Photo/Illutration Police officers forcibly remove protesters blocking trucks from entering a site for landfill work in the Henoko district of Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, on Feb. 25, 2019, a day after the prefectural referendum on the relocation of a U.S. base to Henoko. (The Asahi Shimbun file photo)

When Okinawa was still under U.S. occupation in the 1960s, Ushi Tamashiro, a local fishmonger also known affectionately as "Goketsu Oba'a" (Hotshot Granny), took the Government of the Ryukyu Islands to court.

Tamashiro was enraged by the 20 percent import tariff levied on "sanma" (Pacific saury), then an affordable fish favored by the common people.

Dubbed the Sanma Saiban (Saury trial), the Granny's offbeat legal action eventually evolved into a battle over Okinawa's autonomy.

Having recently watched a preview of "Sanma Democracy," a film scheduled for release in July, I interviewed the director, Magoari Yamazato, 57.

"I have been in the broadcasting business for 30 years, but I never knew about this lawsuit," said Yamazato, who is also a producer at Okinawa Television Broadcasting Co.

Fascinated by how the lowly fish ignited a mass movement, he wrote his film proposal in one sitting, he recalled.

How did the trial go?

I found the court documents at the offices of the Japan Tariff Association in Tokyo's Kanda district.

Granny Ushi won her case handily and was refunded her tariff payments of over four and a half years.

But on the day of the verdict, the United States Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands (USCAR) issued a decree in disregard of the court's decision.

The order came from U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Paul Wyatt Caraway, the most autocratic individual ever appointed to the post of the High Commissioner of USCAR.

Caraway also deprived the Okinawans of their right to administer justice in ensuing sanma trials, giving it to USCAR instead.

"The opportunity lost from this was huge, and Okinawa has been seeking autonomy ever since," Yamazato noted.

I recalled the prefectural referendum, held in 2019, on the relocation of a U.S. base to the Henoko district. More than 70 percent of voters opposed the reclamation project (for the relocation), but workers were back on site the very next day, dumping soil and sand into the sea.

And last year, the Japanese government royally rubbed Okinawans the wrong way by adding a southern part of the mainland of Okinawa, where the remains of many victims of the Battle of Okinawa are still buried, to its list of soil and excavation sites (for the reclamation project).

I visited Granny Ushi's family in Tokyo's Shibamata district.

Putting my hands together in prayer before the altar, I thought of her unrivaled spirit of defiance.

June 23 marks the 76th Okinawa Memorial Day.

--The Asahi Shimbun, June 22

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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