Okinawa Memorial Day

It is the Okinawa Memorial Day today. Sixty-eight years ago, the organizational resistance of Japan Imperial Army and Navy against the United Nations Force ended, leaving over two hundred thousand of victims dead. During three months of battle over the island, one out of four Okinawans were dead. Since it is marked as the only ground battle in Japan, Okinawa was acknowledged as a “sacrificed stone” in the history. It is important for policy makers of Japan and the United States to understand this complicated feeling of Okinawa against the government of Japan.

The Battle of Okinawa started late March in 1945, one month after the defeat in Iwojima. As shown in Iwojima, Japan Imperial Force adopted a strategy of taking on long battle in Okinawa to delay United Nations’ aggression to the mainland of Japan. Just as a slow hurricane leaves great damage on the land, the Battle of Okinawa, dubbed Typhoon of Steel on the island, caught a great deal of non-military citizens in the fight.

The main reason that Okinawa has been keeping a strong resentment against the government of Japan was not only the battle itself, but the evil behaviors of the Japanese Imperial Army. Given the order of extending the battle from Tokyo headquarters, military leaders forced the residents in Okinawa to fight at the end, or kill themselves, to avoid being caught by the United Nations. Soldiers sometimes killed a number of citizens, or forced families to kill each other.

It is fair to say that the battle was the starting point of current distrust of Okinawa against Japan. Even after the surrender of Imperial Army, Okinawa had been acknowledged as an important outpost of the security in North East Asia. The government of Japan accepted the deal of leaving Okinawa under the administration of the United States, when Japan and the United Nations signed the San Francisco Peace Treaty in 1951. As many know, the violence of US soldiers and accidents of US force continued after the administration was returned back to Japan in 1972, getting citizens in Okinawa frightened every day.

At the ceremony of the memorial day, the Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, made a speech that recognized the burden of US Forces in Okinawa, and promised to do his best for reducing the burden. His policy, however, has been obviously or intensively against Okinawa. Celebrating the Sovereignty Restoration’s Day on April 28th, the day which had been called the Day of Humiliation in Okinawa, was severely criticized by the Okinawans. Having no leverage to US in negotiating Futenma issue, it is unlikely for Abe to make a substantial deal with Okinawa.