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Okinawa marks 77th anniversary of significant WWII ground battle

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Painkiller,

The crash site was in a civilian area. And yet the U.S. Marines cordoned off the venue with impunity as if to stake a claim.

You can't do that unless Okinawa was U.S.-occupied and a U.S. colony which I think it is.  Some people rightly call it a U.S. military colony.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

voiceofokinawaJune 25  06:57 am JST

When a CH-53D helicopter crashed on the campus of Okikoku University on August 13, 2004, the Marines rushed in and cordoned off the area as they pleased while local police stood idly by outside the venue, unable to investigate the accident.

Of course; you are suggesting it would have made sense to let the Ginowan police investigate a crash of a US military helicopter?

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

There are 28 major U.S. bases and facilities all over Japan: 18 in mainland Japan and 10 in Okinawa.  During occupation, the U.S. military used them as occupation forces: formally from 1945 to 1951 in mainland Japan and from 1945 to 1972 in Okinawa.

Today, the U.S. forces are using them not as occupation forces but as "protectors of Japan" under Article 6 of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty. They changed their name but their ability and perquisites remain the same as ever before. Bases are extraterritorial pockets for the U.S., ensconced securely above Japan's law and constitution.

When a CH-53D helicopter crashed on the campus of Okikoku University on August 13, 2004, the Marines rushed in and cordoned off the area as they pleased while local police stood idly by outside the venue, unable to investigate the accident.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Is Kanagawa, Tokyo, Hokkaido, etc. still under US military occupation?

You forgot Sasebo, Yamaguchi, Aomori, Shizouka too!

The only people who make claims that Okinawa is still under "US Military Occupation" are literally ignorant fools

0 ( +2 / -2 )

 Okinawa is still under U.S. military occupation 77 years after WW II ended.

Is Kanagawa, Tokyo, Hokkaido, etc. still under US military occupation?

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Here we go, calling people 'ignorant' whenever they make a striking point that you disagree with

It's not a matter of opinion, I am merely stating a fact.

No, I'm pretty sure it's people like you who force Okinawans to assume a distinct identity from Japanese on the mainland and marginalize their existence, despite centuries of effort to assimilate with the Yamato people.

Now I call "ignorance" once again, Okinawan's had no say in the matter, and the "effort" to assimilate, you state here is whitewashing the reality that it was a FORCED assimilation, not one born from a desire to become a part of Japan!

It's people with opinions like yours that are the problem. I have always noted that ethnically the Okinawan people are different, but they are citizens of Japan. An idea that seems to have gone right over your head.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

 totally agree. The above comment is pure fantasy thinking. Japan has worked very hard to try to revises and distort historical facts over the years. As a personal opinion, the mistake made was in 1945. I think that Hirohito should have been arrested as a war criminal, put on trail, and executed if found guilty.

Quite so! And one of the biggest reasons Hirohito never came was because there were actual fears that he would be attacked if he came, because of his refusal to apologize for sacrificing the people of Okinawa.

In July of 1975 Prince Akihito was attacked by radicals here in Okinawa, and the authorities knew there would be worse for Hirohito.

https://www.nytimes.com/1975/07/18/archives/prince-and-princess-of-japan-attacked-by-okinawa-radicals.html

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

While Emperor Akihito has visited Okinawa many times, his father Emperor Shōwa was prevented by illness at the end of his life from taking a journey he had long desired to make.

This is BS, and a revisionist view of history! Hirohito wasn't ill for all the years between 1972 and his death in early 1988. Oh dont forget 1945 to 1972 either.

I totally agree. The above comment is pure fantasy thinking. Japan has worked very hard to try to revises and distort historical facts over the years. As a personal opinion, the mistake made was in 1945. I think that Hirohito should have been arrested as a war criminal, put on trail, and executed if found guilty.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Did anyone thank Tokyo for bringing war to the island ?

Living somewhere doesn't make you the voice of it. Just another foreigner.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

At the Mabuni war memorial ceremony, Prune Minister Fumio Kishida was hooted at by a group of protesters with placards reading: "Go back"; "No foisting of bases on Okinawa"; "Don't make Okinawa a battle ground again".

Eisaku Sato, then Prime Minister, proclaimed just before Okinawa's reversion to Japan in 1972 that unless Okinawa was returned, Japan's post-war process would not be over.

Well, has Okinawa been returned to Japan in the true sense of the word? Kishida didn't mention about the Futenma relocation issue in his speech, only saying Okinawa's burden would be eliminated one by one.

Thus, Japan's post-war process is not completely over yet. Okinawa is still under U.S. military occupation 77 years after WW II ended.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

While Emperor Akihito has visited Okinawa many times, his father Emperor Shōwa was prevented by illness at the end of his life from taking a journey he had long desired to make.

This is BS, and a revisionist view of history! Hirohito wasn't ill for all the years between 1972 and his death in early 1988. Oh dont forget 1945 to 1972 either.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Plenty of mainland Japanese also suffered death and destruction but it was less ‘personal’ than that on Okinawa.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

One important duty of the Japanese emperor is to travel around the country and meet citizens in each prefecture. While Emperor Akihito has visited Okinawa many times, his father Emperor Shōwa was prevented by illness at the end of his life from taking a journey he had long desired to make."

Ill health did not stop Hirohito from visiting London in 1971. (He planted a tree for peace and it was ripped up overnight).

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Okinawa was Japan’s only home battleground in WWII.

I reckon that depends on what you consider a battleground. The US was bombing industrial sites, shipyards and whole Japanese cities every night towards the end of the war with B-29s. Those same B-29s were filling the inland Sea with minefields that sank scores of ships. Many analysts now consider the mining operation to have been the most productive use of the B-29 in WWII as it did more harm to the Japanese economy than the highly inaccurate aerial bombing of that era. US Navy subs likewise prowled the Inland Sea sinking Japanese shipping at a pretty high rate. Between the two Japan lost the ability to use the Inland Sea safely.

The comment also ignores the battle of Iwo Jima as mentioned above, the other islands like Truk that became Japanese territory as a result of WWI (former German possessions handed over to Japan who was one of the Allies in that war) and the fighting on Taiwan, which was a Japanese colony and considered to be part of Japan.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Okinawa was Japan’s only home battleground in WWII.

You forgot Iwo Jima.

There are 365 days in a year, and this is ONE day that I believe "politics" should be left out of any discussion and be dedicated to the memory of EVERYONE who was a victim of the war here in Okinawa.

Von Clausewitz said it himself that War is just a continuation of politics by other means. They are inseparable. Politics started the war. Politics ended the war. Politics decided the peace. To act as if the tragedy and death on Okinawa are somehow isolated from politics is to fundamentally misunderstand how the battle and the war came about. The people of Okinawa were just as much victims of politics as of war. You can’t depoliticize the battle of Okinawa and its victims any more than you can depoliticize America’s epidemic of gun violence and its victims - pretending politics have nothing to do with either is denying reality and is frankly an insult

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Every day they mark something just to raise the anti-base rhetoric. It's old, man.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

This was a brutal war,that should of never happened,what was Japanese thinking at this time

4 ( +6 / -2 )

Let’s not forget that the JSDF has killed no one since 1945. The war is over.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

LepyonJune 23  11:52 pm JST

Okinawa and it's wonderful people should be an independent state

With you on that one.

So much of Okinawa's land is taken up by mainland companies (hotels mainly), which pollute the waters, add noise to the environment, and funnel the huge revenues off the island so it barely touches the hands of th locals.

2 ( +7 / -5 )

Okinawa and it's wonderful people should be an independent state

1 ( +5 / -4 )

They were forced to assimilate same as in the classic Gengis Khan method.

Good, but people like you would rather see that Okinawans are treated differently and distance themselves from mainland Japan so that the US can have their ways with the island without hindrance.

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

Salient

The Yamato people that annexed Japan from the Korean peninsula are mostly Chinese DNA whereas the Ryukyuans are the Malay aboriginal group.

And i wouldn't say they made efforts to assimilate with the Yamato because the okinawans/ Ryukyuans weren't allowed to learn their languages and continue their culture.

They were forced to assimilate same as in the classic Gengis Khan method.

The Malay are totally different .

0 ( +6 / -6 )

However i live with Ryukyu natives and they assured me they were treated more kindly by the Americans then they were by the Japanese.

Well, they shouldn't have become Japan's 47th prefecture then.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

"During the showa era 30 million people perished under his reign which is more than adolf"

There is no dedicated and highly ubiquitous and, really, dishonest propaganda mechanism keeping that fact ever in the public eye for political advantage...

0 ( +3 / -3 )

@salient

The okinawans aren't fond of either the Japanese or the Americans particularly.

Both the Japanese and the Americans invaded Okinawa or the Ryukyu kingdom.

However i live with Ryukyu natives and they assured me they were treated more kindly by the Americans then they were by the Japanese.

It may sound odd but its true.

Japanese still treat okinawans poorly.

-1 ( +7 / -8 )

It's too bad that those people who fought so valiantly and bravely and sacrificed their LIVES to defend Japan had no idea how poorly and with what disdain that same Japan would treat their surviving descendants...

-3 ( +3 / -6 )

Hmm... 1945 and 1972, times change. 

Nope, the part where Okinawans are not so fond of the American invaders has not changed.

-4 ( +3 / -7 )

Hmm... 1945 and 1972, times change. Your comment here really shows your ignorance of what happened in history here.

Here we go, calling people 'ignorant' whenever they make a striking point that you disagree with

You also have a HUGE lack of education and knowledge of the difference between nationality and ethnicity!

No, I'm pretty sure it's people like you who force Okinawans to assume a distinct identity from Japanese on the mainland and marginalize their existence, despite centuries of effort to assimilate with the Yamato people.

-4 ( +3 / -7 )

@BigP

As much as iam sincerely uncomfortable and horrified at what happened during the showa era - i had read that Hirohito did apologize and even wanted to accept execution for his war crimes , however the USA government didn't allow that because of concern Japan to become a civil war and the Soviets might take advantage

3 ( +5 / -2 )

@OssanAmerica

He was known as emperor Hirohito the 124th

During the showa era 30 million people perished under his reign which is more than adolf

-2 ( +4 / -6 )

YubaruToday  06:25 pm JST

The one person that would have mattered is long dead. Emperor Hirohito. He never came to Okinawa once he became Emperor and never apologized to the Okinawan people for the sacrifices they made in defense of "his" country. It's never been about the government apologizing, it has always been about Hirohito, but he is long dead, and any apologies have lost their meaning because HE never did!

"One important duty of the Japanese emperor is to travel around the country and meet citizens in each prefecture. While Emperor Akihito has visited Okinawa many times, his father Emperor Shōwa was prevented by illness at the end of his life from taking a journey he had long desired to make."

https://www.nippon.com/en/features/c05503/

This day should not involve politics. Of all kinds.

-7 ( +2 / -9 )

Why should Japan apologize to the JAPANESE for anything related to WWII? For the record, Okinawans opted for Japanese rule once again in 1972 over American occupation.

Hmm... 1945 and 1972, times change. Your comment here really shows your ignorance of what happened in history here.

You also have a HUGE lack of education and knowledge of the difference between nationality and ethnicity!

1 ( +11 / -10 )

Hirohito never visited nor apologized to Okinawa after the war, but he did manage to visit Disneyland and meet Mickey Mouse in 1975.

He valued his Mickey Mouse watch very much.

That puts his value on all those lost souls.

1 ( +11 / -10 )

The j govt assigned young japanese boys to the tekketsu kinnotai which is the "Iron and Blood Imperial Corps" to roll under Allied tanks with dynamite/explosive laden backpacks with the sole purpose of blowing up the tanks. Children suicide bombers, in other words.

This is real. It is a fact. Even the j govt admits it.

Yet factual statements like this oddly receive down votes.

Denying history only delays an overwhelming backlash.

1 ( +6 / -5 )

Okinawa was Japan’s only home battleground in WWII.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

It's inexcusable what the j govt forced young pre-teen and young teen boys to do.

The forgotten suicide bombers.

The j govt is beyond shameless.

-4 ( +8 / -12 )

i'm curious if the japanese govt has ever apologized to the Okinawans for how they were treated during WWII... if not, they should!

The one person that would have mattered is long dead. Emperor Hirohito. He never came to Okinawa once he became Emperor and never apologized to the Okinawan people for the sacrifices they made in defense of "his" country.

Why should Japan apologize to the JAPANESE for anything related to WWII? For the record, Okinawans opted for Japanese rule once again in 1972 over American occupation.

-5 ( +8 / -13 )

i'm curious if the japanese govt has ever apologized to the Okinawans for how they were treated during WWII... if not, they should!

The one person that would have mattered is long dead. Emperor Hirohito. He never came to Okinawa once he became Emperor and never apologized to the Okinawan people for the sacrifices they made in defense of "his" country.

It's never been about the government apologizing, it has always been about Hirohito, but he is long dead, and any apologies have lost their meaning because HE never did!

-1 ( +13 / -14 )

The 1945 battle, during the final phase of World War II, claimed the lives of over 200,000 civilians and soldiers from the Japanese and American militaries. Fighting took place from March through June of that year.

i'm curious if the japanese govt has ever apologized to the Okinawans for how they were treated during WWII... if not, they should!

4 ( +17 / -13 )

There are 365 days in a year, and this is ONE day that I believe "politics" should be left out of any discussion and be dedicated to the memory of EVERYONE who was a victim of the war here in Okinawa.

THIS is one major reason I dislike Deny and any and ALL politicians in Okinawa who use their soap box on this day to push their own agenda!

Tamaki in his speech stressed the burden Okinawa continues to bear from hosting the bulk of U.S. military facilities in the country, a role that continues even though on May 15 the island marked 50 years since its reversion from U.S. rule.

Tamaki also called for the central government to abandon the controversial ongoing project to relocate U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan to another location in Okinawa.

Give it a break! For one day at least! I personally have relatives who died here, both my own, and my wife's, who died here during the war, and today is the day to remember their sacrifice and not play politics!

6 ( +14 / -8 )

Change the title of the article for accuracy purposes! Today June 23rd is what is recognized as the end of the LAST bloodiest battle of the Pacific War in WW2.

6 ( +8 / -2 )

Okinawa marks 77th anniversary of significant WWII ground battle

No, actually today, June 23rd, Irei no hi, (Memorial Day) here in Okinawa is what is known as the official end of the "Battle of Okinawa".

The actual end to the operations in Okinawa lasted a couple of months later, but it is the day after the commanding general of the Japanese imperial army Lieutenant General Mitsuru Ushijima committed suicide and technically ending the battle here in Okinawa.

12 ( +15 / -3 )

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