87 new names inscribed on Cornerstone of Peace memorial in Okinawa

May 22, 2015 Ryukyu Shimpo

The Okinawa Prefectural Government (OPG) announced on May 21 that they would add the names of 87 people who died in the war to the Cornerstone of Peace memorial. The memorial lists the victims of the Battle of Okinawa. All of those newly added came from Japan – 33 were from Okinawa while 54 were from outside the prefecture. Of these, 47 were from Gifu Prefecture.

According to the Gifu Prefectural Government, the family members of one of the bereaved who visited Okinawa last year, found that their father’s name was not inscribed on the memorial. They contacted the prefectural government, which discovered that the names of other war victims had also been omitted.

The OPG will also remove 32 names from the memorial. It is the highest number recorded since 2004. All of those whose names are to be removed were from outside Okinawa. Since its foundation, the custom has been for family members of the bereaved to ask the OPG to add a name to the memorial. However, there have been many cases where a name was added more than once and had to be removed later.

With the newly added victims, the total number of names inscribed on the memorial has reached 241,336. Of those, 149,362 were from Okinawa, while 77,402 were from outside the prefecture and 14,572 were from other countries. The policy of the memorial is to inscribe the names of war victims based on requests from family members of the bereaved.

(English translation by T&CT)

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