Japan has remembered approximately 3.1 million war dead in ceremonies across the nation as the country marks the 79 years since the end of World War Two. On August 15, 1945, Emperor Showa gave a recorded radio address announcing the country’s surrender.
About 4,000 people, including family members of the war dead, attended a government-sponsored memorial ceremony at Tokyo’s Nippon Budokan on Thursday.
The number of bereaved relatives attending was the largest since the coronavirus outbreak. They came from all of Japan’s 47 prefectures for the first time in five years.
The ceremony began after Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako appeared on stage and participants sang the national anthem.
Prime Minister Kishida Fumio then gave an address. He said, “We will not forget, even for a moment, that the peace and prosperity Japan enjoys today was built atop the precious lives and the history of suffering of the war dead.”
Kishida pledged utmost efforts to resolve the various challenges facing the world and carve out the country’s future, while focusing on human dignity in a world in which conflicts have not yet ceased.
At noon, all those present observed a minute of silence, which was followed by the Emperor’s speech.
The Emperor said, “Looking back on the long period of postwar peace, reflecting on our past and bearing in mind the feelings of deep remorse, I earnestly hope that the ravages of war will never again be repeated.”
He also said, “Together with all our people, I now pay my heartfelt tribute to all those who lost their lives in the war, both on the battlefields and elsewhere, and pray for world peace and for the continuing developments of our country.”
Nearly eight decades after the war, the bereaved relatives of the war dead are aging. The oldest participant was 97-year-old Nagaya Shoji from Hokkaido. His brother Tamotsu, eight years older, died of tuberculosis in China in 1945 while serving as a soldier.
Nagaya said his elder brother was physically weak, and he remembers feeling sorry that he had to be sent to war.
He said his brother took good care of his younger siblings and he still remembers the gratitude he felt for him.
He said he has difficulty walking, but he feels it’s his mission to pray for the repose of the souls of his brother and others who died in the war. He said he hopes to attend the annual ceremony for as long as he lives.
Sixty children under the age of 18 attended the ceremony to learn from those who had firsthand experiences of the war.
Three-year-old Sakai Sena of Tokyo was the youngest. His great-great grandfather, Ichimaru Rinosuke, died in battle on the island of Ioto, also known as Iwojima.
Sena attended with his mother and grandmother. His mother, Seira, said her son is still too young to understand the war, but he will gain understanding of it little by little from now.
Seira said Sena’s great-great grandfather reportedly thought about eternal peace even at that time. She said she will tell her son that their current peaceful life should not be taken for granted.
At the ceremony, participants offered chrysanthemum flowers for the repose of the war dead and to pray for peace.