Names of Tokyo Air Raid Victims Read Out in Ceremony

Tokyo, March 20 (Jiji Press)--Bereaved families and others held a memorial ceremony in Tokyo on Thursday to read out the names of victims of U.S. air raids on the Japanese capital during World War II 80 years ago.

About 80 people spent about five hours reading out the names of 4,138 victims, including Koreans and U.S. soldiers. The annual ceremony started in 2021.

Tokyo suffered from more than 100 U.S. air raids during the war, with about 100,000 people said to have been killed in the early hours of March 10, 1945.

"Each victim had a name, a family and a future to live in," Setsuko Kawai, 86, chair of the event's organizing committee who lost her mother and two younger brothers in the March 10, 1945, massive raid, said in a speech.

"The names read out will be a signpost for peace," she said.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]