Peace in Okinawa

August 15 is a special day for Japan. It is the anniversary of the end
of World





War $B-6(B. It was the 63rd anniversary this year. In other words, the war was
over in





Japanand 63 years have passed. Do you feel that the 63 years have been a
very long





time since the war was over? Or do you feel that only 63 years have just
passed? For me





I feel that the war has been recent,because when I was a high school
student, I studied





about Okinawa battle in detail in my history class.





In the history of the Japanese long war, there was a battle in Okinawa.
This





is the only ground war in Japan throughout the World War $B-6(B. It was a very
very





miserable battle. The dead people and the missing on the Japanese side was
equal to





188,136 people. In addition, it is a characteristic of this battle that
manyOkinawa



Peace in Okinawa 2



inhabitants were killed by Japanese soldiers. It is reported that they
killed the





Okinawa inhabitants who they charged because they used their own dialect and
killed





them to shut up the babies crying in the trench called GAMA. there is
Okinawa of the





present. Today, Okinawa has became a famous Japanese sightseeing spot, but
we do





not forget the actual situation of the Okinawa battle and the people of
Okinawa still





fear the war. Why is this so? when I went to Okinawa on my school trip, I
looked at the





huge US base. It was a blotch on beautiful Okinawa. Also, from the base, I
often heard





the earsplitting fighters. The fighters made us feel that they would crash
on us. It was





very terrible, and I felt sad that the people of Okinawa have such a fear
every day.





And ,I strongly thought that we are still us in the situation side by side
with the war.





The war is over. That is a fact, and 63 years have gone by. Japan
surely has turned







Peace in Okinawa 3





to peace. However, as far as there is that base in Okinawa, I cannot but
feel war is close.





As well as the Okinawa battle, really many people lost their life and have
lots of





regrets from the war. We must never repeat the war. For the sacrifice of a
lot of lives,





on August 15, I cannot help praying for the world that everyone can live in
peace.





Moreover , I hope that Okinawa does not become just a Japanese sightseeing
spot.





Therefore it is important that people do not forget war. This is the time I
when the





people who experienced war are disappearing, but I want to be a person who
can hand





down to the next generation the lessons learnt from the war in Okinawa, and
for the





security and relief of Okinawa inhabitants, I hope that US base disappears
as soon as





possible from Okinawa.