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Ex-Iwojima Residents Requests Return to Island

Ex-Iwojima Residents Requests Return to Island

   Tokyo, Feb. 19 (Jiji Press)--Former residents of Japan's Iwojima, a major World War II battlefield, on Wednesday submitted to the land ministry a request to return to the Pacific island in stages.
   "It's unusual that we can't go back to our home for more than 80 years," a former residents' group to realize returns to the island said after submitting the request.
   During the war, some 1,200 residents of Iwojima and Kita-Iwojima were forced to evacuate to mainland Japan in 1944 before Iwojima became the site of the savage battle between Japanese and U.S. forces the next year.
   After the end of the war in 1945, the island was occupied by the U.S. military and eventually returned to Japan in 1968.
   In 1984, however, the government said that it would be difficult to live permanently on Iwojima because of volcanic activities and other reasons. Currently, a Self-Defense Forces base sits on the island.

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AFP-JIJI PRESS NEWS JOURNAL


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