On Tokashikijima island, mass suicides occurred March 28.
Yoshikawa Yusuke, 78, said he had no doubt that Japanese army soldiers ordered the suicides. Yoshikawa, who then worked at a village office, was with his father and mother when civilians started taking their lives en masse. He now lives in Aichi Prefecture.
He said that he and other residents reached a site near a Japanese army position after an all-night walk while watching U.S. troops landing on the island. Local residents drafted into military service also gathered with their families. Many took hand grenades with them, Yoshikawa said. Typically, mass suicides occurred after a village mayor had been contacted by a locally drafted soldier who served as a messenger. Yoshikawa said he could not hear what the messenger was saying above the roar of shelling. Soon after, he heard a series of explosions caused by grenades all around him. Yoshikawa's father tried to set off an explosion by hurling four grenades, one after another, to the ground. But none of them blew up.
Meanwhile, the emperor spared his life by kissing General MacArthur's ass.
