As Emperor Naruhito travels across the country to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II this year, he is expected to explore how best to pass down memories of the conflict and work for peace in his role as a “symbol” of the country now most of its people belong to postwar generations.
Last week, the emperor and Empress Masako visited Iwoto Island, formerly known as Iwo Jima, the site of a fierce battle in the Pacific between Japan and the United States, to mourn the war dead from both sides. It was the imperial couple’s first-ever journey to the island, which is located 1,250 kilometers south of Tokyo.
They offered flowers at three memorials on the island, where an estimated 21,900 Japanese and 7,000 U.S. soldiers died in a month of fighting after U.S. forces landed in February 1945.
“I have renewed my commitment to peace and have engraved the preciousness of it in my heart after seeing the horrors of war once again,” the Imperial Household Agency reported Emperor Naruhito as telling an aide after the visit.
The couple is also scheduled to visit Okinawa, Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the coming months as they follow in the footsteps of the trips made by then-Emperor Akihito and then-Empress Michiko to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of the war.
But an aide said Emperor Naruhito was “acutely aware” that as part of a postwar generation that now accounts for more than 80 percent of the Japanese population, his visits would not fully replicate those of his father.
After some 3.1 million Japanese died in World War II, which they fought in the name of Emperor Hirohito, posthumously known as Emperor Showa, the country’s postwar Constitution defined an emperor as “the symbol of the state and the unity of the people of Japan” in separating the emperor from the government.
His son, former Emperor Akihito, who survived the war in evacuation as an elementary school student, repeatedly traveled domestically and abroad during his reign to sites ravaged by the war to console the war dead and the bereaved families, seeing it as his duty in his capacity as the nation’s “symbol.”
Listening to his parents’ experiences in the war and having visited various war-linked sites over the years, Emperor Naruhito has inherited their hopes for peace and believes that “there are limitations in only conducting memorial services” as the world changes, a close aide said.
Deliberating on how to pass on memories as he searches for what role he must play as the symbol of modern Japan, the emperor is expected during his travels to not only focus on the survivors but also highlight the younger generation given the role young people have been playing as “storytellers” to recount the first-hand experiences of members of the World War II generation in their place.
“As memories are starting to fade today, I believe it is important that the tragic experiences and histories from those who have experienced war are handed down to those who do not know it,” the emperor said in a press conference held for his 65th birthday in February.
© KYODO
© Japan Today