With an eye on a Taiwan emergency, plans for a mass evacuation of 120 thousand civilians from Okinawa’s offshore islands, where local understanding is a problem, in view of the tragic Okinawan Campaign. (22jn25)

Splendor of Okinawa: Crown of Thorns, roadside Uruma, 1jn25

In the Okinawa Campaign 80 years ago, 94,000 civilians were evacuated. Since the evacuation from the Islands was incomplete, the mingling of military and civilians on the battlefield ended in tragedy

The current National Administration is concerned with a Taiwan emergency. It is rushing to decide on policy for an evacuation plan for the 120 thousand citizens living on Okinawa Prefecture’s outer islands.

Accepting this policy is confusing for Okinawans: “Are they preparing for war?” or “Is this linked to our sense of security?” Touching on lessons from the past, the National Government is being requested to respond politely in order to gain local understanding.

In March of this year, the National Government announced publicly preliminary plans for 8 prefectures, including Kyushu and Yamaguchi, to be destinations for evacuees from the outer islands. Civilian ferries and aircraft can carry off 20,000 people per day. Within 6 days, a total of 120,000 residents and tourists can be evacuated. It seems that within one month,  reception sites will be coordinated locally for the evacuees. Plans  to proceed with the provision of daily necessities and healthcare aid have been decided.

Anticipating an invasion by the US Military, in July of 1944, the Japanese Military High Command decided to evacuate Okinawa Prefecture’s elderly, children and others, a total of 100 thousand, away from the prefecture.  Within the same month, about 80 thousand were evacuated. But in March of the following year (1945), the plan was aborted.

The reason the project did not proceed smoothly was because of the deeply rooted Okinawan anxiety of being dispatched to regions  without the bonds of region and blood, and, with news of Japan’s military inferiority being hidden, the sense of the danger of remaining in place was weak among the prefecture’s people.

In August of 1944, the student evacuation ship Tsushima Maru, bound from Naha Port to Nagasaki, was torpedoed midway by a US Navy submarine and sunk. It was a victim of the “unlimited submarine strategy”, by which military and even commercial vessels were  indiscriminately subject to attack. From that time on, in the seas around Okinawa, evacuation ships and others coming from the south received attacks. However, news of this was controlled by the government.

Among the 1800 aboard the Tsushima Maru, 1484 became victims, with 784 students confirmed among them. At first a gag order was put in place, but as the prefecture’s people gradually got word of the sinking, the evacuation project was put on hold.

　

On the current evacuation issue, Governor Denny Tamaki stated, “There are various problem points for the National Government, and I will bring those topics up.”  As for the comprehensive plan and such, the governor will request a more detailed explanation.

Government sources confirmed, “We can’t publicly comment in detail on the contents  of the supposed emergency. And so, it is really difficult to request cooperation.” There are a great many problems such as the security of dwellings and a guarantee of a livelihood at the evacuation destination.

　

Hereafter, there will be an in depth study on various topics such as treatment of the aged,  the handicapped, those with special needs, and, in the case of long-term displacement, policies for school entrance and finding employment. In the middle of 2026, “basic guidelines” will be assembled for a concrete plan.

The National Government and Okinawa Prefecture have carried out training for evacuation plans since 2023, supposing the expected situation of an armed attack. There is also a plan to carry out practical training during 2026.

However, the Prefectural Headquarters asks, “What sort of an attack will it be? We don’t really understand just how much planning we ought to end up with.” Yet at the same time, the Prefecture stresses, “Really, no such emergency ought to occur!”

Original Japanese article: JIJI. COM, published Sunday 22 June 2025 at 07:04.

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/a0c028a803e50d2253fb43c1e5fc490286fc9d75

Denny in the News:

Denny Tamaki is the governor of Okinawa Prefecture in Japan. Although Okinawa is important as an international tourist destination and a key element in strategic US Military Forces, its governor receives very little coverage in the Japanese press and almost none in the English language media. 

This blog hopes to  translate one news article a day on the governor.  It is unsponsored and unauthorized. The translator simply hopes to improve his skills and perhaps give the governor an English speaking audience. 

Any suggestion on improving the translation will be gratefully accepted. However, please leave political comments for another forum.

Where they occur, words and phrases in Ryukyuan (the Okinawan language) are rendered in italics and translated in parentheses. Names  whose readings are uncertain are rendered as Name (=Kanji?) as in Nagayuki (=長行?). Any corrections in such instances would be gratefully appreciated.