[1] Kamata Satoshi, “Shattering Jewels: 110,000 Okinawans Protest State Censorship of Compulsory Group Suicides” This is a slightly abbreviated version of a two-part article translated in Shukan Kinyobi, No. 674 and 676, October 12 and 26, 2007. Posted at Japan Focus on January 3, 2008. Also see, in the same issue of Japan Focus, an article by Aniya Masaaki and editorials in the Okinawa TimesAsahi Shimbun (December 28, 2007) (December 27, 2002) and the on the textbook controversy. The Okinawa Taimusu editorial reports that the Education Ministry agreed, after the massive protest in Okinawa and at the request of textbook publishers, to restore the words “Japanese military” (Nihon gun), but in a context that leaves some ambiguity in the relationship between the military and “group suicides.”

[2] Norma Field, In the Realm of a Dying Emperor: Japan at Century's End (New York: Pantheon Books, 1993): 67. Field writes that “Okinawans … had been imbued with both the horror and shame (as Japanese) of falling into American hands.” (Field, 66)

[3] Kamata, Japan Focus (January 3, 2008): 7.

[4] Tsuha Kiyoshi, et al., ed., Okinawa-ken Heiwa Kinen Shiryo-kan: Sogo Annai (Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum: Comprehensive Guidebook: Naha: Okinawa-ken Heiwa Kinen Shiryo-kan, 2001): 72.

[5] Figures in Tsuha, et al., 90. Of the 1,780 teenage boys mobilized for the Tekketsu kinnotai (Emperor's iron and blood corps), 890 lost their lives. (See Arashiro Toshiaki, Ryuykyu, Okinawa-shi (History of Ryukyu and Okinawa; Naha, Okinawa, Toyo Kikaku, 1997): 211.) Ota Masahide, a member of the corps who later became a professor at the University of Ryukyus and governor of Okinawa Prefecture (1990-98), wrote in 1953, “I was one of those obedient students who believed unquestioningly what our teachers taught us and what we read in our textbooks—that we must give our lives for the emperor and the nation. We devoted ourselves completely to training our bodies and our minds in preparation for that day.” Nakadomari Yoshikane, another teen-age member of the corps, wrote a will to his parents that was found in a cave after the battle. “My body does not belong to me. I am his Majesty's subject. My life was bestowed by Imperial Japan, and I do not hesitate to give it for the nation. This is only natural. I have no regrets about dying, and have faith in our certain victory.” Quoted in Nakahodo Masanori, Okinawa no senki (Accounts of the Battle of Okinawa; Tokyo: Asahi Shinsho, 1982): 81 and 93, respectively.

[6] See Terasaki Hidenari Showa Tenno no dokuhaku-roku–Terasaki Hidenari goyogakari nikki_(A Record of the Showa Emperor's Monologues—Diary of the Emperor's Aide, Terasaki Hidenari; Tokyo: Bungei Shunju-sha, 1991).

[7] Okinawa Taimusu, April 23, 1993.

[8] In addition to such categories as local history, economy, literature, language, and performing arts, bibliographies published in Okinawa listing books about the prefecture often include a special section titled “tenno-sei” (emperor system). Amami, Okinawa-gaku bunken shiryo mokuroku (Bibliography of Published Materials on Amami and Okinawa, June, 1991 edition), published by the Roman Shobo bookstore chain, lists fourteen recent books in this section with such titles as Okinawa kara tenno-sei o utsu (Attacking the emperor system from Okinawa) by Arazato Kinbuku (Shinsensha, 1987) and Tenno o kyohi suru Okinawa (Okinawa's rejection of the emperor), Shakai Hyoron-sha 1987.

[9] Amami Oshima, the northernmost of the major Ryukyu Islands, was part of the Ryukyu Kingdom, but is now administered by Kagoshima Prefecture in southern Kyushu.

[10] See Arashiro, 79-98 and Steve Rabson, Okinawa: Two Postwar Novellas (Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley, 1996): 7-22

[11] Steve Rabson, “Assimilation Policy in Okinawa: Promotion, Resistance, and Reconstruction,” Chalmers Johnson, ed., Okinawa: Cold War Island (Cardiff, CA: Japan Policy Research Institute): 133-138.

[12] Ibid., 140-142.

[13] Aniya Masaaki, et al., Okinawa to tenno (Naha: Akebono Shuppan, 1987): 82.

[14] George Kerr, Okinawa: The History of an Island People (Rutland, Vermont: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1958): 450-51.

[15] Ibid.

[16] Ibid., 453-54.

[17] Quoted in Aniya Masaaki, “Tenno to Okinawa no Showa-shi” (The Emperor and Okinawa in Showa History), Bunka Hyoron 320 (November, 1987): 80.

[18] Kawamitsu Shin'ichi, “Okinawa ni okeru tenno-sei shiso” (Okinawa and emperor system ideology), Okinawa no shiso (Tokyo: Kikuragesha, 1970): 78-82; and Kerr, 451-53.

[19] Kyuyo Shimpo (July 25, 1938).

[20] Ibid.(February 13, 1939).

[21] Aniya et al., 99.

[22] Okinawa Kenjin-kai Hyogo Ken Honbu, ed., Shima o deta tami no senso taiken-shu (Collected war experiences of people who left the islands; Amagasaki: Okinawa Kenjin-kai Hyogo Ken Honbu, 1995): 178-80.

[23] Ibid., 263-64.

[24] Ibid., 198.

[25] Jo Nobuko Martin, A Princess Lily of the Ryukyus (Tokyo: Shin-Nippon Kyoiku Tosho, 1984).

[26] Jo Nobuko Martin, The Ryukyuanist 20 (Spring, 1993): 4-5.

[27] See Matthew Allen, “Wolves at the Back Door: Remembering the Kumejima Massacres,” Laura Hein and Mark Selden, ed., Okinawan Responses to Japanese and American Power (Rowman and Littlefield, 2003): 39-64.

[28] See Field, 56-69 and Matthew Allen, “A Story That Won't Fade Away: Compulsory Mass Suicide in the Battle of Okinawa,” Japan Focus, July 12, 2007.

[29] See, for example, Yuri Kaoru, “Heiwa o ai suru kokoro” (A heart that loves peace), Akiko no shogai (The life of Yosano Akiko; Tokyo: Saika Shobo, 1948): 23-25.

[30] Terasaki Hidenari (1991). See discussion in Herbert P. Bix, “The Showa Emperor's ‘Monologue’ and the Problem of War Responsibility,” Journal of Japanese Studies 18, 2 (Summer, 1992) and Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, The End of the Pacific War: Reappraisals (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2007).

[31] Herbert P. Bix, Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan (New York: HarperCollins, 2000): 489.

[32] Hasegawa Tsuyoshi, “The Atomic Bombs and the Soviet Invasion: What Drove Japan's Decision to Surrender?” Japan Focus (August 17, 2007).

[33] Senaga Kamejiro, “Tenno no senso sekinin, sengo sekinin” (The emperor's responsibility for the war and after the war) Bunka Hyoron 320 (November, 1987): 45-53.

[34] Edward J. Drea, In the Service of the Emperor: Essays on the Japanese Imperial Arm y (Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1998): 199.

[35] A recorded 122, 228 Okinawans, including approximately 94,000 civilians and 28,228 in local defense forces or working for the military, 65,908 mainland Japanese, and 12,500 Americans died during the 82 day battle. Tsuha, et al., 90.

[36] “Memorandum for General MacArthur,” 20 September, 1947.

[37] Robert D. Eldridge. “Showa tenno to Okinawa: ‘Tenno messeji’ no saikosatsu.” (The Showa emperor and Okinawa: the “emperor's message” reconsidered) Chuo Koron_114, no. 1377 (March, 1999): 152-171.

[38] Government officials claimed to “lack sufficient information,” and declined comment. Asahi Shimbun (February 22, 1989): 13.

[39] Aniya et al., 17-20.

[40] Okamoto Keitoku, “Okinawa ni okeru tenno-sei ron,” Okinawa ni totte tenno-sei to wa nani ka (Naha, Okinawa: Okinawa Taimusu-sha, 1976):5-14.

[41] Tsuha, 104-5. For comparisons by Okinawans in the 1950s and 1960s of political and economic conditions in Okinawa and on the mainland, see Uezu Hisashi, et al., ed., Koko ni Yoju Ari: Okinawa Kenjin-kai Hyogo-ken Honbu 35 nen-shi (The banyan tree here: Thirty-five-year history of the Hyogo Okinawa Prefectural Association; Kobe: Okinawan Kenjin-kai Hyogoken Honbu, 1982): 363-372.

[42] Rabson, Okinawa: Two Postwar Novellas, 7-22.

[43] Kawamitsu, 78-82.

[44] Okamoto, 5-8.

[45] During the summers of 1995, 1998, and 1999, I conducted open-ended interviews of nine Okinawans, asking their views on the emperor and the imperial institution. I spoke with men and women of various ages. They were three university professors, one university research associate, two administrators at the prefectural Education Ministry, a free-lance journalist, the director of a culture center, and the manager of an apartment building. I had not previously discussed the imperial institution with any of them. The interviews were not intended to be a representative sampling of Okinawan opinion, but were conducted to elicit fuller expressions of individual views than would be possible in, for example, multiple-choice responses to newspaper opinion polls.

[46] Okamoto, 12-14.

[47] Tomimura Jun'ichi, “Onnen no fuchi kara,” Wan ga umari Okinawa (Tokyo: Takushoku Shobo, 1972).

[48] Okinawa Taimusu (July 18 and August 7, 1975):1.

[49] Ibid. (October 18, 1987): 2.

[50] Shinmura Isuzu, et al., ed., Kojien (Iwanami Shoten, 1972): 2012.

[51] Ibid., 1217. Later, some mainland dailies also used the word “go-seikyo,” but not until the day after the emperor's death.

[52] Okinawa Taimusu (May 7, 1993): 3.

[53] Ryukyu Shimpo (December 22, 1988: 11.

[54] Translation in Field, 178.

[55] Okinawa Taimusu (January 19, 1989): 1.

[56] Ibid. (October 12, 1985): 3.

[57] Ibid. (April 23, 1993): 13.

[58] Ryukyu Shimpo (April 24, 1993): 3.

[59] Okinawa Taimusu (April 23 and 24): 2-3.

[60] Ibid. (April 27, 1993): 2.

[61] Ibid. (October 12, 1985): 1.

[62] Ibid. (June 25, 1995): 3.

[63] Ibid. (June 25, 1995): 2.

[64] Takahashi Hiroshi and Tokoro Isao, “Uncertain Future for the Imperial Line,” Japan Echo_14, no. 1 (February, 1999): 47-53.

[65] Takahashi, 53.

[66] Okinawa Taimusu (October 12, 1985): 1.

[67] Interviewed in the magazine Keeshi Kaji, no. 13 (November, 1999): 28.

[68] Aniya, et al., Okinawa to Tenno, 13-55.

[69] Okamoto Keitoku, “Kindai Okinawa to tenno-sei: sono shoso to mondai-ten.”(Modern Okinawa and the emperor system: its aspects and problems), Okamoto, 335-338.

[70] Prime Minister Mori Yoshiro's characterization in 2,000 of Japan as a “divine country centered on the emperor” was criticized by opposition party leaders as reviving an ideology that fueled militarism and aggression during Japan's imperial era. Foreign Minister Aso Taro stated in 2005 that “Japan is one nation, one civilization, one language, one culture, and one race, the like of which there is no other on earth.” In 2000, Tokyo Mayor Ishihara Shintaro stated that “many of the atrocious crimes” in Tokyo are committed by “third country nationals,” using the derogatory term (sangoku-jin), and “foreigners.” This claim, unsupported by police statistics, brought calls for his resignation.

[71] According to opinion polls conducted by the Ryukyu Shimpo, 43.4% of respondents expressed ambivalence or indifference toward the imperial institution in March and April of 1987, 24.5% in March of 1995, and 35% in late 2001 for a poll published on New Years Day, 2002.