August 15th is not the only 'day the war ended' | A story about the Cornerstone of Peace

MOON side episode | On the Journey No.22
Okinawa Prefecture | Cornerstone of Peace

August 15th.

In Japan, it is called the day the war ended.
However, when you stand in Okinawa, it is a little difficult to decide on a single day as the day the war ended.


Does a war really end in just one day?

Itoman City, Mabuni Hill.

Above my head, a blue sky so intense it made me squint was spreading out.The tropical trees swayed their leaves in the wind blowing up from the sea, and the sound of cicadas rained down from the gaps between them.If you walk a little, sweat beads on your forehead.

When you look up, there is the sea beyond.

A blue sea reflecting the sunlight.
Someone who looks like a tourist stops and points their smartphone.
A child points at the sea.

It was a summer scene in Okinawa that could be found anywhere.
However, next to that beautiful sea, tens of thousands of names are lined up.
🏝️

The Cornerstone of Peace.
As I approached the black stone monument, the characters that looked like patterns from a distance turned into the names of individuals.
Soldiers.
Civilians.

Japanese.
Foreigners.
Transcending nationality and the distinction between military and civilian, the names of those who died in the Battle of Okinawa and other events are engraved here.
An elderly woman was standing in front of the monument.
She bent her waist slightly and searched for a name as if bringing her face closer to it.

Eventually, her fingertips stopped.
She did not move from that spot for a while.

I do not know what she is thinking.
A little further away, there is a man who has lowered his hat to his chest and is silently bowing his head.
A child stood next to an adult, looking up at the black monument.

As of June 2026, there are 242,659 names engraved here.

Looking at the number alone, it is too large to even imagine.

However, when you stand in front of the monument, that overwhelming number ceases to be a symbol.
There are surnames.
There are given names.

Each one of them had a life that led them here.
🏝️

Does a war really end the moment you are told it has ended?


For Okinawa, when did the war end?
On April 1, 1945, the U.S. military landed on the main island of Okinawa.
After that, a fierce ground battle involving residents on a large scale continued.

It was not just soldiers.
Students.
Children.
The elderly.
People who were eating with their families until yesterday.

People who were out in the fields.
People who were going to school.
People who were living ordinary lives were suddenly placed in the middle of a battlefield.
People driven out of caves.

People whose food was requisitioned.
People who kept running from shelling.

Among the people who were instilled with fear of the U.S. military and driven into a corner, mass deaths also occurred.
More than 200,000 people were sacrificed in the Battle of Okinawa, and it is said that more than 120,000 were Okinawan residents alone, of which more than 94,000 were civilians.
There were not just two armies on the battlefield.

In between them, there were ordinary people.
🏝️

June 23rd.
It is said that the organized combat of the Japanese military effectively ended when the 32nd Army Commander Mitsuru Ushijima and others committed suicide.
However, that does not mean all gunfire disappeared from that day on.

Localized fighting and mopping-up operations continued.
August 15th.
Through the broadcast of the Emperor's voice, Japan's acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration was conveyed to the public.

September 2nd.
The Japanese government signs the instrument of surrender.
And in Okinawa, September 7th.

Representatives of the Japanese military in the Nansei Islands signed the formal instrument of surrender.
June 23rd.
August 15th.
September 2nd.

September 7th.

A single war has many 'endings'.On a calendar, you can draw a line between one date and another.
Yesterday was war.
Today is peace.
However, human time does not switch like that.

I look at the Cornerstone of Peace once more.
The summer sun reflects off the black stone.

The wind blows.
The trees sway.

The cicadas chirp.
From a little distance away, I can hear the voices of children.
And beyond that, the blue sea shines as if nothing had happened.

The elderly woman was still in front of the monument.
She gently moved her fingertips away and stared at the name one last time.

And then, she began to walk slowly.
The names engraved on the monument say nothing.
That is why we are the ones who must stop and stand there.
August 15th.

The day the war ended.
We can remember it that way.
However, there was certainly a time in Okinawa with no visible end that could not be expressed by that one day alone.
Peace is not a label for days without war.
In order not to increase the number of names engraved here any further.
I think it is something that exists on the side of us who are living now.

Mabuni, Okinawa Prefecture.
By the blue sea, countless names were quietly lined up again today.
End

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