As part of a postwar 80th-anniversary project titled “Passing On, Staying Connected,” this article looks back on the Battle of Okinawa through the memories of Higa Tomiko, who survived one of the fiercest ground battles of World War II by holding up a white flag, reflecting on what she saw as a seven-year-old girl who wandered alone through a devastated battlefield and the feelings she now hopes to entrust to future generations. (News On Japan)

The grand prize has been announced in the annual Creative Four-Character Idiom Awards, which capture the social mood of the year through newly coined expressions, with the winning works unveiled this year through a dynamic calligraphy performance by high school students. (News On Japan)

In mid-November, Their Majesties attended a ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of Japan’s Overseas Cooperation Volunteers, a program that has sent some 58,000 participants to 99 developing countries since its launch in 1965 to support economic and social development. The first assignments were in Laos, then part of Southeast Asia’s emerging development frontier, where five volunteers were selected for dispatch. (News On Japan)

Aiko, the daughter of the Emperor and Empress, attended the 50th anniversary ceremony for the Faculty of Nursing at Chiba University on December 14th, where she delivered an address that emphasized her longstanding respect for the profession. (News On Japan)