Photo/Illutration Rioters set fire to a car in Koza, now Okinawa city, on Dec. 20, 1970. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

As I rushed to the scene responding to breaking news, I found the huge rotor blades of a helicopter lying in a residential area. U.S. soldiers with rolled-up sleeves appeared and cordoned off alleys.

“This is not your land,” a citizen shouted angrily.

It was many years ago. The site where a U.S. military helicopter had crashed on the campus of Okinawa International University was so fraught with tension that the least bit of provocation could trigger a riot.

As I watched a play titled “Hana--1970, Koza ga Moeta Hi" (The day when Koza burned), I recalled the sense of tension I felt at the accident site.

The play is set against the backdrop of a riot that broke out on the night of Dec. 20, 1970, in the city of Okinawa, which was then called Koza. In what is known as the “Koza bodo” (Koza riot), a mob of rioters burned more than 80 cars with U.S. license plates in an outburst of anger against the U.S. rule of Okinawa. The play revolves around conversations that took place that night.

Members of a family, including a character played by Japanese actor Kenichi Matsuyama, gather in the bar that they run. A secret is revealed through their conversations.

Various elements of Okinawa’s history and society are condensed into the words of the play and reflected even in many short lines. Just a small portion of the historical facts concerning the uprising could fill up the small space of this column.

The small island has been burdened by many things that are associated with kanji characters that mean “military,” “violence” and “distress."

After he read the script, Matsuyama felt the need to listen to what people in Okinawa had to say and visited the island last year. Matsuyama spoke about what he heard and saw in Okinawa in an interview published recently in the digital version of The Asahi Shimbun.

Matsuyama quoted the words of a woman running an “izakaya” Japanese-style pub in Okinawa.

“You can say your lines if you remember them, but you can’t really understand history unless you have walked it in your own shoes,” she told him.

These words “strongly impressed me,” Matsuyama said. Such words are engrained in the minds of ordinary people in Okinawa.

That is because these people have lived through what has happened on their island while being rocked by the storm of history.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Jan. 30

* * *

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.

Related News