Magnitude of Okinawans’ rally forces government to review textbook screening policy on wartime ‘mass suicides’

   The striking magnitude of the September 29 rally in which 110,000 Okinawans, one out of ten Okinawans, took part is forcing the government to reconsider the controversial textbook screening policy of denying the fact that the Japanese Imperial Army had forced Okinawans into “mass suicides” in WWII.

   Chief Cabinet Secretary Machimura Nobutaka on October 1 said, “There could be some ideas, efforts, and wisdom,” hinting that the government may take measures to redress the problem. Education Minister Tokai Kisaburo on October 2 said that the ministry will sincerely respond to the Okinawans’ call and expressed his intention to convene the Textbook Authorization Council if textbook publishers submit applications for correction.

   On October 1, Okinawa Governor Nakaima Hirokazu in the prefectural assembly stated, “In the rally, I felt the boiling anger behind Okinawans’ strong demands for peace, like magma about to explode.”

   Okinawa Prefectural Assembly Chair Nakazato Toshinobu, who served as chair in the rally, said to an Akahata reporter, “Based on a projection of 1,600 organizations that had planned to participate, we estimated that the number of participants could reach 60,000. In reality, the number jumped to 110,000. If we had provided enough transport, the number could have reached as high as 150,000.”

   Bus companies provided participants with one-way free-ride services to the rally venue in Ginowan City, but because most of the buses became full before departing from the terminal in Naha City many people could not get on them.

   A major business school in Naha City took for the first time in its history an exceptional measure to regard participation in the rally as class attendance. A total of 1,200 students, teachers, and administrative staff took part in the rally. “I imagine how those who died in the ‘mass suicides’ felt and I get angry about the textbook screening policy. I don’t understand why the government wants to hide the truth,” said Arakaki Chinatsu, a 19-year-old female student.

   Tamayose Tetsuei, Okinawa Prefectural Liaison Council for Development of Kodomo-kai (children’s association) chair who served as vice chair in the rally, said, “Okinawans clearly expressed their opinion on this issue. Okinawans established this suprapartisan rally organizing committee and thus have adopted a firm stance to not back off until the textbook screening policy is retracted. The media has also reported this issue everyday from Okinawans’ perspectives.”

   To understand why Okinawans are so united over this issue, the history of Okinawa needs to be understood.

   In WWII, Okinawans were abandoned for the sake of the defense of mainland Japan and forced to commit “mass suicides” by the Japanese Imperial Army. After the war, they rose up against the U.S. military occupation and demanded the return of Okinawa to Japan, and the massive struggle eventually forced the U.S. government to return it in 1972. In 1995, Okinawans held a rally in protest against the gang rape of a schoolgirl by U.S. Marine Corps soldiers in which more than 80,000 Okinawans took part. At present, the Japanese and U.S. governments are attempting to impose heavier base burdens on Okinawans as part of the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan.

   Okinawa University Professor Emeritus Arasaki Moriteru said, “Okinawans’ energy has emerged as the indignation over the textbook screening policy concerning the ‘mass suicides’ in the Okinawa Battle increased. However, we must note that behind the indignation is a backlash against the Koizumi and Abe governments’ outrageous imposition of the Japan-U.S. agreement on the U.S. forces realignment.”                                                               - Akahata, October 3, 2007