Japan Emperor, Empress to Visit Iwojima on April 7

Tokyo, March 21 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako will visit the Pacific island of Iwoto, also known as Iwojima, on April 7 to pay respects to those who died there during World War II, the Imperial Household Agency said Friday.

The remote Tokyo island in the Ogasawara island chain in the western Pacific saw heavy fighting from Feb. 19 to March 26, 1945. The battle in the closing days of the war left some 21,900 Japanese soldiers and 6,800 U.S. soldiers dead.

The Imperial couple was asked by the Tokyo metropolitan government to visit the island to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the war and 50 years since the designation of Minami Iwoto, an island located 60 kilometers south of Iwojima, as a wildlife conservation area.

The couple will arrive in Iwojima on a government plane from Tokyo's Haneda Airport. During the day trip, they will visit the Tenzan Ireihi monument, erected by the Japanese government to commemorate over 20,000 Japanese victims, and Chinkon no Oka, a memorial facility built by the metropolitan government for both the Japanese and U.S. war dead.

They will also visit Iwoto Islander Peace Cemetery Park, built by the village of Ogasawara, to pray for the islanders who lost their lives after being conscripted as civilian workers for the military, and to meet with bereaved families and others.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]