Japan’s Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako on Monday arrived on Iwoto Island in the Pacific, the site of a fierce World War II battle between the United States and Japan, in the first of a series of engagements to mark 80 years since the end of the conflict.
It is the imperial couple’s first visit to the remote island formerly known as Iwojima, located about 1,250 kilometers south of Tokyo. There, they will pay their respects at monuments for those who died in the fighting.
Japanese Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako are pictured at Haneda airport in Tokyo on April 7, 2025, before flying to Iwoto Island in the Pacific Ocean. (Kyodo)
The Battle of Iwojima lasted about a month from when U.S. forces landed in February 1945, with an estimated 21,900 Japanese and 7,000 U.S. soldiers killed. The island was returned to Japanese sovereignty in 1968 and officially renamed in 2007.
In 1994, Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko visited the island to pay their respects as part of their engagements, marking the 50th anniversary of the war’s end the following year.
This year’s tour by the reigning emperor and empress is set to continue in June with a visit to Okinawa, Japan’s southernmost island prefecture, where the Battle of Okinawa caused the deaths of about a quarter of the population.
They will also visit Hiroshima that month and Nagasaki in September, marking their first trips as emperor and empress to the two cities devastated by atomic bombings.
The visit to Iwoto comes after Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and the defense ministers for Japan and the United States attended a ceremony on March 29 to mark 80 years since the battle.
Photo taken in March 2025 shows the wreckage of a tank left on Iwoto Island in the Pacific Ocean. (Kyodo)
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