Okinawa WW2 Battle

[Muz1234]

Did the Japanese army use civilians as the last line of defense during the Okinawa raid? (After re-watching some scenes of The Pacific Okinawa battle)

 

[misternada]

Once an old japanese guy told me that Japan lost the war because of Okinawan and told me they were not good.
Might be a view few some people share on the mainland.

 

[Muz1234]

Okinawan?

 

[nice gaijin]

In my experience, older Okinawans do not think fondly of the Japanese military. The empire took over and treated them like second class citizens, drafting them into the war and only telling them about their "duty as Japanese citizens" to die for the emperor once they became the shield for the main islands, as if victory was an option once the allied troops were hitting Japanese soil. They told them about all the horrible stuff the Americans would do to them and their loved ones if they took the island, famously urging them that suicide was a better fate. When none of that came to pass, they had realized how badly abused they had been by the imperialist army.

The younger folk are more focused on the modern problems arising from the US military presence on the island, but the Okinawans I've met who were around at the end of the war look much more favorably on the Americans than the Japanese military.

 

[Muz1234]

What kind of modern problems?

 

[nice gaijin]

There have been various crimes and accidents involving military personnel that have soured relations, just a few described here: US apologises to Japan over accidents

Even the official prefectural government wants to consolidate and reduce the US military footprint on the island:

https://www.pref.okinawa.jp/site/chijiko/kichitai/documents/us%20military%20base%20issues%20in%20okinawa.pdf

 

[Lothor]

There is also the fact that some of the airbases are very near centres of population (or is it just the way that NHK always frames the shot?), so there is the potential for severe accidents.