Kano is thinking about his future and whether he should continue his research in graduate school or find a job. He questions how the peace achieved after Japan’s defeat in World War II can be sustained. “Our young generation can't understand the horrors of war unless we think very hard.” “Losing family members in war is beyond my imagination,” Kano said. Today, he studies modern history in college and continues to think about wars and conflicts around the world. Kano grew up listening to his grandparents telling him about what they experienced during the battle. He composed the poem when he was a fourth-grader at Yomitan Elementary School in Yomitan. “I still hope that war will disappear someday,” Nago said.Įisuke Kano, 21, a student at Tsuru University, Yamanashi Prefecture, recited his poem titled “Sekai o Mitsumeru Me" (Eyes looking at the world) in 2008. She believes that she could write the poem because she was a student who grew up in Okinawa, home to about 70 percent of the U.S.
“I came to learn that there are few chances to think about war and peace in people’s lives outside Okinawa,” she said. military aircraft were no longer a part of her daily life. military installations, she felt uncomfortable when she saw soldiers guarding the gate to the base pointing their guns.Īfter she began living outside Okinawa in spring last year, Nago realized that seeing fences separating residential areas and U.S. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, as security was tightened at U.S. Her parents’ house was located near a U.S. Her peace poem was titled “Mirai ni Mukatte" (Toward the future). Her poem, “Eien ni," (For eternity), includes the lines:Ĭhika Nago, 34, who works for a company in the Kanto region, was selected for the role in 2002 when she was a third-year student of Gushikawa High School in Uruma, Okinawa Prefecture. “Having children made me wish for peace more strongly,” Onaka said. She also has recited successive peace poems read at the memorial service in the past to her sons. Onaka is raising four children in Ishigaki, also in the prefecture. Her peace poem has been recited by children in the neighborhood and posted on a notice board of the junior high school that one of her sons attends. In the event's first year, Nana Onaka, 41, whose maiden name was Kugai, assumed the inaugural role when she was a third-year student at Hirara Junior High School in Miyakojima in Okinawa.Īfter her Japanese language teacher asked her to write a peace poem, she finished writing it in the next breath during class. The event is held at the Peace Memorial Park in Itoman in the prefecture. Many of the submissions selected make an appeal for peace based on the war experiences of their relatives and others. The Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum solicits submissions from local schoolchildren and selects the one that will be read at the ceremony.
That is why powerful poems are born every year.”Ĭhibana is one of the Okinawan students who have recited a peace poem of their own composition at the June 23 memorial ceremony in Itoman since 1992. “Even though they are still written by children, they face the harsh reality of the island and try hard to put their thoughts into words. “Those peace poems are the same,” Chibana said. He believes that there are many issues today that should be presented in the form of a song, such as the Okinawan identity or the heavy concentration of U.S. The poem became a starting point for Chibana, now a musician in Onna. People around the world can love each other" One-fourth of the Okinawan population at that time perished in the battle, according to an estimate. The theme of his poem was the forced mass suicide by islanders in a cave in Yomitan during the 1945 battle, which claimed more than 200,000 lives including U.S. When Tatsumi Chibana wrote a poem of peace in 1994 for an annual memorial ceremony to mark the end of the Battle of Okinawa, it struck a chord with people along with changing his life.Ĭhibana, now 39, was a third-year student at Yomitan Junior High School in Okinawa Prefecture when he wrote and recited the peace poem titled “Hikari ga Hanete, Totemo Mabushii" (Lights are bouncing, and so bright).
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