Standing at the summit of Banzai Cliff, Japan’s emperor bowed deeply in memory of hundreds of Japanese civilians who threw themselves into the Pacific, choosing suicide over surrender to American soldiers at the culmination of a crucial battle of World War II. In this summer of Pacific War anniversaries, Emperor Akihito came here Tuesday in the only known visit by a Japanese monarch to an overseas battlefield, choosing this tropical island where mass suicides took place in devotion to his father, Emperor Hirohito. Full Story