沖縄慰霊の日 Okinawa Irei no hi

今日[きょう]は沖縄[おきなわ]慰霊[いれい]の日[]です。1945年の今日[きょう]、沖縄[おきなわ]で繰[]り広[ひろ]げられたアメリカ軍[ぐん] (= U.S. Army)との戦争[せんそう] (= war)が終[]わりました。沖縄[おきなわ]での戦争[せんそう]は、第二次[だいにじ]世界[せかい]大戦[たいせん] (= WWII)中[ちゅう]、唯一[ゆいいつ] (= only)日本[にほん]の国土[こくど] (= national land)で繰[]り広[ひろ]げられた戦争[せんそう]です。20万人以上[いじょう]の人[ひと]たちが亡[]くなりました(= dead)。

前日[ぜんじつ]の昨日[きのう]、そして慰霊[いれい]の日[]の今日[きょう]、沖縄[おきなわ]では式典[しきてん] (= ceremony)が行[おこな]われます(= to be held)。朝日[あさひ]新聞[しんぶん]ここここで記事[きじ]が読[]めます。写真[しゃしん]もあります。
 
Irei no Hi (lit. the day to console the dead in Japanese) is June 23, the day systematic fighting of Japanese in Okinawa came to an end in 1945 (according to the description in Wikipedia). It was today in 1945 that the battle in Okinawa with U.S army ended. This battle was the only battle occurred in the land of Japan during WWII and cost over 200,000 people’ lives in Okinawa.
 
There are all sorts of memorial events been held in Okinawa yesterday and today. If you would like to read about this, you can find articles (in Japanese though) here and here in Asahi Shimbun Newspaper. These articles show some pictures as well. Please do Google search with the keyword “irei no hi” for English articles.

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