The four boys aged 16 to 19 admitted to destroying signboards and origami paper cranes at the Chibichiri-gama cave, and said they were testing their courage
Four teens were arrested on Friday on suspicion of vandalism at a cave in Okinawa prefecture where civilians were forced to commit mass suicide in the closing days of the second world war, police said.
The boys aged 16 to 19 have admitted to using sticks to destroy two signboards and origami paper cranes left by visitors to the Chibichiri-gama cave in the village of Yomitan last Sunday, saying they went to “a haunted spot” on a motorbike to “test their courage”, investigators said.
‘Unforgiveable desecration’ of Okinawa’s shrine to war dead who chose suicide over surrender
During the battle of Okinawa, which started on April 1,1945 with the landing of US forces on the southern Japanese island, more than 80 Okinawa residents were believed to have committed suicide in the cave after taking refuge there.
