Episode 34 - Japan and Okinawa, Part II
History of Japan
Isaac Meyer
4.7 • 790 Ratings
🗓️ 14 December 2013
⏱️ 21 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week we'll finish up our two-parter on Japanese-Okinawan relations with a look at Okinawa during the Imperial Period. We'll be focusing heavily on the bloody Battle of Okinawa, and then wrap things up by looking at the relationship between the islands and the Japanese mainland today.
This week's episode is rather more graphic and violent than usual -- I could not in good conscience whitewash the battle, but I do feel I should warn those of you who might be offended by such things to pass on this one.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the History of Japan podcast. |
| 0:19.6 | Episode 34. |
| 0:24.3 | Japan and Okinawa Part 2. |
| 0:29.3 | Before we start this week, I'd just like to begin the episode with a warning. |
| 0:36.6 | This week will be discussing rather graphically and in some detail the events of the Battle of Okinawa. |
| 0:40.4 | I debated for some time how I wanted to handle this, and in some detail the events of the Battle of Okinawa. I debated for some time how I wanted to handle this, |
| 0:43.7 | and in the end, I've decided to be entirely honest about the things I've found doing research |
| 0:45.8 | in regards to the events of the battle. |
| 0:48.9 | That means there's some pretty disturbing discussions |
| 0:51.3 | of some extremely horrific things over the course of this episode. |
| 0:55.5 | If that's not for you, I urge you to turn this episode off immediately. |
| 1:00.7 | I don't really enjoy discussing these types of things, but I feel it's important not to try |
| 1:05.6 | and sugarcoat the past, or to pretend that these kind of things didn't happen or to ignore them. |
| 1:10.8 | They did, they're very important, and their reverberations continue to this day. |
| 1:16.6 | So, with that in mind, let's continue on to the episode. |
| 1:21.3 | Last time we talked about the slow process by which Okinawa was first forcibly drawn into the Japanese orbit during the Edo period, |
| 1:29.5 | and then absorbed into Japan proper during the Meiji period. |
| 1:33.4 | The Okinawan kingdom, ruled by descendants of Shohashi, was dissolved in 1879, |
| 1:39.9 | and the final king of Okinawa, Shōtai, was invited to Tokyo, and made a marquee, or Shohaku in Japanese, of the new Japanese aristocracy. |
| 1:52.0 | After its forcible integration into Japan, Okinawa was governed in a manner identical to the other Japanese prefectures. |
| 2:00.0 | A centrally appointed governor ran the province and reported back to Tokyo. |
| 2:05.5 | The Japanese police force was and is to this day organized on the national and not local level, |
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