OKINAWA, Aug 13, 2025 (News On Japan) - Eighty years ago, the fall of Saipan played a decisive role in intensifying air raids on cities such as Osaka and Kobe. Located only about three hours by air from the Japanese mainland, the island was seen by the U.S. military as a strategic base for launching attacks, while Japan regarded it as a vital line of defense.
For many in western Japan, the Battle of Saipan is a distant event, little known despite its role in intensifying air raids on Osaka and Kobe. The American victory became a springboard for attacks on the Japanese mainland, and in the final days of the battle, desperate civilians jumped from the cliffs now called Banzai Cliff. Yamine’s grandmother was among those who leapt.
Eighty-seven-year-old Hideko So, the grandmother’s younger sister, was five years old when the fighting reached her family. She recalls fleeing naked through the mountains, losing her mother and brother to bombings, and seeing the sea turn red with blood as people fell from the cliffs. Captured at Banzai Cliff while waiting for her father to return, she witnessed mothers throwing their children into the sea before jumping themselves.
So has returned to Saipan many times for memorial journeys, visiting the Tower of Okinawa built in 1968 to honor the dead. These visits, now continued by younger generations, bring a sense of closeness to her lost parents and siblings.
Another survivor, captured en route to the cliffs, recalled her mother’s intention to leap into the sea together. Many families’ remains were never found, leaving only stones placed in graves as stand-ins for the dead. Despite the passage of eight decades, bonds between Saipan locals and former residents endure.
An 87-year-old woman from Okinawa, who lost her parents and many siblings in the battle, recalls scenes of mothers throwing themselves from cliffs with their children at the site now known as Banzai Cliff. She appeals for an end to war, saying, "When war breaks out, everyone is blown to pieces. Please, never let it happen again."
Her story was brought to light through interviews conducted by her grandniece, a director at Kansai Television.
Source: KTV NEWS
