POLI 133G Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), Ginowan, Okinawa, Marine Corps Air Station Futenma
12 Aug 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Okinawa = travel/tourist destination, but has lots of historical conflict. Ryukyu kingdom was originally founded in 1429 by king sho hashi. Closer contacts to china (ming dynasty) than to japan. Used as conduit for trade with china during sakoku. Japanese ended up kidnapping the last okinawa king in 1871. 1897: japan annexed entire ryukyu island chain, which in turn led to widespread cultural oppression of okinawan citizens. During this time, rest of japan = meiji restoration. Genetic ancestry = tied to chinese or taiwanese people more, less to japanese people. Uchinaguchi language = similar to japanese, but different. Distinct cuisine = more seafood, less rice. Religion = blend of japanese shinto, buddhism, and various shamanistic practices. Okinawans did not identify with mainland japanese. Island was basically completely destroyed via flamethrowers, razing of cities. April 1945: largest land assault in pacific in wwii, lasted 82 days. Huge amount of japanese casualties can be traced to suicidal wartime tactics.
