-The Okinawa prefectural assembly Friday unanimously adopted a statement urging Tokyo to retract its decision to omit from history textbooks the Japanese military's involvement in mass civilian suicides during the Battle of Okinawa.

"It is an undeniable truth that (mass suicides by Okinawa residents) would have never occurred without the involvement of the Imperial Japanese Army," the statement said.

A group of assembly members traveled to Tokyo to submit the request to the prime minister, the education minister and others.

The statement says the descriptions of the Imperial Japanese Army's involvement should be retained in the textbooks.