Battle over Okinawa history rages
on By Suvendrini Kakuchi
OKINAWA - A short walk through the rice
and sugarcane fields that dot Yomitan village, 20
kilometers north of Naha, capital of Okinawa
prefecture, leads to dark, dank caves where
hundreds of civilians took refuge as United States
troops invaded the island during World War ll.
More than six decades later, these caves
are at the center of a bitter battle over what
really happened there.
For Masayasu
Oshiro, a historian who has documented the
sufferings of poor farming
communities that were caught in the only battle
fought on Japanese soil between the Imperial Army
and US troops, the facts are clear. "I have
recorded countless stories told by aging Okinawan
war survivors. They include horrifying accounts of
how people committed mass suicide and murder under
orders from the Japanese military. Their
testimonies have been recorded at the Okinawan
prefecture office to track our war history," he
told Inter Press Service.
Such recordings
are irksome for the Japanese government that is
keen to whitewash this part of history. But local
governments in Okinawa and the surrounding islands
are determined not to let the Japanese Education
Ministry have its way.
"The fact is that
such orders to die were sent to people
indoctrinated by the Japanese military and told
that the invading US troops would torture and kill
civilians and that suicide was preferable," said
Mitsuko Toumon, mayor of Okinawa city where
protest demonstrations against the distortions
have been held.
Recently, Oshiro joined
other leaders in releasing a statement demanding
that the truth be told of the Battle of Okinawa -
known as "typhoon of steel" among locals. More
than 200,000 civilians, or one-quarter of the
population, died here in 1945, before Japan
surrendered in August that year.
But the
ministry is bracing for the storm. Officials
explain that the altering of original text that
recorded the Imperial Army's instructions to
Okinawans to kill themselves is based on the fact
that there are divergent views of what exactly
happened. "There is no proof that there were such
orders. So it would be misleading to say the
[Imperial] army was responsible," ministry
official Yumiko Tomimori was quoted in the local
media as saying.
Indeed, a former
commander, Yutaka Umezawa, 88, has joined the
brother of another deceased former captain to sue
Nobel Literature prize winner Kenzaburo Oe and his
publisher over a passage in one of Oe's books that
said the two military men had ordered Okinawans to
commit suicide en masse.
Last week, the
concerned court heard testimony from Harumi
Miyagi, 57, whose deceased mother, Hatsue, had
recalled in a book that said she was told by
villagers there was a military order to commit
suicide rather than be caught by the Americans.
She has also written that the villagers were given
grenades by Japanese soldiers to kill US soldiers
and themselves.
Various other testimonies
by Okinawans, keen on defending their history,
have also begun to surface. Nobuaki Kinjo, a
Christian pastor who is now a witness in the
ongoing lawsuit, revealed recently that he had
killed his mother and sister, believing that he
was saving them from torture.
Oshiro says
the cave incidents were a clear example of the
utter disregard the Japanese military had for the
local civilians.
Oral testimonies
collected by Oshiro reveal that at least 80 people
were shot by Japanese soldiers or killed
themselves in one cave where even today offerings
of flowers and paper cranes are made daily - in
keeping with tradition.
In another cave,
more than a thousand occupants were saved because,
according to Oshiro, they had disregarded orders
from the Imperial Army and walked out waving their
hands to signal surrender and were then taken away
by the US troops to refugee camps.
"It
just shows how innocent people were duped mostly
because the Imperial Army believed that if they
were caught by the Americans they would reveal
intelligence. This tragedy must be acknowledged by
Japan," he explained.
Experts point out
that the Okinawan issue has resurfaced in the
background of moves by the conservative government
of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to rewrite Japan's
war history.
Last week, much against the
wishes of the Japanese government, the US House of
Representatives adopted a resolution urging Tokyo
to apologize to former sex slaves of the Japanese
military. Many aging survivors have spoken
publicly of being duped into prostitution and kept
against their will.
The issue flared up
after Abe stated that there were no documents to
prove that the thousands of young women from
countries such as China and Korea who had provided
sexual services to the Imperial Army were forced
to do so.
Oshiro explains that the problem
is similar to what is happening in Okinawa.
Testimonies from survivors are disregarded by
conservative groups on the ground that they must
provide proof. "That is not fair."
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