Photo/Illutration An 88-year-old woman from Naha visits the Cornerstone of Peace, where the names of her three brothers are inscribed, at the Peace Memorial Park in Itoman, Okinawa Prefecture, on June 23. (Masaru Komiyaji)

ITOMAN, Okinawa Prefecture--Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki voiced concern June 23 about Japan’s military build-up on its southwestern islands as his southernmost prefecture commemorated victims of one of the fiercest ground battles of World War II.

“The ongoing rapid expansion of the Self-Defense Forces’ deployment, coupled with the memories of the tragic Battle of Okinawa, has made the people of Okinawa deeply anxious,” Tamaki said at an annual memorial ceremony held at the Peace Memorial Park here.

The nearly three-month Battle of Okinawa raged from March 26, 1945. By the end of the fighting, more than 200,000 Japanese and Americans lay dead, including a quarter of the residents of Okinawa’s islands.

Okinawa Prefecture commemorates the victims on June 23, the day the Imperial Japanese Army ended its organized fighting.

In his peace declaration, Tamaki reiterated his opposition to the central government’s plan to build a replacement facility to take over the functions of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, at Henoko Point in Nago, also in the prefecture.

“An early resolution of the (U.S. military) bases issue should be sought, including abandoning the construction of a new base at Henoko,” he said.

Although Okinawa Prefecture accounts for only 0.6 percent of Japan’s total land area, it hosts 70 percent of facilities exclusively used by the U.S. military.

Tamaki also said, “Let us make relentless efforts for the abolition of nuclear weapons, the renunciation of war and the establishment of lasting peace.”

In his speech at the memorial ceremony, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida made no mention of the Henoko relocation project for a second year in a row.

Speaking about the U.S. bases issue, Kishida said, “We take it seriously that Okinawa is bearing a heavy burden, and we will do our utmost to alleviate the burden.”

But he never touched on the central government’s decision in December to override Tamaki’s objections to design changes to start reclamation of a new area in Oura Bay north of Henoko Point.

Tamaki was dealt a huge blow in the prefectural assembly election on June 16 when parties that had supported his anti-base stance lost their majority.

Two days later, the Defense Ministry’s Okinawa Defense Bureau notified the prefectural government that reclamation work in Oura Bay will begin in earnest on Aug. 1.

Kishida’s speech drew howls of protest from some in the audience, including, “Don’t make Okinawa a battlefield!”

At the memorial ceremony, Yusuke Nakama, a third-year student at Miyako High School, read out his poem for peace and expressed his determination to learn history and make the world a place where people can hold hope for the future.

Nakama’s poem was selected from among 879 entries submitted by students in Okinawa Prefecture. It was the 34th time that the poem for peace was solicited.

Many residents from across the prefecture visited the Cornerstone of Peace, a monument at the Peace Memorial Park, on June 23.

The Cornerstone of Peace bears the names of 242,225 victims of the Battle of Okinawa, both civilian and military personnel and regardless of nationalities, after 181 were added this year.

Commemorative ceremonies were also held in many other parts of the prefecture.

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