During World War II, Okinawa was a battlefield. Scars of the war still remain there. The people of Okinawa were not to be captured, they were afraid of American soldiers, so many committed mass suicide. Now the topic is a textbook controversy.
The opinion of those in mainland Japan differs from that of Okinawans. Some people in the Japanese government are telling us that Japanese soldiers did not direct Okinawans to commit suicide, and a screening panel ordered the deletion of that part of the story from history textbooks. People in Okinawa oppose this.
Why does the government disregard the word of people in Okinawa where the war actually happened? The number of people who experienced the war and remember it is decreasing fast in Japan now. I am very worried that Japan might not convey the truth. Japan should accept the past facts resolutely, and I think there is an obligation to hand down these facts to future generations so that such terrible things never happen again.
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