KUENTAI USA, an organization dedicated to the repatriation of the remains of World War II soldiers to Japan and America, organized the 5th Joint Memorial Service on the grounds of Aqua Resort Club on Sunday, July 7, gathering Shinto, Buddhist and Catholic religious leaders.
In her remarks, the secretary general of Kuentai USA, Yukari Akatsuka, noted that it was on July 7, 1944 when over 4,300 Japanese soldiers and 400 American soldiers died in the surrounding area during the last Banzai attack of the Battle of Saipan.
“July 7th was probably the day when the most people died in a single day in Saipan’s history,” Akatsuka said.
She added that in 2011 and 2012, their organization recovered the remains of 163 Japanese soldiers in a mass burial area adjacent to Aqua Resort Club.
Kuentai USA was holding the memorial service “with the hope that those who fell on the battlefield…will be able to return to their home as soon as possible” Akatsuka said.
The ceremony on Sunday was highlighted by Shinto prayers in English and Japanese led by Rev. Yoshinobu Miyake, chief minister of the Konko Church of Kasugaoka.
Buddhist priests likewise chanted and sang in Japanese, and Bishop Ryan Jimenez of the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa said prayers during the service.
The religious leaders prayed for the souls of those who died during World War II.
Miyake said the ecumenical service held “much significance,” and is a symbol of peace in the Asia Pacific region.
“It is meaningful,” he said of the service. “Not only Japanese Buddhist and Shinto priests, but also the Catholic local bishop joined us. Eighty years ago Japan and the United States battled each other very strongly but nowadays these two countries are in friendship and are allies.”
Likewise in attendance was Takemitsu Okushita, a member from Osaka of Japan’s House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Japanese National Diet.
He said he hopes that a war like World War II “will never be repeated.” He likewise wants to be part of the mission to repatriate Japan’s war dead.
“I believe that the war will end only when the war dead are returned to their homes and their families,” he said. “I pledge to you, the spirit of the war dead, that I will make every effort with all concerned to bring as many of them as possible back to their homelands.”
He said it was “truly shameful” that the ecumenical service had been held five times with no participation from other members of the Japanese Diet.
Okushita also met with Gov. Arnold I. Palacios on Friday, July 5, to discuss the possibility of promoting the CNMI in Japan.
After the service, he said through a translator that in Kansai, the region that includes Osaka, there are three airports and that he is “trying to push one of the airports — Kobe — to bring flights to Saipan.”
He said this is the first year he was made aware that Kuentai USA hosts an ecumenical service for the war dead on Saipan, and he now intends to bring more Japanese Diet members to the island to attend the service.
Back in May, Akatsuka had mentioned the bureaucratic hurdles the organization was experiencing on island in their mission to locate the bodies of Japanese service members buried here.
She mentioned a lack of communication from the local Historic Preservation Office, which has made it more difficult to get permits for excavations.
Okushita said he is aware of the issues Kuentai faces.
“[I am] aware of the fact that there are hurdles but we don’t give up on that,” he said. “We’ll continue working on this and we would bring it…home and think more about it and come back to the island.”
A group shot of those in attendance. Gov. Arnold Palacios, Lt. Gov. David Apatang, Mayor RB Camacho, and Bishop Ryan Jimenez were among the attendees.
Rev. Yoshinobu Miyake traveled to Saipan to take part in the 5th Joint Memorial Service.
A Buddhist priest participates in the ecumenical prayer service organized by Kuentai USA to honor Japanese and American war dead on the 80th anniversary of the last Banzai charge of the Battle of Saipan.
Bishop Ryan Jimenez leads a prayer at the 5th Joint Memorial Service in Achugao.
