It is my great honor to represent the university at the remembrance ceremony to mark the end of the Battle of Okinawa on 23 June 1945.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okinawa_Memorial_Day
The Battle of Okinawa was grotesque beyond imagination.
The ceremony was very moving. It is a big deal. Prime Minister Abe and senior members of the Cabinet are there. Caroline Kennedy, US Ambassador, is there. We sit two security rows behind Abe.
They translate the main speeches for the 6 Gaijin present.
The battle was inconceivably fierce. It destroyed every building, burnt every single tree and all vegetation. It left a wasteland of mud, maggots and blood. About 35% of the civilian population of the island were slain. Women and children mostly.
Onaga san is the Governor of Okinawa. He got it right, “We cannot forget the unimaginable absurdity and cruelty of the war our people experienced.”
My remembrance Karyushi
Love and peace to you, people of Okinawa.
The Quiet Ripple Defines The Pond 
Serious stuff.
Can’t believe that Brits voted to leave Europe! Happy Birthday
“As ye sow – ” the politicos, of both sides, but mainly tories, have blamed the EU for all our problems, for so long and so frequently – and also there is deep resentment of the fat cats – we are becoming so unequal, and the EU is perceived as being involved, which they are to some extent (Luxembourg, Holland, Ireland). So the disadvantaged many have voted for the extreme right wing few who are the fat cats biggest friends, even more than the right wing government that we already had. It is bizarre. One can sort of see how Hitler did it. Some resonance with Trumpism.
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