Photo/Illutration Participants in a peace march in Okinawa on May 13 carry a sign that says the southernmost prefecture does not need military bases. (Minako Yoshimoto)

Hundreds of activists took part in a peace march in Okinawa on May 13 to call for the removal of U.S. bases from the southernmost prefecture and to remember the devastation left by World War II.

The protest was the first in four years to be held with no restrictions on the number of marchers. While a march was held last year, the event itself was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to event organizers, including the Okinawa Heiwa Undo (peace movement) Center, about 2,000 people took part in the march being held two days before Okinawa marks its reversion of sovereignty to Japan in 1972.

This year’s march had two routes: A 12-kilometer course in the central part of the main island took marchers around Kadena Air Base, one of the largest U.S. military facilities in the Far East; the  other 11-km course set off for the Mabuni district in Ginowan, where the Cornerstone of Peace monument is located. The names of the war dead in Okinawa during World War II, no matter their gender, age or nationality, are engraved on the monument.

A departure ceremony was held at the Chatan village government building for those heading toward the Kadena base.

Tetsu Nakasone, 59, the head of the marching group, noted that 70 percent of U.S. bases are concentrated in Okinawa and said, “We want those Japanese living outside Okinawa to understand this situation."

One participant was Mari Nishimoto, a third-year student at Okinawa International University in Ginowan, where a U.S. helicopter crashed in 2004.

“In order to prevent a recurrence of such an accident, we must get rid of all U.S. bases,” she said.

She asserted that Okinawa could once again become a battlefield since the Self-Defense Forces were now bolstering missile deployment operations to protect the Nansei chain of islands extending southwest from the main Kyushu island.

Masahiro Hayashi, 48, of Yamaguchi city took part again this year in the southern march that takes in the areas where some of the fiercest fighting occurred in World War II.

“The base issue is not someone else’s problem,” he said. “I want to take back home with me the feelings I experience today.”

Setsuko Miyazato, 65, of Okinawa city, takes part in the event annually when it has been held.

“I want to make this a day of having everyone think together after gazing at the reality of Okinawa where the SDF is strengthening its presence,” she said.

(This article was written by Taro Ono and Satsuki Tanahashi.)