In Japan's southernmost prefecture of Okinawa, about 110,000 people staged a rally on Saturday to protest the central government stance on the mass suicides that occurred there during World War Two.The demonstrators who gathered in Ginowan city demanded that the Education Ministry retract its instruction to history textbook publishers to remove references that the Japanese military forced local people to commit mass suicide during the 1945 Battle of Okinawa.
The rally, organized by members of the prefectural assembly, was the largest in Okinawa, exceeding a 1995 gathering when 85,000 people protested against the rape of a schoolgirl by US servicemen.
Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima expressed strong dissatisfaction about the central government, saying it is an undeniable fact that the Japanese military was involved in the incident given that many survivors testified that grenades were supplied by the military.
One of survivors also confirmed the military's involvement.
The protesters plan to hand to the central government in October a resolution urging it to retract its textbook instruction.
Updated at 14:00(JST) Sep. 30
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