Photo/Illutration An aerial shot of Iwoto Island. Before the war, a village hall and an elementary school stood in the center of the island. The Japanese military built three airfields. Currently, the Self-Defense Forces’ runway extends across the island. Mount Suribachi is seen at upper left. Photo was taken in 2016. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on March 29 went to the Pacific island of Iwoto, better known to the world as Iwo Jima, to honor the thousands of soldiers who perished  there in fierce fighting 80 years ago.

He was joined by U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen Nakatani, the Japanese defense minister. It is the first time for the defense ministers of both countries to commemorate the 1945 battle together

The visit, coming amid a widening trade war over U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to slap a 25 percent tariff on auto imports, was intended to promote reconciliation between the two countries and Tokyo’s commitment to the Japan-U.S. security alliance as the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II looms.

“Japan and the United States, which once engaged in warfare, have deepened their relationship through reconciliation and have become allies in which we can trust each other,” Ishiba said at the memorial service. “We will remember the preciousness of peace and raise the Japan-U.S. alliance to new heights.”

The memorial service was first held in 1995, the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, and has been held almost every year since 2000.

This was the first time a sitting prime minister has attended the service since Shinzo Abe in April 2013.

The last defense minister to attend the service was Itsunori Onodera in 2018.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi emphasized the significance of the visit at a news conference on March 28, saying, “In this year that marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, we would like to take this opportunity to confirm the postwar reconciliation between the two countries and pray for future friendship between them.”

Iwoto is an isolated island about 1,200 kilometers south of Tokyo.

Toward the end of the Pacific War, the Japanese military focused on the island, which was renamed Iwoto in 2007, as a defense base for the mainland, while the U.S. military used the territory as a relay base for air raids on the Japanese mainland.

U.S. forces landed on the island on Feb. 19, 1945. By the end of fighting in late March that year, some 21,900 Japanese and 7,000 American soldiers lay dead.

The island is widely known in the United States as one of the most intense battlefields of the Pacific Theater, and a monument depicting U.S. Marines raising the American flag on Mount Suribachi has been established near Arlington National Cemetery.

Trump issued a statement on Feb. 19, the 80th anniversary of the start of the battle, that said in part, “In spite of a brutal war, the United States-Japan Alliance represents the cornerstone of peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific.”

Nakatani and Hegseth are due to meet again at the Defense Ministry’s building in Tokyo on March 30.

It will be the first face-to-face meeting since Hegseth took office in January.

Nakatani told reporters on March 28, “I would like to have a thorough discussion on various issues in the Japan-U.S. alliance.”

(This article was written by Mizuki Sato and Kei Kobayashi.)

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