Photo/Illutration The New Ishigaki Airport on Ishigakijima island in Okinawa Prefecture just before its opening in March 2013 (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Roads were overrun with people fleeing to the mountains.

A woman led her small child by the hand. A man balanced a yoke on his shoulder to carry his load. An old man clung to his cane. Everyone made their way as if possessed.

The Battle of Okinawa began on March 26, 1945.

A student soldier on the main island of Okinawa witnessed the scene described above when the U.S. military’s landing appeared imminent.

The elderly, children and women were all supposed to have been evacuated out of Okinawa Prefecture because they were seen as a nuisance to the military.

But the move failed to gain momentum among Okinawans.

Residents were apparently reluctant to leave their ancestral land as they had been kept in the dark about the actual state of the war.

They were also terrified of ships being sunk on the way to mainland Japan and anxious about the uncertainty of their future as evacuees.

Of Okinawa’s population of 600,000 at the time, only about 80,000, below the government's target, evacuated before the battle began.

The plan, drafted only on paper, proved unrealizable even back then, when people had little choice but to do whatever the government told them.

We are living in a different era, but there is much we can learn from that experience.

Okinawa Prefecture recently conducted its first simulation-based training on the assumption that Japan has come under armed attack from a foreign country. National organizations and other entities also participated.

The plan entails boarding 120,000 people from Miyakojima, Ishigakijima and other islands on commercial planes and ships and evacuating them to Kyushu in six days.

The plan is still in its early stages, but I understand that U.S. forces and the Self-Defense Forces also intend to use commercial airports and seaports on remote islands should an emergency appear imminent.

Under such circumstances, can transportation still be guaranteed for residents? How will the roughly 1.3 million residents of the main island of Okinawa be evacuated?

The plan needs much reworking to be practicable.

The more the planners think in specific terms, the more they will realize how difficult it will be to protect the lives of the people of Okinawa should the nation ever come under attack.

This is why it will never do to think and plan only in military terms.

--The Asahi Shimbun, March 27

* * *

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