Okinawa Island - History

History

The island of Okinawa was the site of most of the ground warfare in the Battle of Okinawa during World War II, when American Army and Marine Corps troops fought a long and bloody battle to capture Okinawa, so it could next be used as the major air force and troop base for the planned invasion of Japan. During this 82-day-long battle, about 95,000 Imperial Japanese Army troops and 12,510 Americans were killed, and in addition to these deaths, somewhere between 42,000 and 150,000 Okinawan civilians - approximately one quarter of the civilian population - were either killed or committed suicide.

During the American military occupation of Japan (1945–52), which followed the Imperial Japanese surrender on September 2, 1945, in Tokyo Bay, the United States controlled Okinawa Island and the nearby Ryukyu islands and islets. These all remained in American military possession until June 17, 1972, with numerous U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps, and U.S. Air Force bases there.

Since 1972, United States Armed Forces personnel remained on Okinawa Island by the invitation of the Government of Japan as a measure partially fulfilling the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan.

There has been a movement among some of the local Japanese Okinawan population against the American military and naval presence on Okinawa. Several rape cases have been prosecuted against American servicemen. The most publicized rape took place on September 4, 1995, when three American servicemen from Camp Hansen, kidnapped and raped a 12-year-old 6th-grade Japanese girl. All three were arrested, tried, convicted, and imprisoned for this crime.

In February 2010 an earthquake, measuring 7.0 on the Richter Scale, hit the island.