Takaichi Faces Resentment in Okinawa

On June 23rd, Okinawa had the memorial day of the end of Battle of Okinawa in 1945. In the memorial ceremony at Mabuni, where an intensive battle was taken place, the Governor of Okinawa hoped Okinawa to be the basis to build a peaceful world. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi pledged to continue tireless effort for every Japanese to live in peace. However, Takaichi received a heckling of “No war” during her speech, reflecting deep skepticisms of Okinawa against the prime minister.

Okinawa is known as the place where ground battle was taken place in the World War II. In the Battle of Okinawa, 200 thousand were dead on both sides of America and Japan. It is recognized that one out of four people in Okinawa died in the battle. Some people killed themselves in the cave, forced by soldiers of Japanese Imperial Army. Okinawa has a fundamental resentment against the government of Japan.

 

Governor Tamaki represented that resentment in his Declaration for Peace to the memorial ceremony. “Over 200 thousand lives that could not live under the sun which we now see, in a complete darkness of cave, in endless downfalls of bombs and with pains of malaria during evacuation. Memory of tragedy is still prevalent all over Okinawa,” Tamaki described.

 

With his opposition to ongoing landfill for a new military base in Henoko, Tamaki demanded dialogue by the United States, the government of Japan and Okinawa to settle the dispute, stressing excessive concentration of U.S. Forces in Okinawa. Tamaki dismissed an argument that elimination of nuclear weapons would be an idealistic discussion, and insisted that it should be an obligation of Japan to grapple with.

 

Following Tamaki, Takaichi gave a speech to the ceremony. She reiterated official standpoint of the government of Japan in a context that building military base is necessary for reducing burden of Okinawa. “As we promote integrating and shrinking U.S. military facilities, we will coordinate with Okinawa over reuse of returned lands,” said Takaichi.

 

During her speech, multiple hecklings from audience were hurled to Takaichi. They included “Implement Article 9 of the constitution,” “Stop discriminating Okinawa,” and “Do not start a war.” Asked about how she felt on those taunts, Takaichi turned down protest of Okinawa with sarcasm. “Stop war? We are not waging any war,” said Takaichi in her press conference. She stressed that she would enhance defense capability to protect the people in Japan.

 

In March, a high school student studying the U.S. base issue died in an accident of boats offshore Henoko, and the Ministry of Education recognized the curriculum as violating Education Basic Act that requires political neutrality of education. Takaichi denied the argument that the ministry had excessively intervened in the study of a high school. To the recognition of the ministry, there is a concern that studying activities for peace, including interviewing to the sufferers of atomic bomb in Hiroshima or Nagasaki, might be restricted under the name of political neutrality.

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