Okinawa cities call on government to rescind order to remove from textbooks account of wartime ‘mass suicide’

   Three Okinawan city assemblies in their extraordinary sessions have unanimously adopted resolutions calling on the government to rescind its order to remove from high school history textbooks an account that the Japanese Imperial Army had forced Okinawans into “mass suicide” during the Okinawa Battle.

   A resolution adopted by the Naha City Assembly on May 15 stated, “It is an undeniable fact that ‘mass suicide’ during the Okinawa Battle would not have occurred without the Japanese Imperial Army’s order, coercion, or guidance.”

   It went on to state, “Okinawans that experienced the tragic ground battle and were forced to make indescribable sacrifices can never condone the government order.”

   A resolution adopted by the assembly of Itoman City, where the Okinawa Battle ended and many residents were killed, criticized the government text screening policy for attempting to deny the many testimonies of those who experienced the battle as well as the historical facts.

   It stated, “Aside from combat victims, many residents were driven to death due to the Japanese Imperial Army’s expulsion of them from shelters and the blocking of their surrender.”

   The Tomigusuku City Assembly on May 14 adopted a similar resolution that stated, “This textbook screening decision is imposing on Okinawans history textbooks that have failed to face up the historical facts.”

   In the screening of history textbooks to be used in high schools from 2008, the Education Ministry ordered five publishing companies to rewrite seven textbooks, stating, “No evidence has been shown that the Japanese Imperial Army gave residents an order to commit mass suicide.” In response to this guidance, the publishing companies removed such expressions as “forced to [commit mass suicide]” or deleted “the Japanese Imperial Army” from the sentence to obscure who had been responsible for the mass suicides.

- Akahata, May 16, 2007