
Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki is marking the 77th anniversary Thursday of the end of one of harshest World War II battles fought on the southern islands by calling for further reduction of U.S. military presence there amid growing fear of getting embroiled in regional tension.
The southern island group was the site of one of the bloodiest battles of World War II, known as the Battle of Okinawa, which killed about 200,000 people, nearly half of them Okinawan residents.