Writer Ryotaro Shiba (1923-1996) visited Okinawa Prefecture for his serial travelogue “Kaido wo Yuku” (On the highways) in April 1974.
It was essentially the most nice time of the yr to be within the southern prefecture, regionally often known as “urizun,” however the go to made Shiba pensive.
He wrote that each single fragment of what he noticed and heard was “asserting itself like a towering presence” and made him “brood, prefer it or hate it, over the query ‘What’s Japan, in spite of everything?’”
Okinawa on the time will need to have retained extra of its conventional tradition and distinctive landscapes than it has right this moment. They’re barely completely different from these of mainland Japan however bear indicators of connection to the latter on the similar time, calling for a modification to the notion of what “Japan” is.
Could 15 marks 50 years since Okinawa was returned to Japanese sovereignty.
Once we have a look at the state of affairs dealing with the island prefecture, we can’t however repeat the identical query requested by Shiba–“What’s Japan, in spite of everything?”–in a special context.
CAUGHT BETWEEN JAPAN AND U.S.
Japan wished Okinawa to be returned on April 1, 1972. The US argued the date ought to be July 1 of that yr. They compromised within the center on Could 15, 1972.
The choice is symbolic sufficient of the historical past of Okinawa, which has been on the mercy of the 2 nations.
Japan used Okinawa as a “sacrifice stone” of kinds for delaying decisive combating on the mainland throughout World Struggle II. As soon as the conflict ended, Okinawa was positioned below U.S. army administration.
Japan espoused a pacifist Article 9 in its postwar Structure, whereas counting on america for the protection of its territory.
Emperor Hirohito (1901-1989), who was alleged to be “combining in himself the rights of sovereignty” below the Structure abolished after the conflict, despatched a message to the U.S. facet saying that he “hopes that america will proceed the army occupation of Okinawa and different islands of the Ryukyus.”
U.S. troops constructed many army bases in Okinawa Prefecture. In addition they relocated the army items that needed to go away mainland Japan, in some instances after dealing with opposition campaigns of native residents, to the southern prefecture.
In returning to Japanese sovereignty, the Okinawans hoped to flee from a state of affairs the place choices that affected themselves have been made by others, regardless of what they wished or thought. In addition they wished to see the presence of U.S. army bases within the prefecture decreased to ranges “on par with the mainland.”
The truth by no means turned out that method.
The burden of U.S. army bases has grow to be even larger.
The island prefecture, which accounts for under 0.6 % of Japan’s whole landmass, hosts about 70 % of all services devoted to the U.S. army in Japan. That extraordinary state of affairs was dropped at “perfection” after Okinawa’s reversion to Japan.
Underneath army administration, U.S. troops took land from the native inhabitants “via bayonets and bulldozers.” A high U.S. administrator brazenly referred to as Okinawa’s autonomy a “fantasy.”
The return to Japanese sovereignty definitely ended international rule of that kind.
Nevertheless, we are able to solely say that the habits of the Japanese authorities that’s elected and given a mandate by the general public has little differed from that in essence.
Tokyo has despatched out waves of riot squads and patrol vessels and turned a deaf ear to Okinawans’ repeated manifestations of a “no.” It additionally hid data and made in depth use of law-evading approaches to comprise native protests.
All these are what the central authorities has been doing over the land reclamation work off the Henoko district of Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, to relocate U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, which is at the moment in Ginowan, additionally within the prefecture.
The Okinawans have constantly referred to as for decreased burdens of U.S. army bases. Round 2010, additionally they started sustaining that they’re being “discriminated in opposition to” by individuals on the mainland.
“Is it Okinawa, or mainland Japan, that’s making the most of the state of affairs?”
Former Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga (1950-2018) requested this query, as pointed as an arrow, that bites into the center.
MISGIVINGS OF STUDENT CORPS LEADER
Compared, individuals on the mainland seem like attempting to cover below their hardened callousness.
Turning their eyes away from the powerful query, they dismiss the Okinawans’ dissent, apparently oblivious of the way in which they’ve loved peace at Okinawa’s sacrifice all through the postwar interval.
Some say it simply “can’t be helped as a result of it’s all about safety.” Others complain that the Okinawans “proceed grumbling simply too lengthy.”
Lately, there was even slander and verbal assaults in opposition to the voices being raised in Okinawa.
We have now a set of disquieting figures.
In a nationwide survey taken by The Asahi Shimbun 10 years in the past, 21 % of respondents mentioned they have been OK with the present state of U.S. army bases in Okinawa Prefecture. A mixed 72 % mentioned the bases ought to be both decreased or eliminated completely within the years to come back.
In the same survey taken earlier this yr, 41 % of respondents mentioned they have been nice with the bases remaining the way in which they’re, about double the corresponding determine a decade in the past.
The determine is barely barely in need of the mixed 52 % who mentioned the bases ought to be decreased or eradicated, though a easy comparability is precluded by variations within the survey strategies used and different circumstances.
“There isn’t a forecasting in any respect whether or not it is going to take 10 years or 20 years earlier than we shall be internet hosting army bases solely on the similar ranges because the mainland,” Seizen Nakasone (1907-1995), who led the all-female Himeyuri Pupil Corps through the 1945 Battle of Okinawa, wrote in his diary forward of the reversion to Japan. “At worst, the bases may very well be with us semi-permanently.”
That state of affairs is turning into extra of an actual risk. If that’s the place now we have arrived at in spite of everything these 50 years, we must always ask, “What’s Japan, in spite of everything?”
PRIME MINISTER’S 1972 REMARK
“Japan is ready to make use of the Ryukyus in any technique to achieve benefit for Tokyo; it’s ill-prepared to make sacrifices for the island individuals,” says a passage in a 1953 guide by U.S. historian George H. Kerr (1911-1992).
That passage has been perceived in Okinawa as indicating a grain of fact.
If Tokyo has an objection to make, it ought to achieve this by taking corresponding motion.
In response to China’s army buildup of latest years, america is shifting to a technique of dispersed deployment and versatile operation of army items within the thought that it’s dangerous to proceed counting on large-scale army bases.
An knowledgeable panel of the Okinawa prefectural authorities final yr offered a report saying that it’s attainable to grab the chance to have U.S. forces in Okinawa relocated exterior the southern prefecture.
At a ceremony to mark Okinawa’s return 50 years in the past, Prime Minister Eisaku Sato (1901-1975) mentioned: “From right this moment on, we, compatriots, will be collectively to share our pleasure and sorrow.”
That shouldn’t be become a false assertion. The duty for residing as much as Sato’s comment lies with individuals on the mainland.
–The Asahi Shimbun, Could 15
