Emperor’s visit to Okinawa reflects imperial family’s close ties to the island. Here is why he cares

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Emperor Naruhito and his family have visited Okinawa to honor the dead ahead of the 80th anniversary of one of the harshest battles of World War II.

On what was his seventh visit to Okinawa, Naruhito was joined this week by his wife and daughter for a tour of the southern island and its history. Naruhito’s father, the 91-year-old former Emperor Akihito, especially cared about Okinawa.

On June 23, the island will mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Battle of Okinawa, which led to heavy American troop presence on the island, even after the nearly 30 years of U.S. occupation ended in 1972.

Here is what to know about Okinawa’s history.

Fierce battle

U.S. troops landed on the main Okinawa island on April 1, 1945, beginning a battle in their push toward mainland Japan.

The Battle of Okinawa lasted until late June, killing some 200,000 people — about 12,000 Americans and more than 188,000 Japanese, half of them Okinawan civilians. In all, the island lost about one quarter of its population.

In Itoman town, where the battle ended, the remains of most of the war dead reside in an ossuary at the National War Dead Peace Mausoleum.

It was the first place Naruhito and his wife Empress Masako and their 23-year-old daughter, Princess Aiko, visited on Wednesday where they laid a bouquet of white flowers each.

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Post-war years

Okinawa remained under U.S. occupation from 1945 until the 1972 reversion to Japan. The U.S. military maintains a presence there due to Okinawa’s strategic importance for security in the Pacific.

Private properties were confiscated to build U.S. bases, and the base-dependent economy hampered the growth of local industry.

Emperors tried to make a

mends

Many Okinawans feel they have been sacrificed for the mainland in the war fought in the name of Hirohito, the grandfather of Emperor Naruhito.

Bitter feelings were fresh in Okinawa in the 1970s, when many people said the emperor should take responsibility.

Akihito, who was almost hit by a Molotov cocktail thrown during his visit to Okinawa as crown prince in 1975, has been a regular visitor. Every year on June 23, Akihito and his family observe a moment of silence for the victims of the battle. It’s one of the four key dates he said should never forget, along with the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Aug. 6 and Aug. 9, as well as the Aug. 15 end of the war.

Naruhito’s empathy for Okinawa

Naruhito has pledged to follow in his father’s footsteps and repeatedly expressed the importance to reflect on and remember the wartime history.

In February, Naruhito stressed the importance of telling the tragedy of World War II to younger generations, promising to help promoting the understanding of history and the determination for peace.

He and his family on Wednesday visited the Cornerstone of Peace Memorial, which is engraved with the names of about 250,000 war dead on Itoman’s Mabuni Hill. They also visited a permanent war exhibit at the town’s Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum, where they met the survivors and bereaved families.

On Thursday they laid flowers at a monument commemorating about 1,500 people including hundreds of school children killed in a U.S. torpedo attack on their evacuation ship Tsushima Maru on Aug. 1944. They visited a museum dedicated to the tragedy and met with a number of survivors.

Naruhito and Masako, in a message released to Japanese media, renewed their pledge to peace and said their daughter deeply took to her heart Okinawan people’s history of hardship.

Modern problems

Okinawa remains home to the majority of about 50,000 U.S. troops stationed in Japan under a bilateral security pact. The island, which accounts for only 0.6% of Japanese land, hosts 70% of U.S. military facilities.

Resentment and frustration run deep in Okinawa because of the heavy U.S. presence. The island faces noise, pollution, aircraft accidents and crime related to American troops, Denny Tanmaki, the governor of Okinawa, has said.

Following a series of alleged sexual assault cases against local women, the U.S. military and local government held a forum in May to discuss ways to improve safety and communication and agreed to regularize their meeting.