Japan’s Emperor, Empress to Visit Iwoto Island As Part of Efforts to Commemorate 80th Anniversary of War’s End

By Takaya Toda / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

17:12 JST, April 6, 2025

The Emperor and Empress will visit Iwoto Island, also known as Iwojima, on Monday to commemorate those who died in World War II.

Iwoto was the site of intense fighting between Japanese and U.S. forces that resulted in the deaths of more than 27,000 Japanese and U.S. soldiers in February and March 1945. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the war.

The Imperial couple are also expected to make commemorative visits to other locations in Japan and Mongolia this year.

Bereaved relatives and others are avidly anticipating the visit of the Imperial couple, who have shown concern for both the war dead and the hardships their families suffered after the war.

“I am deeply saddened by the loss of many precious lives in the war,” the Emperor said at a press conference held on the occasion of his 65th birthday in February. He referred to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the ground battle in Okinawa Prefecture, and the fierce fighting on Iwoto Island as examples of the ravages of war.

“I took the Emperor’s words at the press conference as a message that he has not forgotten the grief of the bereaved families,” said Tetsuro Teramoto, 80, of Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo. Teramoto chairs an association of the families of those who died on Iwoto Island, which is under the jurisdiction of Ogasawara, Tokyo.

Teramoto’s father Yasuo was over 30 when he went to war. In July 1944, he traveled from Yokohama Port by ship to Iwoto Island.

Teramoto was born in December that year and named Tetsuro in keeping with his father’s wishes.

U.S. forces are said to have begun a full-scale attack on the island on Feb. 16, 1945. Organized fighting by the former Japanese military reportedly ended on March 26.

The circumstances of Yasuo’s death are not known. After the war, Teramoto’s mother Takano raised five sons alone while running a shop in the city of Nagasaki.

Teramoto said he opened his father’s urn for the first time when he was in the fifth grade of elementary school. There was nothing but light sand inside, making him realize how fierce the fighting was. It was hard, Teramoto said, when people around him would say he only had one parent, but he lived with strength.

That is why the Emperor’s words at the press conference struck a chord with him. “I want to once again express my heartfelt sympathy to those who have suffered hardships on the 80th anniversary of the war,” the Emperor said.

The Emperor referred to “hardships” and the “suffering” of the war and post-war periods seven times at the press conference.

The then Emperor and Empress (the current Emperor Emeritus and Empress Emerita) visited Iwoto Island for a memorial service in February 1994, a year before the 50th anniversary of the end of the war.

“I will fulfill my duties as a symbol of the state, while closely supporting the people by respecting the feelings of the Emperor Emeritus,” the Emperor said at the press conference.

According to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, the remains of about 11,150 of 21,900 Japanese war dead were still on the island as of the end of March. “I want to convey to the Emperor that the collections of the remains are only half complete,” Teramoto said.

The Imperial couple are scheduled to reach Iwoto Island on a government plane on Monday.

They were to lay flowers at three locations, including a monument built to mourn the Japanese war dead on the island, and then hold talks with former residents of the island and people related to the bereaved families’ organization.