Okinawa Prefecture (沖縄県, Japanese Japanese (日本語, Nihongo?, [nihoŋɡo] ) is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic (or Japanese-Ryukyuan) language family. There are a number of proposed relationships with other languages, but none of them has gained unanimous acceptance. Japanese is an: Okinawa-ken^?, Okinawan Okinawan is a Ryukyuan language spoken in Japan on the southern island of Okinawa, as well as the surrounding islands of Kerama, Kume-jima, Tonaki, Aguni, and a number of smaller islands located to the east of the main island of Okinawa: Uchinaa-ken) is one of Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is's southern prefectures The prefectures of Japan are the country's 47 subnational jurisdictions: one "metropolis" , Tokyo; one "circuit" (道 dō), Hokkaidō; two urban prefectures (府 fu), Osaka and Kyoto; and 43 other prefectures (県 ken). In Japanese, they are commonly referred to as todōfuken (都道府県?). Prefectures are governmental bodies, and consists of hundreds of the Ryukyu Islands The Ryukyu Islands , also known as the Nansei Islands (南西諸島, Nansei-shotō?, literally Southwest Islands), is a chain of islands in the western Pacific, on the eastern limit of the East China Sea and to the southwest of the island of Kyūshū in Japan. From about 1829 until the mid 20th century, they were alternately called Luchu, Loochoo, in a chain over 1,000 km long, which extends southwest from Kyūshū Kyūshū or Kyushu is the third largest island of Japan and most southwesterly of its four main islands. Its alternate ancient names include Kyūkoku (九国 Nine States), Chinzei (鎮西 West of the Pacified Area), and Tsukushi-no-shima (筑紫島 Island of Tsukushi). The historical regional name Saikaidō (西海道 West Sea Circuit) referred to (the southwesternmost of Japan's main four islands) to Taiwan Taiwan, also known as Formosa , is an island situated in East Asia in the Western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. It has comprised most (99%) of the territory of the Republic of China (ROC) since the 1950s. The term "Taiwan" has also become a commonly used alternative name both domestically and. Okinawa's capital, Naha Naha is the capital city of the Japanese prefecture of Okinawa. The modern city was officially founded on May 20, 1921, but prior to that Naha had already been for centuries one of the most important and populous sites in the Ryukyu Islands, is located in the southern part of the largest and most populous island, Okinawa Island Okinawa Island is the largest of the Ryukyu Islands of Japan, and is home to Naha, the capital of Okinawa Prefecture. The island has an area of 1,201.03 square kilometers (463.7 sq mi), which is approximately half-way between Kyūshū and Taiwan. The disputed Senkaku Islands The islands' status has emerged as a major issue in foreign relations between the People's Republic of China and Japan and between Japan and the Republic of China. The Japanese government regards these islands as a part of Okinawa prefecture, Former President of Republic of China Lee Teng-hui also claims the land of the Senkaku Islands belongs to (Mandarin The latter grouping is defined and used mainly by linguists, and is not commonly used outside of academic circles as a self-description. Instead, when asked to describe the spoken form they are using, Chinese speaking a form of non-Standard Mandarin will describe the variant that they are speaking, for example Southwestern Mandarin or Northeastern: Diaoyu Islands) are also administered as part of Okinawa Prefecture at present.

History

The oldest evidence of human existence in the Ryukyu islands was discovered in Naha Naha is the capital city of the Japanese prefecture of Okinawa. The modern city was officially founded on May 20, 1921, but prior to that Naha had already been for centuries one of the most important and populous sites in the Ryukyu Islands and Yaese Yaese was formed on January 1, 2006 by a merger between the town of Kochinda and the village of Gushikami . As of February 2008, Yaese has a population of 26,758.^[1] Some human bone fragments from the Paleolithic Lower Paleolithic (genus Homo) era were unearthed, but there is no clear evidence of Paleolithic remains. Japanese Jōmon The term "Jōmon" means "cord-patterned" in Japanese. It refers to the markings made on clay vessels and figures using sticks with cords wrapped around them which are characteristic of the Jōmon people influences are dominant in the Okinawa Islands Okinawa Islands are a group of islands that belongs to Okinawa Prefecture. Okinawa Prefecture makes up a portion of the Ryukyu/Nansei Islands. The prefectural capital Naha, as well as most of the population, exists on the largest island, Okinawa Island. Historically, the rule of Ryūkyū Kingdom roughly overlapped these islands and Amami Ōshima, although clay vessels in the Sakishima Islands The Sakishima Islands (Okinawan: Sachishima) are an island chain located at the southernmost end of the Japanese Archipelago. They are part of the Ryukyu Islands and include the Miyako Islands, the Yaeyama Islands and the disputed Senkaku Islands. The islands are administered as part of Okinawa Prefecture, Japan have a commonality with those in Taiwan Taiwan, also known as Formosa , is an island situated in East Asia in the Western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. It has comprised most (99%) of the territory of the Republic of China (ROC) since the 1950s. The term "Taiwan" has also become a commonly used alternative name both domestically and.

The first mention of the word Ryukyu was written in the Book of Sui The Book of Sui was the official history of the Chinese dynasty Sui Dynasty, and it ranks among the official Twenty-Four Histories of imperial China. It was compiled by a team of historians led by the Tang Dynasty official Wei Zheng and was completed in 636. This Ryukyu might refer to Taiwan, not the Ryukyu islands.^{[citation needed]} Okinawa was the Japanese word depicting the islands, first seen in the biography A biography is a description or account of someone's life and the times, which is usually published in the form of a book or an essay, or in some other form, such as a film. An autobiography is a biography of a person's life written or told by that same person. A biography is more than a list of impersonal facts (education, work, relationships, of Jianzhen Jianzhen or Ganjin was a Chinese monk who helped to propagate Buddhism in Japan. In the eleven years from 743 to 754, Jianzhen attempted to visit Japan some six times, written in 779. Agricultural societies begun in the 8th century slowly developed until the 12th century. Since the islands are located in the center of the East China Sea The East China Sea is bounded on the East by the Kyūshū and Ryukyu Islands, on the South by Taiwan, and on the West by mainland China. It is connected with the South China Sea by the Taiwan Strait and with the Sea of Japan by the Korea Strait; it opens in the North to the Yellow Sea relatively close to Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is, China China is seen variously as an ancient civilization extending over a large area in East Asia, a nation and/or a multinational entity and South-East Asia Southeast Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic and volcanic activity, the Ryūkyū Kingdom The Ryūkyū Kingdom was an independent kingdom which ruled most of the Ryukyu Islands from the 15th century to the 19th century. The Kings of Ryūkyū unified Okinawa Island and extended the kingdom to the Amami Islands in modern-day Kagoshima Prefecture, and the Sakishima Islands near Taiwan. Despite its small size, the kingdom played a central became a prosperous trading nation. Also during this period, many Gusukus Gusuku , or just suku (すく, 城?), is the Okinawan word for "castle" or "fortress." In standard Japanese, the same kanji is pronounced "shiro", but the word is probably cognate with a different Japanese word "soko" (塞), meaning "fortress". Many gusuku and related cultural remains in the Ryūky�, similar to castles, were constructed. The Ryūkyū Kingdom had a tributary relationship Under the Ming, countries that wanted to have any form of relationship with China, political, economic or otherwise, had to enter the tribute system. As a result, tribute was often paid for opportunistic reasons rather than as a serious gesture of allegiance to the Chinese emperor, and the mere fact that tribute was paid may not be understood in a with the Chinese Empire After the Sui were overthrown, the Tang dynasty ruled for three centuries in prosperity. Its collapse was followed by decades of upheaval known as the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. Tribes from the north took advantage of the disunity to set up the Northern Conquest Dynasties. Most of China proper was reunified by the Song dynasty in 960 beginning in the 15th century.

In 1609 the Satsuma Satsuma was an old province of Japan that is now the western half of Kagoshima Prefecture on the island of Kyūshū. Its abbreviation is Sasshū (薩州) clan, which controlled the region that is now Kagoshima Prefecture Kagoshima Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. The capital is the city of Kagoshima, invaded the Ryūkyū Kingdom. The Ryūkyū Kingdom was obliged to agree to form a tributary relationship with the Satsuma The Satsuma domain was one of the most powerful feudal domains in Tokugawa Japan, and played a major role in the Meiji Restoration and in the government of the Meiji period which followed. Controlled throughout the Edo period by the tozama daimyō of the Shimazu clan, its territory spanned the provinces of Satsuma, Osumi and the south-west region and the Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the Tokugawa bakufu and the Edo bakufu (江戸幕府?), was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which now is called Tokyo. The Tokugawa shogunate ruled from, while maintaining its previous tributary relationship with China; Ryukyuan sovereignty was maintained since complete annexation would have created a conflict with China. The Satsuma clan earned considerable profits from trades with China during a period in which foreign trade was heavily restricted by the shogunate.

Though Satsuma maintained strong influence over the islands, the Ryūkyū Kingdom maintained a considerable degree of domestic political freedom for over two hundred years. Four years after the 1868 Meiji Restoration The Meiji Restoration , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution or Renewal, restored imperial rule to Japan in 1867. The Restoration was a chain of events that led to enormous changes in Japan's political and social structure. It occurred in the later half of the 19th century, a period that spans both the late Edo period (often called Late, the Japanese government, through military incursions, officially annexed the kingdom and renamed it Ryukyu han The han , or domains, were the fiefs of feudal lords of Japan that were created by Toyotomi Hideyoshi and existed until their abolition in 1871, three years after the Meiji Restoration. The number of han varied; typically, there were around 300 han in the Edo period. Most were led by a daimyo whose territory had an agricultural assessment of 10,000. At the time, the Qing Dynasty The Qing Dynasty , also known as the Manchu Dynasty, was the last ruling dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 (with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917). It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China of China asserted sovereignty over the islands of the Ryūkyū Kingdom, since the Ryūkyū Kingdom was also a tributary nation of China. Ryukyu han became Okinawa Prefecture of Japan in 1879, even though all other hans had become prefectures of Japan in 1872. In 1912, Okinawans first obtained the right to vote to send representatives to the national Diet which had been established in 1890.^[2]

Following the Battle of Okinawa The Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, was fought on the Ryukyu Island of Okinawa and was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War. The 82-day-long battle lasted from early April until mid-June, 1945 and the end of World War II Albania · Australia · Austria · Azerbaijan · Belarus · Belgium · Brazil · Bulgaria · Burma · Cambodia · Canada · Ceylon (Sri Lanka) · Channel Islands · China · Czechoslovakia · Denmark · Dutch East Indies · Egypt · Estonia · Finland · France · Germany · Gibraltar · Greece · Greenland · Hong Kong · Hungary · Iceland · in 1945, Okinawa was under United States administration The United States Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands (USCAR) was the government in Okinawa, Japan after World War II until 1972 for 27 years. During the trusteeship rule the United States Air Force established numerous military bases on the Ryukyu islands. During the Korean War The Korean War was a military conflict between the Republic of Korea, supported by the United Nations, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and People's Republic of China (PRC), with air support from the Soviet Union. The war began on 25 June 1950 and an armistice was signed on 27 July 1953. The war was a result of the political division, B-29 Superfortresses The Boeing B-29 Superfortress was a four-engine propeller-driven heavy bomber that was flown primarily by the United States in World War II and the Korean War. The B-29 remained in service in various roles throughout the 1950s. The British Royal Air Force flew the B-29, named the Washington in RAF service, and the Soviet Union produced an flew bombing missions from Kadena AFB over Korea Korea (Korean: 한국 Hanguk [hanɡuːk] or 조선 Joseon [tɕosʌn] – South and North Korea, respectively ) is a territory of East Asia that was formerly unified under one state, but now divided into two separate states and a region in northeastern Asia. Located on the Korean Peninsula, it is bordered by China to the northwest, Russia to the and China China is seen variously as an ancient civilization extending over a large area in East Asia, a nation and/or a multinational entity.

In 1972, the U.S. government returned the islands to Japanese administration. Under the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security The Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan was signed between the United States and Japan in Washington DC on January 19, 1960. It strengthened Japan's ties to the "West" during the Cold War era. The treaty also included general provisions on the further development of international cooperation and, the United States Forces Japan (USFJ) have maintained a large military presence. 27,000 personnel, including 15,000 Marines, contingents from the Navy, Army and Air Force, and their 22,000 family members are stationed in Okinawa.^[3] Since 1960, the U.S. and Japan have maintained an agreement that allows the U.S. to secretly bring nuclear weapons into Japan. Both tactical and strategic weapons have been maintained in Okinawa.^[4] 18% of the main island was occupied by U.S. military bases and 75% of all USFJ bases are located in Okinawa prefecture.^[5]

Reports by the local media of accidents and crimes committed by U.S. servicemen have reduced the local population's support for the U.S. military bases. The media has also thereby drawn new interest in the Ryukyu independence movement The Ryūkyū independence movement is a movement for the independence of Okinawa and the surrounding islands (Ryukyu Islands), from Japan. The movement re-merged in 1945, after the end of the Pacific War. Some Ryukyuan people felt, as the Allied Occupation began, that the Ryukyus (Okinawa) should eventually become an independent state, instead of that developed after 1945. The rape of a 12-year-old girl by U.S. servicemen in 1995 triggered large protests in Okinawa. Partially as a result but also to deploy USFJ more efficiently, the U.S. and Japanese governments agreed in 2006 to the relocation of the Marine Corps Air Station Futenma Marine Corps Air Station Futenma or MCAS Futenma is a United States Marine Corps base located in Ginowan, 5 NM (9.3 km; 5.8 mi) northeastA of Naha, on the island of Okinawa. It is home to approximately 4,000 Marines of the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing and has been a U.S. military airbase since the island was occupied following the Battle of Okinawa in and other minor bases. A new Japanese government that came to power in 2009 froze the relocation plan, but in April 2010 indicated their interest in resolving the issue by proposing a modified plan.^[6]

Geography

Major islands

The set of islands belonging to the prefecture is called Ryūkyū Shotō (琉球諸島). Okinawa's inhabited islands are typically divided into three geographical archipelagos. From northeast to southwest:

• Okinawa Islands Okinawa Islands are a group of islands that belongs to Okinawa Prefecture. Okinawa Prefecture makes up a portion of the Ryukyu/Nansei Islands. The prefectural capital Naha, as well as most of the population, exists on the largest island, Okinawa Island. Historically, the rule of Ryūkyū Kingdom roughly overlapped these islands and Amami Ōshima (沖縄諸島, Okinawa Shotō^?)
  • Ie-jima Iejima is an island in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, lying a few kilometers off the Motobu Peninsula of Okinawa Honto, Okinawa Islands. It measures 20 km around and has a population of 5,055. The island constitutes Ie Village and is connected to the Okinawa Motobu-Wan by ferry (also going to Tomari)
  • Kume Kumejima is a town located in Shimajiri District, Okinawa, Japan. The town is on the islands of Kumejima, Ōjima, Ōhajima, Torishima, and Iōtorishima. Among the islands, only Kumejima and Ōjima are populated
  • Okinawa Island
  • Kerama Islands

• Miyako Islands
  • Miyako-jima

• Yaeyama Islands
  • Iriomote
  • Ishigaki
  • Yonaguni

Cities

Okinawa Prefecture includes eleven cities. Okinawan names are in parentheses.

• Ginowan (Jino-on)
• Ishigaki (Ishigachi)
• Itoman ('Ichuman)
• Miyakojima (Nāku)
• Nago (Nagu)
• Naha (Nāfa) (capital)
• Nanjō (Nanjoo)
• Okinawa (Uchinā) (formerly Koza)
• Tomigusuku (Timigushiku)
• Urasoe ('Urashī)
• Uruma (Uruma)

Towns and villages

These are the towns and villages in each district.

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