The Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa by United States Marine and Army forces against the Imperial Japanese Army. The initial invasion of Okinawa on April 1, 1945, was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific Theater of World War II. The 82-day battle lasted from April 1 until June 22, 1945. After a long campaign of island hopping, the Allies were planning to use Kadena Air Base on the large island of Okinawa as a base for Operation Downfall, the planned invasion of the Japanese home islands, 340 mi (550 km) away.
Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost prefecture of Japan. It encompasses two thirds of the Ryukyu Islands in a chain over 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) long. The Ryukyu Islands extend southwest from Kagoshima Prefecture in Kyushu to Taiwan. Naha, Okinawa's capital, is located in the southern part of Okinawa Island.
Nago is a city located in the northern part of Okinawa Island, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. As of December 2012, the city has an estimated population of 61,659 and a population density of 288 persons per km2. Its total area is 210.30 km2.
Masahide Ōta was a Japanese academic and politician who served as the governor of Okinawa Prefecture from 1990 until 1998. After starting his career as a professor at the University of the Ryūkyūs, he wrote books in English and Japanese, mostly about the Battle of Okinawa and Japan–United States bilateral relations following World War II. After his retirement as professor he was elected as governor and was best known for his strong stand against occupation of prefectural lands by military bases of United States, going against the Japanese central government at the time.
Okinawa Island is the largest of the Okinawa Islands and the Ryukyu (Nansei) Islands of Japan. The island is approximately 70 miles (110 km) long and an average 7 miles (11 km) wide, and has an area of 1,206.98 square kilometers (466.02 sq mi). It is roughly 640 kilometres (400 mi) south of the rest of Japan and 500 km (300 mi) north of Taiwan. The Greater Naha area, home to the prefectural seat of Okinawa Prefecture on the southwestern part of Okinawa Island, has roughly 800,000 of the island's 1.423 million residents, while the city itself is home to about 320,000.
Marine Corps Air Station Futenma or MCAS Futenma is a United States Marine Corps base located in Ginowan, Okinawa, Japan, 5 NM northeast of Naha, on the island of Okinawa. It is home to approximately 3,000 Marines of the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing and other units, and has been a U.S. military airbase since the defeat of the Japanese Imperial Army in the Battle of Okinawa in 1945. Marine Corps pilots and aircrew are assigned to the base for training and providing air support to other land and sea-based Marines in Okinawa and throughout the Asia-Pacific region. MCAS Futenma is part of the Marine Corps Installations Pacific command.
Camp Schwab, nicknamed Man Camp, is a United States Marine Corps camp located in northeastern Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, that is currently home to the 4th Marine Regiment and other elements of the 28,000 American servicemen based on the island. The Camp was dedicated in 1959, in honor of Medal of Honor recipient Albert E. Schwab, who was killed in action during the Battle of Okinawa.
The Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium is located within the Ocean Expo Park in Okinawa, Japan. It welcomed its 20 millionth visitor on 30 March 2010 and is a member of the Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums (JAZA). It was the largest aquarium in the world until it was surpassed by the Georgia Aquarium in 2005. The aquarium has the theme of “Encounter the Okinawan Sea”.
Organization of Japanese defensive units in Okinawa prior to the American invasion.
Nanjō is a city located in the southern part of Okinawa Island in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. Translated literally, the name Nanjō means "southern castle". Many castle ruins, called gusuku in the Okinawan language, can be found throughout the city. The modern city of Nanjō was established on January 1, 2006, from the merger of the town of Sashiki, and the villages of Chinen, Ōzato and Tamagusuku. Nanjō has an area of 49.69 km² and, on the date of its inception, a population of 41,305, and a density of 831.25 per km².
Hirokazu Nakaima is a Japanese bureaucrat, business leader, and politician. He was elected governor of Okinawa Prefecture in 2006.
The Ryukyu independence movement or Republic of the Ryukyus is a political movement for the independence of Ryukyu Islands from Japan.
Kumemura was an Okinawan community of scholars, bureaucrats, and diplomats in the port city of Naha near the royal capital of Shuri, which was a center of culture and learning during the time of the Ryukyu Kingdom. The people of Kumemura, traditionally believed to all be descendants of the Chinese immigrants who first settled there in 1392, came to form an important and aristocratic class of scholar-bureaucrats, the yukatchu, who dominated the royal bureaucracy, and served as government officials at home, and as diplomats in relations with China, Japan, and others.
On November 2, 2002, U.S. Marine Corps Major Michael Brown attempted an indecent assault on a Filipina bartender in Okinawa, Japan. The bartender accused Brown of attempting to rape her and of throwing her cell phone into a nearby river; Brown denied the rape charges. The victim later recanted and attempted to withdraw the accusation, though prosecutors presented evidence that she had received a cash payment just before doing so.
8-Ball is a four-piece rock band from Okinawa, Japan, formed in 1998, and consists of lead singer Ray; Leon, drummer; Chris, bassist and Keiichi Sato the guitarist.
Summer Days with Coo is a 2007 Japanese animated film about a kappa and its impact on an ordinary suburban family, directed by Keiichi Hara.
Hankyū Densha is a 2011 Japanese film. It is based on the novel Hankyū Densha by Hiro Arikawa and directed by Yoshishige Miyake. It was released in cinemas in the Kansai region of Japan on April 23, 2011, and then in other regions of the country from April 29.
Denny Tamaki is a Japanese politician and current Governor of Okinawa Prefecture. From 2009-18, he was the first Amerasian member of the Japanese House of Representatives.
Over the last five decades there have been various plans for the relocation of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, a United States Marine Corps base located within the urban area of Ginowan City in Okinawa, Japan.
Takeshi Onaga was a Japanese politician and the seventh governor of Okinawa Prefecture. He also served four terms as mayor of Naha, the capital city of the prefecture. As governor, he attempted to end the American military presence in Okinawa. He died aged 67 from illness on 8 August 2018.
