Japan castle burns down

Shuri Castle, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the city of Naha on the island of Okinawa, Japan, burned down on Oct. 31. The castle, which was the largest wooden structure on Okinawa, was a reconstruction of the original 500-year-old castle that was destroyed by US troops during the Battle of Okinawa in World War II.

Shuri Castle was the seat of the Ryukyu Kingdom, comprising the Ryukyu Islands, until the islands were annexed by the Japanese Empire in 1879. The islands rim the East China Sea just northeast of Taiwan.