Japan Announces New Name for Iwo Jima

The Japanese island of Iwo Jima has been renamed Iwo To, 60 years after it became the scene of one of the bloodiest battles of the second world war.

The new name is written using the same kanji characters as Iwo Jima ' or "sulphur island" but pronounced differently, and was used by civilian residents of the island until they were evacuated in 1944.

Younger male residents were kept on to help fight the advancing US forces, who landed on February 19 1945, sparking a fierce battle that lasted five weeks. The Americans had estimated it would be over in four days.

About 6,800 US soldiers died and 17,000 were injured, while only 1,080 of the 22,000 Japanese troops defending the island survived. The remains of about 13,000 soldiers lie where they fell.

The civilian population was not allowed to return after the war, when the island was used exclusively by the US military. It reverted to Japanese control in 1968 and now acts as a base for about 400 Japanese soldiers and visiting US navy airmen.

More than six decades after the US secured the island as a base for B-29 bombers bound for raids on Tokyo, it is still honeycombed by thousands of tunnels and foxholes dug by the Japanese in anticipation of the US invasion.

The island's tragic history was revisited last year with the release of two films directed by Clint Eastwood that told the story of the battle from the perspectives of US and Japanese troops.

Iwo To lies about 700 miles (1,250km) south of Tokyo but, as part of the Ogasawara chain, it falls under the jurisdiction of the Tokyo metropolitan government.

The volcanic Mount Suribachi, where the photographer Joe Rosenthal captured his iconic image of six US soldiers raising the Stars and Stripes, has shown signs of activity in recent months.