OKINAWA

After four days of exploring the main island of Okinawa I can tell you without a moment's hesitation that it is one fine place. The dramatic coastline ,the breathtakingly beautiful capes , the emerald green and/or cobalt blue sea , the fantastic Okinawan culture (especially the local cuisine and folk music) all conspire together to successfully lure millions of people to the islands each year. To be precise, 5.5 million people visited Okinawa last year. Not bad for a prefecture with roughly one million residents. This number includes 50,000 US military service members and their families. Okinawa accounts for less than 1 percent of Japan's total land area, but is home to 75 percent of all military facilities used exclusively by the US forces in Japan. About 10.4 percent of the total land area in the prefecture is used by the US military, but bases occupy 19 percent of the main islands. These Americans are not welcomed by many on the island. US service members sometimes commit violent crimes in Okinawa and many people think the frequent flights of US aircraft are a terrible source of noise pollution and occasionally downright dangerous. ( Recently , a US helicoper crashed into an Okinawan school.....) All over the islands you can see signs protesting the presence of the US military. This opposition is somewhat tempered by the economic dependence the prefecture( the poorest in Japan) has on the bases. For myself, I certainly had mixed feelings coming across large US military trucks in the remote north eastern part of the island. Of course this military presence is a legacy of World War 2.

Okinawa's sovereignty did not revert back to Japan until May 15, 1972, and this caused a problem for Okinawan drivers. While the rest of Japan was driving on the left side of the road, Okinawa was the only prefecture driving on the right. To maintain safety and uniformity, Okinawa was then ordered to comply with the other prefectures.

The change occurred at 6:00 A.M., on July 30, 1978. Okinawans went to bed driving on the right side of the road and awoke to traffic on the left side of the road. Overnight, all of the street signs were reversed, and the population was now expected to drive on the left side of the road.
The War itself was a real tragedy for the islands. From 20 to 30% of the Okinawans were killed in the battle for Okinawa ( called the "rain of steel" by the Japanese) during the spring of 1945. Thousands commited suicide in order to avoid capture by the invading Americans. I visited many war memorials in the south of the island and, even though I was familiar with the history before the trip, I was deeply moved.