The second world war turned Okinawa into a graveyard. Now it’s in China’s sights

A peace activist collects the bones of the dead as conflict brews once more

By Noah Sneider

Gushiken Takamatsu crouched inside a damp cave beside a pile of dusty bones. He wore rectangular glasses with ruby-red frames that rested at the end of his nose, lending him the appearance of a man appraising jewels. He held up a chipped crescent-shaped fragment and caressed it with weathered hands. The end of a femur, he said. Based on the size, probably a child’s.

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