are engraved on a monument at a peace memorial park in the Okinawa city of Itoman.
   "The experience of the tragic war is the origin of thoughts shared by people in the prefecture who wish for peace," Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki said in an opening speech for the event. "I sincerely hope that Okinawa's wish for peace will spread" through the event, he said.
   Yui Tomoyose, a 13-year-old who participated in the event for the first time, said that the names of victims that she read aloud included that of a newborn child.
   "I felt sad that there was such a small child," she said. "I realized once again that many people had died."

(2025/06/02-10:54)