50 years of return to Okinawa U.S. military base and Amami natives Unspoken history April 12, 15:28

The burden of the US military base, which continues 50 years after returning to the mainland in Okinawa.

In fact, people from the Amami Islands, who once shared the same roots as the Ryukyu Kingdom, were deeply involved in the construction of this base.

For that reason, I interviewed a man who still has mixed feelings.

(Kagoshima Bureau Reporter Koki Niwamoto)

Two roots complex thoughts

Yoron Island in the Amami Islands, located at the southernmost tip of Kagoshima Prefecture.

You can see the shadow of Okinawa Island over the sea.

Megumi Aoyama (78) from Urasoe City, Okinawa Prefecture, has a father from Yoron Island and a mother from Kunigami Village, Okinawa Prefecture.

He has roots in both of the two islands, which are only about 20 kilometers apart.

Now, 50 years after Okinawa's return to the mainland, Mr. Aoyama recalls that he has continued to have mixed feelings due to these two roots.

Mr. Aoyama:

"I'm half Amami. I'm half Amami, so I'm Amami.

There were times when I suffered from various problems, but I still have something that I'm proud of as a Japanese person. I've been alive. "

Father who died in "228 incident"

At the age of four, Aoyama lost track of his father's whereabouts.

Later, it turns out that he was involved in the "228 Incident" in Taiwan.

The "228 Incident" is estimated to have killed more than 18,000 people in 1947 after the Pacific War when the Kuomintang government, which traveled from mainland China to Taiwan, suppressed the protests of the inhabitants by force. increase.

At that time, it is believed that more than 3,300 Japanese people were staying in Taiwan for work, and Aoyama's father was one of them.

But at that time, I didn't even know why his father went missing.

Mr. Aoyama and his colleagues, who have lost their lives, will move from Kagoshima to Okinawa, where their mother's parents' home is located.

Mothers and relatives go to US military base in Okinawa

Mr. Aoyama's complicated feelings are due to his childhood memories after moving to Okinawa.

Her mother's job is a maid at a US military base.

And many of Amami's relatives got a job in building a base.

Near her home in Urasoe City, Aoyama, there is a US military Camp Kinser area.

She says Aoyama was involved in the construction of this base as well as people from Yoron Island.

Why were people from the Amami Islands involved in the construction of the base?

In the Battle of Okinawa, about 120,000 people, one in four Okinawans, were killed in a fierce ground battle between the Japanese and US forces.

Then, in the late 1945's, the US military forcibly seized the land of the inhabitants by a method called "gun sword and bulldozer" in order to proceed with the construction of the base.

There was a fierce opposition movement from the residents.

While the US military sought a labor force to build a base, many in Amami were looking for a job due to the weak industrial base.

Therefore, many people went to Okinawa to work.

"There were more than I imagined" from Amami

In this interview, it was found that 40% of the workers involved in the construction work at that time may have been from Amami.

According to a survey by Tomoyoshi Doi, a researcher at the University of the Ryukyus Islands Regional Science Research Institute, the number of workers in the construction industry in Okinawa as a whole, which was recorded in the materials of USCAR, the American administrative agency that governed Okinawa, was 1958. At that time, 12,436 people.

On the other hand, the number of Amami natives hired to build the base was stated to be about 5,000.

Until now, it was known that migrant workers from Amami were involved in the construction of the base, but the specific figures were unknown.

Researcher Doi points out that this 40% figure is "more than I imagined."

And Mr. Aoyama says that many Amami people do not try to talk about what they were once involved in the construction of the base, albeit for the sake of their lives.

Mr. Aoyama

"The construction of US military airfields and bases is a job that various large companies on the mainland have contracted from the United States.

Including the fact that Amami natives were involved here, it is a taboo in Okinawa. It's difficult to tell these facts because it's treated like this. It's a fact that even adults don't understand, it's a forgotten fact. You have to devise how to tell it to your children and grandchildren. "

Continued base burden Worries are deeper

It has been 50 years since Okinawa returned to the mainland.

It is said that Mr. Aoyama's worries are getting deeper.

Fifty years ago, we aimed to return to the mainland without a base.

Twenty-seven years ago, Marine soldiers assaulted an elementary school girl.

Eighteen years ago, a helicopter that took off from Futenma base crashed at Okinawa International University.

And now, the Futenma base is being relocated off the coast of Henoko, Nago City.

The reality that the heavy burden of US military bases still continues in Okinawa, and the history of Amami natives who have not been told.

Mr. Aoyama is looking at Okinawa now, combining his past that he was able to live by having a base and the thought that Okinawa does not need any more bases.

Mr. Aoyama:

"I think the people working in Henoko are worried about doing it. I don't want to do it, but if I don't do that, I can't eat.

Okinawa without a base, peaceful without a nuclear base or a base .

Okinawans came to the battle for the whole island with the aim of becoming Okinawa, and eventually returned with the base in place. I wonder what it was like for the last 50 years. "

Kagoshima Broadcasting Station Reporter

Kouki Niwamoto In

charge of accidents and disasters in

2020,

covering a wide range of fields such as special attacks, U.S. military base issues, and investigative journalism.