Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan is making a rare visit to Iwo Jima, the site of one of World War-II’s bloodiest battles and where two mass graves were recently discovered.
Mr. Kan paid his respects Tuesday to the more than 21,000 soldiers who died on the tiny volcanic island in 1945. His government has resolved to find the roughly 12,000 Japanese whose bodies have yet to be recovered.
Now officially known in Japan as Ioto, the island was the scene of a fateful and iconic battle that helped turn the tide against the Japanese, claiming almost 7,000 American and over 21,000 Japanese lives.
Along with the Japanese, 218 Americans are classified as still missing.
Tokyo wants to account for the missing over the next three years.
