NAHA--Kiyoshi Uezu and his parents lived through the Battle of Okinawa, but he feels they never truly “survived” the war.

Both Okinawa and the Uezu family have a long history of suffering and despair, even after the end of World War II in 1945.

Uezu’s own struggles against hardship have taken him around the globe for years on end.

But on May 15, the 50th anniversary of the reversion of Okinawa to Japan from U.S. military control, Uezu was in the Okinawa prefectural capital of Naha.

After looking at the situation in Okinawa Prefecture, Uezu said he does not feel like celebrating the anniversary.

Instead, he expressed what he thought was on the minds of many people in the prefecture: “It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”

LONGING TO SEE OKINAWA AGAIN

Fifty years ago, on May 15, 1972, Uezu was mowing lawns in Los Angeles to make a living.

In the early afternoon, a colleague who was born in Okinawa Prefecture rushed over to Uezu and shouted, in the Okinawan dialect, that the prefecture had returned to Japanese administrative rule.

They jumped into a car and headed to a Japanese community in the city. In the car, they listened to a radio report about the news unfolding 10,000 kilometers away.

The car radio also played an Okinawan folk song called “Bashofu” (Basho fiber cloth).

The song made Uezu want to see Okinawa again. Tears welled up in his eyes as he remembered the blue skies and water of his hometown.

VIOLENCE IN THE FAMILY

Uezu, now 83, was born in the South Sea Islands before the Pacific War broke out. During the war, his family returned to Gushikawa (present-day Uruma) in the central part of the main island of Okinawa.

In the Battle of Okinawa, the noise from the bombings by U.S. forces destroyed his mother’s hearing.

After the war, his father, annoyed at being unable to communicate with his wife, took out his frustrations on her through violence.

The father also suffered injuries when his car was rear-ended by a U.S. military truck, and he developed depression.

When the U.S. military occupied Okinawa, citizensin the prefecture were encouraged to emigrate to South America.

The Uezu family was living in poverty in Okinawa, so they traveled to Brazil in 1958 for a fresh start.

But after their attempts at rice cultivation failed, the family found they had settled on infertile land. Relations in the family worsened.

Uezu went to Argentina alone in 1966 before smuggling himself into the United States in 1970.

He says he couldn’t help but think that his family became broken after being “tormented” by the war and military bases.

Deep in his heart, Uezu hoped to see Okinawa at peace someday. And he felt some optimism because the reversion of Okinawa put the prefecture under Japan’s pacifist Constitution.

Uezu worked hard to save money and returned to Okinawa in 1974, two years after it reverted to Japan.

He was surprised by all of the changes. Many buildings now stood along National Route 58, a major artery previously known as Military Route 1.

However, he also saw fences separating residential areas from U.S. bases across the prefecture.

Uezu decided to leave Okinawa again. He returned to Brazil several years later. 

The South American country is home to the largest community of Okinawan immigrants, and many people there were interested in the prefecture’s affairs.

Uezu heard some people argue that Okinawa should gain independence from Japan. Others said the island prefecture would develop even more if it became a U.S. state like Hawaii.

Uezu says he often wonders: What is Okinawa?

Given its historical ties, it is part of Japan. But why must it bear too heavy of a burden in terms of U.S. military facilities in the country? Why does Okinawa alone have to make sacrifices?

And for that matter, what is Japan?

Those questions remained with Uezu as he moved around the world. He worked at a farm, a laundromat, a Japanese restaurant and many other businesses in the various countries he visited.

In 2002, when he was past 60 years old, Uezu went to mainland Japan for the first time.

He hopped from one job to another, working in Gunma, Chiba, Nara, Wakayama and Shiga prefectures. He even lived on the streets.

Facing bleak employment prospects and running into a language barrier with his Okinawa dialect, Uezu learned how difficult it was to live in Japan.

FUTENMA BASE ISSUE

Uezu also found himself receiving requests to talk about Okinawa from schools and chambers of commerce that had heard about his experiences.

One issue often raised in his talks was the planned relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from Ginowan in Okinawa Prefecture to the Henoko district of Nago, also in the prefecture.

Uezu always asked those in attendance if they would accept a military base in their community. They all almost always lowered their eyes.

He said he knows that those on Japan’s mainland are interested in Okinawa, but they are reluctant to focus their attention on the military base issue.

He said he feels that this is what Japan is.

ALWAYS AN UCHINANCHU

Living in Okinawa for eight years now, Uezu is no longer surprised by how developed the prefecture has become. U.S. military aircraft including Osprey transport aircraft fly around on a daily basis.

Although he laments that peace has not really returned to Okinawa, he takes pride in the fact that he and his home prefecture have come this far after enduring so much.

He identifies himself with Okinawa and feels he has always been an Uchinanchu (Okinawan) wherever he may be.

When it was ruled as a tributary state of imperial China, the Ryukyu Kingdom became a vassal state of the Satsuma Domain (present-day Kagoshima Prefecture).
Okinawa was then annexed into modern Japan.

After becoming one of the bloodiest battle sites in the Pacific War, the southernmost island prefecture came under U.S. military rule for 27 years.

Half a century after Okinawa’s return to Japan in 1972, Uezu looked up at the sky while standing on the busy National Route 58.

“In another 50 years’ time, I hope many people will be saying that (Okinawa) has become what they had dreamed of,” he said.

caption: Kiyoshi Uezu looks up at the buildings along the National Route 58 in Naha in April. (Yoshichika Yamanaka)