1. U.S. Military's rule and Okinawa
After the Okinawa War, Okinawa was ruled under the U.S. Military for 27 years. Okinawa's history is unique because of the 2 facts: they fought a ground battle only in Okinawa and that Okinawa was politically seperated from mainland(southern than 30 degree N.) by GHQ(General Head Quater) and ruled directly by the U.S. Military.
2. Life in the early period
Residents were put into 12 camps. A "Camp" was just the area, surrounded by barbed wires, and people pitched a tent or built a hut there. It was too bad for the health and they were infected with malaria and many died.
Food was distributed, but 1400 killo calorie a day was far from enough and many people starved.
On August 15th,1945, the U.S.Military called political and social leaders and organised an advisory committee consisting of 15 members. In October many people on camp started to move back to where they had lived. However, by that time, the U.S. Military had already enclosed a huge area accross Okinawa.
Frank Kipny wrote about Okinawa in "Time" as follows:Some commander were negligent and worked lazily.
They were the worse than any the U.S. Military in the world. During the past 6 months untill September,
U.S. Military committed, as many as murders 29, rapes 18, burglaries 16, and bodily injuries 33,
[translated by Masaki Matsubara]
An American journalist who expected democratic rule by the U.S. Military couldn't but write like this, which meant the life in Okinawa after the Okinawa war was very tragic.
