Movie featuring the U.S. military aircraft crash onto Miyamori Elementary School screened

Movie featuring the U.S. military aircraft crash onto Miyamori Elementary School screened


December 9, 2012 Ryukyu Shimpo

On December 8, Himawari, a movie about the incident in which a U.S. F-100 fighter from Kadena Air Base crashed onto Miyamori Elementary School in Ishikawa, killing 18 pupils on June 30, 1959, premiered in packed theaters in Uruma and Naha. The people in the audience seemed to cast their minds back to that time, thinking about how precious life and peace are. They appeared to once again acknowledge the significance of continuing to talk about the incident. The movie is scheduled to be screened in other parts of Okinawa from next January.

In the movie, the protagonist experiences the U.S. military helicopter crash onto Okinawa International University and remembers the tragedy of Miyamori Elementary School that he had experienced in the past, causing him to anguish over the fact that the situation is unchanged.

The pre-release in Uruma was held at Ishikawa Hall, which is located near Miyamori Elementary School in the Uruma district (photograph).

The movie is based on fact and was recreated using images that have a tremendous impact on the audience, who were glued to the screen as they relived the tragic events of the past. Some shed tears thinking of the tragedy that shattered people’s peaceful everyday lives in a split second.

Sixty-three year-old Nago resident Yoriko Kise said, “It made me appreciate being alive. I would like to bring my family to see the movie.”

Mitsuteru Toyohama, who actually experienced the accident, and is also the head of the Ishikawa and Miyamori 630 Association that collected the statements from people who witnessed the accident on which the movie was based, said, “The movie succeeded in describing the current situation in Okinawa, and also in describing the regret we felt in not being able to save the pupils.” Toyohama called for many people to come to see the movie, saying, “I want the movie to help to remove the MV-22 Osprey aircraft from Okinawa, and to consolidate and scale down the U.S. military presence in our prefecture.”

(English translation by T&CT, Mark Ealey)

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