Portal:Tokyo/Selected article/May
Iwo Jima (Japanese: 硫黄島 officially Iōtō, also frequently Iōjima : “sulfur island”) is an island of the Japanese Volcano Islands chain, which makes up the southern end of the Ogasawara Islands. The island is located 1,200 kilometers (650 nm) south of mainland Tokyo and administered as part of Ogasawara, one of eight villages of Tokyo. It is famous as the site of the February–March 1945 Battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Japan during World War II, when the iconic photograph Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima was taken. The U.S. occupied Iwo Jima until 1968, when it was returned to Japan. Today Iwo Jima has no permanent civilian population, but has an air base operated by the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and occasionally used for day and night landing practice (touch-and-go exercises) by the U.S. Navy's Carrier Air Wing Five based at Naval Air Facility Atsugi.