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is Japan's southernmost prefecture, and consists of hundreds of the Ryūkyū Islands in a chain over 1,000 km long, which extends southwest from Kyūshū (the southwesternmost of Japan's main four islands) to Taiwan. Okinawa's capital, Naha, is located in the southern part of the largest and most populous island, Okinawa Island, which is approximately half-way between Kyūshū and Taiwan. The disputed Senkaku Islands (Diaoyu Islands) are also administered as part of Okinawa Prefecture.
History The islands that now make up Okinawa Prefecture were formerly not part of Japan, but part of an independent nation called the Ryūkyū Kingdom. Currently they include the main island of Okinawa and the Yaeyama and Miyako island groups. Okinawa's location in the East China Sea, and relatively close proximity to Japan, Korea, China and South East Asia allowed the Ryūkyū Kingdom to become a prosperous trading nation. The many castle ruins that dot the island date from this period. However, in 1609 the Japanese Satsuma clan, who controlled the region that is now Kagoshima Prefecture, invaded the Ryūkyū Kingdom. Following this invasion, the Ryūkyū Kingdom was forced to enter into a tribute-trade relationship with Japan in addition to their previous tribute-trade relationship with China. Satsuma maintained the pretense of Ryūkyūan sovereignty in order to access the China trade that had been severely restricted by this time. Though Satsuma maintained strong influence over the Ryūkyū Kingdom, the Ryūkyū Kingdom maintained a large degree of political independence. In 1879, following the Meiji Restoration, the Ryūkyū Kingdom was forcibly incorporated into Japan as a colony known as Okinawa Prefecture. Following the end of World War II and the Battle of Okinawa in 1945, for 27 years Okinawa was under United States administration. During this time the US military established numerous bases on Okinawa Honto and elsewhere. On May 15, 1972, Okinawa once again became part of Japan, although to this day the United States maintains a large military presence there. Over 15,000 Marines, in addition to contingents from the Navy, Army and Air Force, are stationed there. Representing only 0.6% of the total landmass of Japan, Okinawa supports roughly 75% of all U.S. troops in the country. Many Okinawans feel that the large presence places an undue burden on their small island (almost 8% of land on Okinawa-Jima is U.S. territory) and have been upset by a number of incidents involving U.S. servicemembers and local citizens. Others believe that the benefits of the U.S. presence, including security and economic strength, outweigh the disadvantages. The U.S. has recently announced plans to move the bulk of its Japan-based forces to Guam, over a period of many years. See also Ryūkyūan history. Major islands
Cities
Towns and villages These are the towns and villages in each district. Mergers Demography Climate and nature
Language and culture
Karate Karate originated on Okinawa. There are several styles, among them being Shotokan, Shorin-Ryu, Uechi Ryu, Goju Ryu, Isshin-Ryu and Shorinjiryu. In popular culture Architecture
US Military controversy While the US military presence provides employment for the residents of the communities near the bases, some Okinawans feel that their livelihood and human rights have been violated throughout the 50 years of the postwar era by high-level noise pollution from military drills, aircraft accidents, environmental destruction, and crimes committed by U.S. military personnel. Consequent problems of military crimes (including extraterritoriality), a base-dependent local economy, and other issues continue to arise in Okinawa, and have their roots arising from the early post-war period. On September 4, 1995, three U.S. servicemen raped a 12-year old girl, sparking off some of the largest anti-military protests in recent history.* In November of 1995, a group called "Okinawan Women Act Against Military Violence" was organized to raise awareness of the crimes committed by US military personnel on the island. US nuclear arms base Okinawa is one of a number of Japanese islands which has been used by the United States to host nuclear arms, according to Robert S. Norris, William M. Arkin, and William Burr writing for the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists in early 2000. * * This is despite the Japanese Constitution being explicitly not just anti-nuclear-weapons, but anti-war. * Whether the site is currently used for this purpose is unknown, as great secrecy surrounds the United States' siting of nuclear arms bases. "There were nuclear weapons on Chichi Jima and Iwo Jima, an enormous and varied nuclear arsenal on Okinawa, nuclear bombs (sans their fissile cores) stored on the mainland at Misawa and Itazuki airbases (and possibly at Atsugi, Iwakuni, Johnson, and Komaki airbases as well), and nuclear-armed U.S. Navy ships stationed in Sasebo and Yokosuka." "It is true that Chichi Jima, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa were under U.S. occupation, that the bombs stored on the mainland lacked their plutonium and/ or uranium cores, and that the nuclear-armed ships were a legal inch away from Japanese soil. All in all, this elaborate strategem maintained the technicality that the United States had no nuclear weapons 'in Japan.'" MCAS Futenma relocation The governments of the United States and Japan agreed on October 26, 2005 to move the Marine Corps Air Station Futenma base from its location in the densely populated city of Ginowan to the more northerly and remote Camp Schwab. Under the plan, thousands of Marines will relocate. The move is partly an attempt to relieve tensions between the people of Okinawa and the Marine Corps. Protests from environmental groups and residents over the construction of part of a runway at Camp Schwab, and from businessmen and politicians around Futenma and Henoko, have occured*. The legality of the proposed heliport relocation has been questioned as being a violation of International Law, including the World Heritage Convention, the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in an article titled "Boundary Intersections of UNESCO Heritage Conventions: Using Custom and Cultural Landscapes to Save Okinawa’s Dugong Habitat from U.S. Heliport Construction" which can be found at www.henoko.com. * The article even questions whether the current use of Camp Schwab for Amphibious training violates these three conventions. Education The public schools in Okinawa are overseen by the Okinawa Prefectural Board of Education. The agency directly operates several public high schools *. Air transportation Highways Rail Ports The major ports of Okinawa include United States military installations See also | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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