Japan Ground Self-Defense Force troops removed this U.S.-made phosphorus grenade believed to be from World War II after it exploded at a construction site in Itoman city, Okinawa, Sept. 18, 2025. (Itoman Fire Department)
Japanese soldiers recovered remnants of a grenade, believed to be a World War II leftover, that workers found smoking Thursday at a construction site on Okinawa.
The workers were excavating a site at 4:28 p.m. in the Teruya district of Itoman city, according to a news release from the Okinawa Prefecture Crisis Management Division.
“The constructors noticed the white smoke from the sand inside the bucket of an excavator and put it back to the ground,” a division spokesman said by phone Friday.
The ordnance, believed to be a U.S.-made phosphorus grenade, sparked and caused a small explosion, the spokesman said. No injuries or damage resulted.
Traffic in the area was restricted for about two hours, and some neighboring residents were urged to evacuate, he said.
Personnel from the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force recovered what remained of the grenade and all restrictions were lifted by 6:47 p.m., the spokesman said. Some Japanese government officials may speak to the press only on condition of anonymity.
Leftover wartime munitions can be dangerous.
In June, the fuse on an American 75 mm shell exploded at a munitions storage facility on Kadena Air Base, injuring four members of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force. The fuse detonated when one of the soldiers struck the shell with a tool while attempting to remove rust, a Ground Staff spokesman said at the time.
Unexploded ordnance from the 1945 Battle of Okinawa continues to surface across the island, including at former battlefields and construction sites. Between April 2023 and March 2024, nearly 22 tons of World War II-era ordnance were disposed of on the island, according to the Okinawa General Bureau’s website.
AloJapan.com