Start Point - Kadena Air Base Gate 2 Parking Lot
Welcome to a guided walking tour of a moment in time in the late-1960s and early-1970s. The point of this tour is to give you a brief glimpse into a past that you most likely did not know existed. Today, even with occasional protests, most of those affiliated with the United States Department of Defense are unaware of the burden placed on the Okinawa people by our presence. If nothing else, this journey takes you through an interesting story, but it is my hope that it opens the door to greater self-discovery.
Clip 1
The explosion of violence by Okinawan civilians against United States Armed Forces personnel and local police in Koza, Okinawa, Japan on December 20, 1970 is a little understood and even less studied episode in Japan/US relations. Currently in 2022, there are ongoing peaceful protests on Okinawa against the United States Armed Forces based on the island. These protests, though smaller, are like those of the late 1960s. Indeed, some of the protesters participated both then and now.
Clip 2
Though the Koza Incident occurs on 20 December 1970, the groundwork is laid in the aftermath of the Battle of Okinawa (01 April to 22 June 1945). The United States’ victory over Japan enabled an establishment of United States military forces on the island from 22 June 1945 to the present. Initially seen as a staging point for further actions against Kyushu during World War II, Okinawa emerged as a key location in the United States’ Cold War against the Soviet Union beginning in the late-1940s. Thus, the Okinawan people began a seventy-five-year long relationship with the United States military.Chalmers Johnson, ed. Okinawa: Cold War Island. Cardiff, California: Japan Policy Research Institute, 1999.
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The relevant fact is the United States maintained first direct military rule and then quasi military-civilian rule of Okinawa for twenty-seven years (1945 to 1972). Though debate raged in the late 1950s for reversion to occur then, elements within the United States Government were unwilling to deprive themselves of direct control over a critical staging point for conventional military forces and a potential site for nuclear weapons.Chalmers Johnson, ed. Okinawa: Cold War Island. Cardiff, California: Japan Policy Research Institute, 1999.
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Throughout this period, a large social movement was occurring in Japanese society against the US occupation, the Japanese government, and the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the US and Japan abbreviated as Anpo or Ampo.Coalescing around various student organizations and known collectively as Zengakuren, this movement reached its peak in the mid-1960s on the Japanese main islands.Mass demonstrations, civil unrest, and violent clashes with authorities were rampant throughout major Japanese cities during this time. By the late 1960s, this collation of groups had been either dismantled and dispersed through Japanese governmental actions or simple diffusion due to ideological splits within the group itself.Ellis S. Kraus. The 1960s’ Japanese Student Movement in Retrospect. In: Bernstein G.L., Fukui H. (eds) Japan and the World. St Antony’s Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-08682-5_6 (1988).
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There may have a diaspora effect in the late 1960s of Zengakuren ideology if not persons to points aboard, including Okinawa.While Zengakuren affiliates were operating on Okinawa since the mid-1950s, specifically through groups like the Okinawa Social Mass Party, major disturbance such as those on the main-Japanese islands were not prevalent.A quick side note, the Social Mass Party is a local social democratic party on Okinawa with historical affiliations with the Zengakuren, especially in the late 1960s. Eventually the party would have some affiliation with the Japanese Communist Party. At various points from 1950 to the late 1990s, the party enjoyed moderate success. However, by the late 2010s, the party has lost most of its support.•Ellis S. Kraus. The 1960s’ Japanese Student Movement in Retrospect. In: Bernstein G.L., Fukui H. (eds) Japan and the World. St Antony’s Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-08682-5_6 (1988).
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The United States’ military/civilian had run Okinawa, either unilaterally or eventually by fiat, through the Government of the Ryukyu Islands (GRI). What is necessary to know is that by the time of the Koza Incident, the United States had ceded most civil duties to Okinawan entities. Though his had nominally been the case for over a decade, it was not until confirmation of reversion that the pace accelerated.
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From the mid-1960s, Okinawa had not only hosted permanently assigned United States Armed Forces, but also served as a transshipment point for military personnel going into and out of the Vietnam Theater of Operations (VTO). This also includes military personnel on rest and recuperation (R&R) from the VTO. Without getting into a debate on the causes, crime rates on Okinawa skyrocketed, with sexual assaults and vehicle accidents becoming a rampant problem throughout the late-1960s.Okinawa City Government Office. Koza Riot, 20 December 1970. Okinawa City, Japan: Yui Publishing, 1999.
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Indeed, it is historically accepted that the catalyst for the Koza Incident was a vehicle accident involving a United States service member and an Okinawan in the early morning hours of 20 December 1970. However, the scene was initially set by a traffic accident occurring weeks earlier in Itoman. The Itoman accident led to the death of an Okinawan and no charges brought against the United States Service Member.This followed a chemical weapons accidents earlier in the year and the explosion of a fully-laden B-52 Bomber on Kadena.
Clip 9
The scene is now set and the actors are in place.In the early to mid-afternoon of 19 December 1970, a gathering of over three thousand peaceful demonstrators occurred outside of KAB Gate 3 in protest of chemical munitions storage on KAB. Around 1900 JST, the group dispersed without incident, with many demonstrators going to bars and clubs located in Koza City in vicinity of (IVO) KAB Gate 2.•United States Department of Defense. Department of the Army. Appendix C - Report Proceedings by Investigating Officer (HQ USARYIS LO # 17, 4 Jan 71), by Robert B. Smith, 1971. Kadena Air Base Library Tomodachi Collection.
Clip 10
At approximately 0110 JST, United States Army Member Staff Sergeant Harold, while driving his car along Highway 24 (HWY 24) IVO KAB Gate 2, struck an inebriated Okinawan man. This initial incident led to a large gathering of Okinawans from nearby bars and nightclubs.
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Almost immediately, two individuals with close ties to the Okinawa Social Masses Party began inciting the crowd to violence against the service member. Throughout the early morning hours, the crowd continued to swell in numbers, eventually reaching between two to three thousand in number. Military and civilian authorities proved inadequate to the task of controlling the crowed, and a small group was able to successfully breech KAB Gate 2, damaging several buildings before authorities regained control of the situation and the crowd lost its energy. It is important to note all accounts agree actual violent actions were conducted by a small percentage of the crowd (100 – 200 persons) with most participants providing verbal encouragement.United States Department of Defense, United States Air Force Office of Special Investigations. Intelligence Information Report: Widespread Violence Directed at Kadena Airbase and U.S. Military Personnel in Koza City, 20 Dec 70, by John. M. Bronish and John H. Kramb, Okinawa, 1970. Kadena Air Base Library Tomodachi Collection.
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As the sun finally came up, the damage was shocking to behold. More than 80 vehicles burned or destroyed, 100 people injured, and several buildings on and off base damaged or destroyed, including a school on the air base.Throughout the day, military and civilian authorities established a cordon around portions of the Koza City area, effectively shutting the area down to civilian activity.Clean up actions would not be completed for another week. Large Military Patrols would continue in the Koza area for a further several weeks.
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The period immediately following December 20th saw the US government put increasing pressure on the Government of the Ryukyus to take substantive actions in the wake of the incident. However, it would be several months before many anyone was formally charged with any crimes associated with the incident. As the GRI-led investigation continued, it was made clear the general Okinawan population condemned the violence, but not the reasons it had occurred. Civil disturbances in the wake of the Koza Incident tapered off leading towards reversion in 1972.
Okinawa City Museum of Culture and History
Since reversion day, large incidents of civil unrest have occurred on Okinawa; often in conjunction with major crimes by United States services members. However, they have never reached the same intensity of the Koza Incident. Indeed, the incident seems to represent the peak spasm of social unrest on the island. On an official level, nearly all parties involved seem willing to marginalize the incident and make it a footnote in Japan-United States relations. There are vestiges of the incident within the local community, but participants are aging, and the memory of the event is fading.Our tour ends here in front of the Okinawa City Museum of Postwar Culture and History, also known as HiStreet. It must deep hope, you will open its door, enter, and continue learning about the history hidden all around… impacting you life in ways you never imagined possible.
