Takamatsu Gushiken turns on the headlight and enters the cave buried in the jungle of Okinawa. He runs the fingers with a gently with gravel until two pieces of bones come. These are one of the skulls, he says, the baby and probably adult.

He carefully placed them in a ceramic rice bowl and imagines for a moment that people die 80 years ago when they hide in one of the richest fights in World War II. His hope is that the dead can be reunited with their families.

About 1,400 people were found on Okinawa, which sit for storage, for possible identification with DNA testing. So far, just six have been identified and returned to their families. Voluntary bone hunters and families who seek their loved ones say that the government needs to do more to help.

Gushiken says bones are silent witnesses The tragedy of Okinawa WarAnd giving warning to the present generation, as Japan raises its defense expenses against China's tension, territorial disputes and Beijing's demand to Taiwan.

“The best way to honor the war is never allowed to allow another war,” says Gushiken. “I'm worried about Okinawa now. : I'm afraid that there is a growing risk that Oliawa can be a battlefield again. “

The island of one of World War II battles

(In 1945-Patril 1US troops land on Okinawa Mainland, Japan, which lasted until the end of June, killed about 12,000 Americans and more than 188,000 Japanese, half of the Okinawan civilians. This included the mass suicides ordered by Japanese servicemen, and historians say.

Fights ended at ITOMAN, where Gushiken and other voluntary cave engravings or “Gamahau” in their native Okinawan language. Found the remains that are likely to be hundreds of people.

Gushiken is trying to imagine in the cave in the cave. Where did he hide? How would he feel about? He guesses the age of the victims, regardless of whether they have died as a result of a gunshot wound or explosive and put details about the bones in a small red notebook.

After the war, Okinawa remained under the occupation of the United States until 1972, for 20 years longer than most Japan, and it remains a large part of it. US military presence to date. As Japan enjoyed the post-war economic growth, Okinawa's economic, educational and social development was postponed.

Gushiken says that when he was a child who grows older in the Okinawa capital Nahan, he would go out with hunters' bugs and find skulls that still wore helmets.

Slow search of balances

Nearly 80 years after the end of World War II, the dead of 1.2 million Japanese war are still irresponsible. It is about half of the 2.4 million Japanese, mostly soldiers who died during the war of the early 20th century Japan.

Thousands of undiscovered bones have been sitting for storage for years waiting for a test that could coincide with surviving families.

Gushiken says that the corresponding efforts of the government DNA are very few and very slow.

The Ministry of Health states that 188,140 the Japanese were killed in the battle of Okinawa, most of their remnants were collected and posted at the island's national cemetery. About 1,400 leftovers have been detected in the recent decades, which sit in stock. The identification process is painfully slow.

Only in 2003, the Japanese government began to match DNA after the dead families, but the tests were limited to teeth and handicrafts that could give hints to their identities.

In 2016, Japan adopted a law that launches the restoration of residual recovery with the US Department of Defense more to coincide and promote cooperation. Later, the government expanded the work on the experimental test on civilians and limbs.

In total, 1,280 dead residues of the Japanese war, including six of Okinawa, were found by DNA tests since 2003, the Ministry of Health reports. About 14,000 people are kept in the ministry's mortality for further testing.

Hundreds of American soldiers remain unresponsive. Their remnants can still be found, as well as the mobilized Koreans by the Japanese, who can find Gushiken.

Deployment of old decades and identification have become more complex, how many families and relatives age are fading, artifacts and documents are lost, says the Ministry of Health.

“The progress has been slowly everywhere,” said Theskama. “Ideally, we hope that not only we stay, but also return them to their families.”

The burden of the story

Japan takes accelerator military construction, send more troops and weapons to Okinawa and its external islands. Many of here are the bitter memories of the Japanese army warning, watching the current military construction in the warning.

Washington and Tokyo see a strong military presence of the United States against China and North Korea, but many Okinawa have long complained about the noise, pollution, planes, and crimes of US troops.

Okinawa is located in Japan, more than half of the US military facilities in Japan, with the majority of US military facilities on small south island. Tokyo has promised to move the US Naval Corps air station, which has been spread in a crowded city for years, but Okins remain an angry program that can only be transported to construction.

Gushiken says ITOMAN CAVES must be protected from the development so that young generations can learn about the history of war, and those who like him can complete their work.

Like him, some Okin tell us that they are afraid that their war suffering is forgotten.

Immediately after marriage, half-sister of Tomoghiga Kobashigawa was killed. He wants to apply to DNA compliance in order to help find him. “It's so sad … If he lived, we could be such good sisters and brothers.”

The missing remains that the government “regrets the lack of responsibility in the war,” says Kobashigavan. “I'm afraid of Okinawa people will be in war again.”