April 5 - At Sea in the East China Sea

I have nothing exciting to report today but I thought I should write something to pass the time.  My “allergic” cough (as per Dr. Tim) seemed worse yesterday and I felt pretty miserable.  We were in Naha, the capital city of Okinawa.  I hadn’t booked a tour because all the ones offered were marked “strenuous” and involved hikes on trails, neither of which I do.  There was a shuttle into the business district which I took.  Downtown there were a bunch of tall office buildings and a multi-story mall which didn’t interest me so I got back on the bus and came back to the ship.  So much for Naha.  I spent the rest of the day in my cabin watching movies and some of the lectures that I hadn’t yet seen.  There was one on some of the history of Okinawa which I found particularly interesting and I’d like to remember, so  I’m going to write a little about it.

Okinawa, the island, is the largest of the Okinawa Islands and Ryukyu Islands of Japan and the capital of the Okinawa Prefecture of Japan.  The islands have an interesting history.  Prior to 1609 for several hundred years they were an independent kingdom called the Ryukyu Kingdom.  The kingdom was a trading nation doing business primarily with Ming China and also Korea and Southeast Asia. China would only engage in trade with states that sent tribute to the Emperor which Ryukyu did.  The tribute system itself was strange.  Every two or three years these trading partners were expected to send representatives to the Chinese court and pay a tribute.  Because the Chinese wanted to exhibit their superiority they would in return give better gifts to the ambassadors.  Seems like a win-win to me for the vassal states.  They could continue to engage in trade with China and came home with better stuff than they brought.

In 1609 the Japanese invaded and took over the archipelago.  Even back then Japan and China had competing interests and the former wanted to continue trade with the latter.  In order to do so the pretense was maintained that Ryukyu was a sovereign state.  Japan profited considerably from the trade with China during a period when foreign trade was being severely restricted in the mainland of Japan. In the 1870’s the charade ended when the islands were officially annexed and eventually were renamed the Okinawa Prefecture. This was the Meiji Period in Japan and the Japanese began a concerted effort to suppress Okinawan culture, religion and language and assimilate Okinawans into Japan. There was some resentment about that and actually many of the earliest immigrants to the US (especially Hawaii) and Canada from Japan came from Okinawa.

According to our lecturer in WWII as the war progressed through the islands in the Pacific, the Japanese government decided to make a last-ditch effort to prevent the invasion of the homeland itself and to some extent it decided to sacrifice Okinawa.  The troops and civilians there were ordered to fight until death.  What followed that order was the bloodiest ground battle of the Pacific war when the US Army and Marine Corps launched the invasion of Okinawa on April 1, 1945.  During the 82 day long battle 95,000 Imperial Japanese troops and 20,195 US troops were killed.  Additionally, somewhere between one quarter and one third of the civilian population (more than 100,000) were either killed or committed suicide on the orders of the Japanese army. The number of casualties was shocking to American military strategists and created apprehensions about what the casualties might be if the mainland was invaded.  That apprehension was one of the factors that went into the decision to drop the A-bombs a couple of months later.

At the end of WWII the US set up the US Military Government of the Ryukyu Islands.  The US dollar was the official currency and Okinawans had to have travel permits to go to the Japanese mainland. That arrangement ended in 1972, but there are still many US bases in Okinawa.  These have played an important role in the wars we’ve been engaged in since 1945, including  the Korean, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan wars.  They’ve also been critical in supporting engagements  in other parts of Southeast Asia.  

There’s an interesting demographic fact about Okinawa.  Okinawans are known for their longevity. For every 100,000 residents Okinawa has 68 centenarians.  With a population of 1.4 million people that means there are nearly 1000 people one hundred years or older.  The population also has a lower incidence of cardiovascular disease, breast and prostate cancer and less than half the rate of dementia as in the US. 

I found the lecturer’s talk very interesting, more so than some we’ve had. He indicated that because of the treatment of the islanders over the centuries there has been resentment of both Japanese and US governments, the former because of the suppression of Okinawan culture and the latter because the island was kept under military control longer than other parts of Japan.  I don’t know how much of that is true since I didn’t have an opportunity to talk with locals. The few people I encountered seemed very friendly and welcoming.

That’s it for today.  I did roust myself from my cabin and get out and about.  I accepted an invitation to a hosted table tonight with the Public Health Officer on the ship.  (I wonder if that’s accidental or planned since I made an appearance in the Medical Center.)  I may even try to go to the show tonight.  Life must go on and I can’t be a hermit.  Which reminds me, I should tell about a lady here on the ship.  Her name is Norma and she spends most of the year cruising but I’ve been told she never goes ashore anywhere.  I’ve stayed on the ship a few times but I don’t think I would ever do that.  I must admit that the notion of never having to make a bed, fold a towel, clean anything or cook sometimes sounds very appealing.  But live aboard a ship?  I haven’t gotten there yet.