Okinawa Students Keep Memory of War Alive Through Theater

   Yomitan, Okinawa Pref., June 24 (Jiji Press)--Students at Yomitan high school in Okinawa Prefecture, southernmost Japan, are working to preserve memories of the Battle of Okinawa through plays performed every year.
   This year, students led by third grader Juna Oshiro, 17, took the stage to mark 79 years since the fierce ground battle toward the end of World War II. The Battle of Okinawa is said to have claimed the lives of about 200,000 people.
   Such student plays are part of a special class on peace conducted at the school in the village of Yomitan every June from about 30 years ago. There are two categories--"traditional plays," in which students enact the horrors of the Pacific War, part of World War II, such as mass suicides by Okinawa citizens, and "original plays," in which unique plots based on the theme of war are set.
   This year's play, based on an original scenario, was about a person who encounters the spirit of a war victim and reflects on war while engaging with the spirit.
   Participating students were seen practicing their lines, and checked their stage positions and timings in classrooms on Wednesday, two days before their performance. They also rehearsed the sanshin, Okinawa's traditional stringed instrument, which students said was a key element of the play and through which they hoped to "express the feelings of Okinawa."

(2024/06/24-17:12)

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