Members of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force’s 101st Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit disable a U.S.-made 5-inch shell in Urasoe, Okinawa, on Sept. 5, 2026. (Japan Ground Self-Defense Force)
Japan’s military disposed of more than 11 tons of unexploded ordnance on Okinawa during the past fiscal year, as the former World War II battleground continues to yield thousands of pieces of buried ammunition.
The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force cleared 20,138 pieces of ordnance weighing 11.47 tons between April 2025 and March, according to documents from Okinawa prefecture’s Unexploded Ordnance Countermeasures Council.
The ordnance was recovered in 466 cases across Okinawa prefecture, according to the documents. Japan’s fiscal year runs from April 1 to March 31.
The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force reported no disposals during that period.
Unexploded ordnance from the 1945 Battle of Okinawa continues to surface more than 80 years later, particularly at former battlefields and construction sites.
When discovered, the munitions are typically defused, removed and stored for later detonation.
Japanese soldiers defuse a U.S.-made 5-inch shell in an explosion-proof container in Urasoe, Okinawa, on Sept. 5, 2026. (Japan Ground Self-Defense Force)
The amount disposed of annually can vary considerably. Nearly 22 tons of World War II-era ordnance was disposed of in fiscal 2023, compared with 12.9 tons the following year, according to the Okinawa General Bureau’s website.
The total depends in part on the size of the munitions discovered, a spokesman for the prefecture’s Disaster Prevention and Crisis Management Division said by phone Wednesday.
He described the amount disposed of during fiscal 2025 as average.
One such discovery prompted evacuations Saturday in Urasoe.
Seven members of the Ground Self-Defense Force’s 101st Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit disabled and removed a U.S.-made 5-inch shell believed to date from World War II in the city’s Gusukuma district, a division spokesman said by phone Wednesday.
Authorities restricted access within about 84 feet of the shell and evacuated approximately 20 people from seven households and three businesses.
The operation began at 9:30 a.m. and lasted about 90 minutes, the spokesman said.
Some Japanese government officials are required to speak to the media without providing their names.
AloJapan.com