Okinawan bone digger searches caves for the remains of WWII dead

Описание: (6 Mar 2025)
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4559528
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Itoman, Okinawa Prefecture - 15 February 2025
1. Takamatsu Gushiken searching for remains of victims from the Battle of Okinawa inside a cave
2. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Takamatsu Gushiken, volunteer bone searcher: +SOUNDBITE STARTS ON PREVIOUS SHOT AND IS PARTIALLY OVERLAID BY SHOT 3++
“When I first volunteered, I felt like I was doing something inconceivable, digging up other people's remains.”
3. Gushiken showing bones he found during his previous searches, UPSOUND (Japanese): “I’m not so sure about this one, but this one definitely belongs to a child, quite a young one.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Itoman, Japan – 16 February 2025
4. Gushiken putting his hands together to pay respects in front of the bones he had collected on his previous searches
5. Gushiken turning on his head torch after paying respects

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Itoman, Japan – 15 February 2025
6. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Takamatsu Gushiken, volunteer bone searcher: +SOUNDBITE STARTS ON SHOT4 AND OVERLAID BY SHOT 5 AND IS PARTIALLY OVERLAID BY SHOT7++
“I talk to the bones -- even if you wait for your family to come and search for you, they probably wouldn't know that you died here, and I don't think they can come here. So, instead, I thought I would take you to the National War Dead Cemetery. Is that Okay? If you are placed there, maybe one day someone from your family or someone related will come to pray for you. I think that would be better than staying here."

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Itoman, Japan – 16 February 2025
7. Various of Gushiken examining his medical notebook to identify a tooth


ASSOCIATED PRESS
Itoman, Japan – 14 February 2025
8. Person praying at the Cornerstone of Peace, a monument commemorating the Battle of Okinawa

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Itoman, Japan – 19 February 2025
9. names on the memorial stones at the Cornerstone of Peace

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Naha, Japan – 16 February 2025
10. SOUNDBITE (Japanese)Tomoyuki Kobashigawa, relative of Battle of Okinawa victim: +SOUNDBITE STARTS ON SHOT8 AND IS OVERLAID BY SHOT 9&11++
"Of course, the return of the remains is important, but more than that, I hope that there will never be the fear of war again. I have five grandchildren, two of whom live in Okinawa. I am very worried that these grandchildren might get caught up in war.”
11. Various of Kobashigawa showing his half-sister and grandparents’ names on photos of stone tablets at Cornerstone of Peace in Itoman

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Itoman, Japan – 15 February 2025
12. Various of Gushiken examining bones he found previously
13. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Takamatsu Gushiken, volunteer bone searcher: ++SOUNDBITE STARTS ON PREVIOUS SHOT++
"I always say that the best way to honor those who died in war is to never start a war again.”
14. Gushiken examining inside a cave
STORYLINE:
Takamatsu Gushiken turns on a headlamp and enters a cave buried in Okinawa's jungle.

He gently runs his fingers through the gravel until two pieces of bone emerge. These are from the skulls, he says, of an infant and possibly an adult.

After examining the bones, he carefully puts them in a ceramic rice bowl. He then takes a moment to imagine the victims' deaths as they hid in this cave 80 years ago during one of the fiercest battles of World War II.

Gushiken sometimes talks to the bones, as if he's in a conversation with the dead.

He tells these bones that he wants to take them to a national cemetery.

"I ask them if it’s all right to do so, and say: ‘If you are there, your family will come to pray for you one day.’”








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