70 years on, Japan, U.S. remember epic Iwo Jima battle

It's encouraging to know that young Mr. Shindo will become a teacher. Maybe he'll teach his students the unvarnished truth that he's learned firsthand. It's important that kids know that these things happened and that they cost a lot of lives.

I watched that Movie, "Letters from Iwo Jima and it was an absolutely heart-wrenching movie...Because I am married to a Japanese woman, I have the opportunity to really look at both sides of the story and it is sad for both

Everyone knows about Iwo. What the forgotten battle for Tarawa? Where that japanese commanding officer bragged- "a million men in a million years could not take take Tarawa". US forces took it in just under 72 hrs.

For many in Japan, however, it was long a tragic defeat best forgotten.

This year, I think it's the one hundredth anniversary of the Gallipoli battle.

The British forces lost that fight and many soldiers, but Australia and New Zealand chose that defeat as a remembrance day and an important link between the two counries.

The Ottoman army defending their territory lost more men. But Turkey kindly hosts a remembrance at that tragic site for all sides involved.

Defeats are NEVER best forgotten.

The bloody fighting on Iwo Jima and Okinawa--in addition to many battles earlier that showed the Japanese fanaticism to fight almost to the last man--convinced the Americans they needed to use the atomic bomb on Japan to force Japan's unconditional surrender. Otherwise, the American invasion of Japan--Operation Downfall--could have resulted in (by American estimates at the time) one million American casualties and ten times that among the Japanese.

for any U.S. Marine, Tarawa is not, nor has it ever been forgotten.

Shame many Japanese don't know much about Iwojima, ditto for WWII in general, its a big reason Japan has so many many issues left unresolved from all this, clearly pretending it didn't happen, ignoring things isn't working well for Japan

Clint Eastwood should make a movie about Tarawa. It'd b just as great as the Iwo movie. They could use japanese actor/musician,Matsushiro Watanabe, as the "bad guy" again as the commanding officer. Hopefully the movie wouldn't be rejected by japanese cinema like they did with Angelina Jolie's UNBROKEN.

It is interesting that they mention Eastwood's "Letters from Iwo Jima". Even though it was showing the Japanese side, it was a bigger hit than "Flags of our Fathers", which showed the American side. Maybe that is like how unexpectedly to everyone, the movie "Pearl Harbor" was a huge success in Japan. Maybe theaters should think about that when they decide not to show Jolie's "Unbroken". I'm sure glad to be born after this, when all I have to worry about is whether my clothes and haircut are stylish enough, rather than whether I'm going to die in the next few seconds or live horribly disfigured the rest of my life.

@john Becker,

Shindo Yoshitaka is not a young person who wants to be a teacher. You misread the article. Shindo is not only not young but he is also a core member of the LDP who finds a way to visit Yasukuni regularly. What he teaches is antithetical to genuine reconciliation and is a throwback. "Letters from Iwo Jima" was a good movie, but it also had the effect of underscoring the honorable image of the Japanese army in a straight fight.

That is accurate for Iwo Jima because there were no civilians on the Japanese side. But in Saipan and, above all, in Okinawa the fanaticism of the Japanese military extended to sacrificing civilians. Kuribyashi was not stained by such a record, and he should respected as a shrewd military leader. But he was the exception, and Iwo Jima was an exceptional battle.

Militarism left unchecked by the civil population is the lesson learned from WW II. The Army did as it wanted, no matter. What the government said. As Japan moves forward and addresses the China threat, this must always be remembered. The civil government must ALWAYS control the military. Japan must heal herself not by ignoring the past, but understanding it slowly. Mr Eastwood's film helps this. Kurabyash himself loved America, which was why he was sent to Iwo Jima, they knew he would die. He was one of the Armys brightest as well.

Kuribyashi was not stained by such a record, and he should respected as a shrewd military leader. But he was the exception, and Iwo Jima was an exceptional battle.

Perhaps, but what if he was stationed in Okinawa or one of the South Pacific Isles that saw not only fierce fighting but the usual nastiness Japan dished out........ course we'll never know, but its unlikely he would have spared local civilian if they were there

Fun fact: The Iwo in Iwojima (硫黄) means sulfur, aka Sulfur Island. The moon in the solar system with the most sulfur is Io, pronounced "ee-o" in Japanese.