Tokashiki

I knew nothing about the island that I would be visiting in Okinawa before I left. It is one of the islands in the Keruma island chain about 45 minutes away from the main island of Okinawa. The retreat center that we stayed at was previously a US missle base up until 1972 when Okinawa was returned to Japan. But the most interesting thing or maybe I should say shocking thing I learned about the island is written about below.

The following excerpt is taken from;

In Kerama Retto, "Island Chain between Happiness and Good," the Japanese tradition of self-destruction emerged horribly in the last acts of soldiers and civilians trapped in the hills. Camping for the night of 28 March a mile from the north tip of Tokashiki, troops of the 306th heard explosions and screams of pain in the distance. In the morning they found a small valley littered with more than 150 dead and dying Japanese, most of them civilians. Fathers had systematically throttled each member of their families and then disemboweled themselves with knives or hand grenades. Under one blanket lay a father, two small children, a grandfather, and a grandmother, all strangled by cloth ropes. Soldiers and medics did what they could. The natives, who had been told that the invading "barbarians" would kill and rape, watched with amazement as the Americans provided food and medical care; an old man who had killed his daughter wept in bitter remorse.

The last day that we were on the island we were to gather at the spot of these mass suicides that happened on the island. The correct figure of the deaths on this island by mass suicide is really 317. Because of the rain our whole group didn't go to the site but Pastor Kinjo did give us a lecture on what happened on this island and two others in the chain. If you have seen the movie "Letters from Iwojima" this is what the military did to themselves at the end of the movie, blew themselves up with hand grenades. The difference here was that the mass suicides were orchestrated by the secret army, and inflicted on themselves and civilians. Some of the information that we got was from a survivor of the incident. Another Pastor Kinjo who was 16 at the time, had to assist in the death of his mother and sister who were injured in the blasts but not killed. The people were so afraid that the American army would come raping and killing all that were on the island, that they choose suicide. Most of their actions were prompted by rumors that others had done the same thing on other islands.

This is rather a gloomy post but to stand at the place were this happened was even more chilling. It is no wonder the people in Okinawa are some of the most adamant in calling for peace.