Henza City and My Life After the War
Mr. Shokou Okudara
Birth year：1929
Birth place：Henza, Uruma City
Taken captive during evacuations
As we evacuated southwards, we were stopped at Ishikawa. There was a civilian prisoner of war camp in Ishikawa. Youths like myself around 15 or 16 years of age would often be mistaken for child soldiers by US soldiers, so we made sure to evacuate without being seen by the US troops. At the time, there were places called ganya, which were places for storing coffins, and since there was one in Ishikawa, I thought it would be a good place to hide, and I hid there. It worked out to be just the opposite. American soldiers, who were fascinated by ganyas, would often come to take a look at them. Although I thought I was hidden, they actually found me. Unable to hide, I was pulled out of the ganya and was about to be taken to the Yaka internment camp at Kin, but they determined that I was an ordinary child and not a soldier, and I was returned to my family. Sometime later in May 1945, my father negotiated with the Americans and I was taken from Ishikawa to Yakena on a jeep.
Life in Henza
From Yakena, I walked to Henza Island. Like Ishikawa, there was a civilian camp on Henza. There must have been at least 120 to 130 American soldiers on the island. American forces were also stationed at what used to be the elementary and junior high schools. Before I knew it, Henza Village had become Henza City and they even appointed a city mayor. There were probably around 8,000 people in Henza Island at the time. Residents of Hamahiga Island were interned on Hamahiga Island, but the internment camp at Henza held residents from Miyagi and Ikei Islands, as well as from Yakena on the opposite shore. Residents from all of Yokatsu Peninsula were interned in Henza. People who had evacuated from Naha had suffered greatly. There was no food, no dwellings and everyone was tightly crammed together. There wasn’t much field to farm either, so finding food was an issue.
Since there was no money in circulation at the time, we had to depend on various relief supplies and provisional supplies from Americans at distribution stations. They compiled lists for each family and had a fixed amount of supplies for distribution to each person on this list. Various things were distributed such as flour, rice, and canned goods. Since crops couldn’t be grown, we were unable to make anything. We all lived entirely on supplies distributed by the American forces. The supplied food alone, however, was not enough.
There was something that happened that we must not forget about. There were pristine houses in Yakena which evaded the devastation of war. Houses were made of wood, so some houses with tiled roofing were taken apart to use for building residences on Henza Island. Some strong men went over to Yakena and took apart the wooden buildings transporting materials back to Henza. There were civilian police officers called the “akaboushi” (red hats), who were appointed by the US and wore red steel helmets. The men (who took apart the buildings) were found by the police and were thrown into a place surrounded by barbed wire fence, which was called “kanaami.” We couldn’t fish back then either. We were detained as prisoners, so we weren’t free to move around. During the war, Japanese soldiers called “kirikomitai” (suicide squad) carried out attacks against Americans at night. Americans thought that interned civilians might join the kirikomitai if freed, so fishing, farming and other freedoms were taken away from us. Luck would have it, however, that no Japanese soldiers were in Henza. If there were Japanese soldiers, things would have been worse. I think Henza must have been one of the calmer areas governed by the US. Going up the hill from Yakena, there was the garrison of the “China Unit.” A unit of Chiang Kai-shek’s forces was stationed there, but I don’t know why. Close to that around Yohen was a missile base called a Nike missile base.
School Life at Maehara High School
Since I was a junior high school student before the war, I was admitted to Maehara High School. It was a school in name only. There were no textbooks, tables, or chairs. The teachers were probably not formal high school teachers. They were former teachers of the national school’s higher course or graduates of normal schools. We did get a solid English education since we were under US occupation. I think only the English teachers were the only teachers with solid training. With the shortage of teachers, I don’t know whether the other teachers were official high school teachers. And of course, we didn’t have uniforms then. At school, a music teacher would teach us songs, or sometimes we exercised. We couldn’t get a proper education back then. There were no black boards, and no desks or chairs. But the US had a policy calling for each school to gather students and provide an education. That situation continued into the middle of 1946.
Lost handgun incident
In 1946, there were Quonset huts where Yokatsu Junior High School is located today. Maehara High School relocated there and a major incident occurred. A pistol was left in one of the Quonset huts after the US forces left. A curious student found it and hid it. Around that time there were tent dorms where students from Ikei, Tsuken, and other remote islands lived together. Most students who weren’t local had to live in the tents, which accommodated about five students per tent. Boys and girls lived separately. Sometimes American troops would go to the girls’ tents and cause trouble, so the male student with the pistol tried to threaten the troops. The next day, a US education supervisor came by and said they would close the school if the pistol wasn’t returned. All the students were gathered and asked who had the pistol. Of course no one would respond. Answering would lead to trouble so nobody would say anything. So the male student secretly threw away the pistol from the cliff behind the school known as section base. He later confessed that he threw away the pistol there, and all the students were made to go to the bottom of the cliff to find the pistol or else the school would be closed. It took us two days to find it. The pistol was found and returned and the school stayed open.
Both the school and dorms were merely US relief supplies. We were able to avoid starvation by eating dumpling soup made with balls of rolled flour.
Employment after graduation
Maehara High School’s first graduating class graduated in September 1946. I was in the second graduating class, so I graduated in March 1947. I don’t think even one year passed since I was admitted to the school. The requirement to take university entrance exams was to attend school for twelve years, so I couldn’t go on to university. And since Okinawa had no universities, high school was the highest education. So once I graduated from high school, I became a teacher.
At the time, there were more female teachers than male teachers. Wages were low in those days. It was probably around 1948 when we received military currency. By military currency, I mean the “B yen”. Monthly wages were 220 yen for teachers, 400 yen for principals, and 800 to 1,000 yen for the Chief Executive of Ryukyu Islands government. There was a brand of cigarettes available on the black market, with a design of the rising sun called Lucky Strike. One carton had 10 packs of cigarettes and the price was 300 yen. People would say that teachers weren’t even worth as much as a carton of cigarettes. Teachers were sneered at as “just a teacher.” Teachers were highly respected before the war, but after the war, it was a period of material shortage and with low wages, teachers would be belittled and called “shinshi gwa ta,” and I was very much ashamed of being one. Working for American forces or various other places brought in three to four times as much money, so not many men became teachers.
Shipping industry and the scrap boom
For about ten years after the war, roads were not yet properly built and not many trucks were available, so sea transport was flourishing with Henza in the center of the industry. There was a scrap boom in those days. This scrap boom occurred during the period in which sunken ships and abandoned tanks from the war were salvaged for their copper wires and scrap iron to sell. Finding these things, however, was quite difficult. There were no magnets to locate iron back then, so we had to dive in the sea and look for them with our naked eye. There were a number of excellent divers at Henza, and they were successful in finding scrap. They would salvage the materials and sell them off during the scrap boom. Around that time, people in the fishing industry near the Philippines and Thailand came back to Okinawa after the war. These people had been working at sea, so they were very knowledgeable. Some of them made a lot of money finding scrap. On the other hand, others lost money because they were unsuccessful. The scrap boom continued for about three years.
I also worked for a shipping company around 1947 to 1948. Amami Oshima Island had yet to be returned to Japan. There was an island chain of ten islands between Amami Oshima and Kagoshima, including Kuchinoshima and Nakanoshima. Kuchinoshima was on the 30 degrees north latitude line. I have been to Kuchinoshima on a ship that transported copper wire from Okinawa. I was not the ship’s captain, just clerical staff. We bartered on Kuchinoshima trading and selling our copper for timber. Considering the times, you could call it smuggling or contraband trade, but I have never heard of anyone who had been punished by law for participating in the activities. The scrap iron boom probably happened because Japan was short on iron and mines didn’t generate enough. So, Japan would buy up all the copper wire and scrap iron that Okinawa would supply and sell them. Everything was difficult in that era. I traveled far to Kuchinoshima, which is located along the border of the 30 degrees north latitude line.
Struggles as a remote island
Ships that ferried to the remote islands around then were very small. A ship capsized between Yabuchi and Henza Islands. Of the nine passengers, seven died by drowning, and my teacher was among them. Accidents occurred every year at sea. For instance, one could walk to Yakena Island during low tide, but a little disorientation could cause them to fall into the depths. Many people would get stuck and end up drowning.
Giving birth was also very difficult for those living on remote islands. Those who had difficulty delivering would be placed on a door panel and carried by three to four men. If there were no boats, they would run across the shallows to a hospital. Sometimes they were successful, but other times they were not, leading to accidents in giving birth. Ships couldn’t be counted on for sudden illnesses either. No ships could leave the island during low tide and even when a ship’s captain was woken up from his sleep, it took anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour to prepare for departure. Carrying patients on a door panel was difficult during high tide, so patients requiring emergency care had to be transported at low tide. These difficulties helped push for the construction of “Kaichudoro,” a marine road.
A message for young people
I think the current era is centered around material goods. There is no “connection of hearts,” so to speak. That is true for society and for relationships between parents, children, siblings, and friends. I would like to see young people connect with other people through relationships of mutual trust and not just material association. Respect each other’s personal character in order to build relationships of mutual trust. I believe that other people can offer what I don’t have. So let us create a society where we can respect one another.
Mr. Shokou Okudara was an elementary and junior high school teacher and Yonashiro Village council member. He has also held successive posts for various groups and committees for Yonashiro Village. He served 2 terms for 8 years from 1974 as Mayor of Yonashiro Village. In 2001, he was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays award for his many years of service to local government.
Taken captive during evacuations
As we evacuated southwards, we were stopped at Ishikawa. There was a civilian prisoner of war camp in Ishikawa. Youths like myself around 15 or 16 years of age would often be mistaken for child soldiers by US soldiers, so we made sure to evacuate without being seen by the US troops. At the time, there were places called ganya, which were places for storing coffins, and since there was one in Ishikawa, I thought it would be a good place to hide, and I hid there. It worked out to be just the opposite. American soldiers, who were fascinated by ganyas, would often come to take a look at them. Although I thought I was hidden, they actually found me. Unable to hide, I was pulled out of the ganya and was about to be taken to the Yaka internment camp at Kin, but they determined that I was an ordinary child and not a soldier, and I was returned to my family. Sometime later in May 1945, my father negotiated with the Americans and I was taken from Ishikawa to Yakena on a jeep.
Life in Henza
From Yakena, I walked to Henza Island. Like Ishikawa, there was a civilian camp on Henza. There must have been at least 120 to 130 American soldiers on the island. American forces were also stationed at what used to be the elementary and junior high schools. Before I knew it, Henza Village had become Henza City and they even appointed a city mayor. There were probably around 8,000 people in Henza Island at the time. Residents of Hamahiga Island were interned on Hamahiga Island, but the internment camp at Henza held residents from Miyagi and Ikei Islands, as well as from Yakena on the opposite shore. Residents from all of Yokatsu Peninsula were interned in Henza. People who had evacuated from Naha had suffered greatly. There was no food, no dwellings and everyone was tightly crammed together. There wasn’t much field to farm either, so finding food was an issue.
Since there was no money in circulation at the time, we had to depend on various relief supplies and provisional supplies from Americans at distribution stations. They compiled lists for each family and had a fixed amount of supplies for distribution to each person on this list. Various things were distributed such as flour, rice, and canned goods. Since crops couldn’t be grown, we were unable to make anything. We all lived entirely on supplies distributed by the American forces. The supplied food alone, however, was not enough.
There was something that happened that we must not forget about. There were pristine houses in Yakena which evaded the devastation of war. Houses were made of wood, so some houses with tiled roofing were taken apart to use for building residences on Henza Island. Some strong men went over to Yakena and took apart the wooden buildings transporting materials back to Henza. There were civilian police officers called the “akaboushi” (red hats), who were appointed by the US and wore red steel helmets. The men (who took apart the buildings) were found by the police and were thrown into a place surrounded by barbed wire fence, which was called “kanaami.” We couldn’t fish back then either. We were detained as prisoners, so we weren’t free to move around. During the war, Japanese soldiers called “kirikomitai” (suicide squad) carried out attacks against Americans at night. Americans thought that interned civilians might join the kirikomitai if freed, so fishing, farming and other freedoms were taken away from us. Luck would have it, however, that no Japanese soldiers were in Henza. If there were Japanese soldiers, things would have been worse. I think Henza must have been one of the calmer areas governed by the US. Going up the hill from Yakena, there was the garrison of the “China Unit.” A unit of Chiang Kai-shek’s forces was stationed there, but I don’t know why. Close to that around Yohen was a missile base called a Nike missile base.
School Life at Maehara High School
Since I was a junior high school student before the war, I was admitted to Maehara High School. It was a school in name only. There were no textbooks, tables, or chairs. The teachers were probably not formal high school teachers. They were former teachers of the national school’s higher course or graduates of normal schools. We did get a solid English education since we were under US occupation. I think only the English teachers were the only teachers with solid training. With the shortage of teachers, I don’t know whether the other teachers were official high school teachers. And of course, we didn’t have uniforms then. At school, a music teacher would teach us songs, or sometimes we exercised. We couldn’t get a proper education back then. There were no black boards, and no desks or chairs. But the US had a policy calling for each school to gather students and provide an education. That situation continued into the middle of 1946.
Lost handgun incident
In 1946, there were Quonset huts where Yokatsu Junior High School is located today. Maehara High School relocated there and a major incident occurred. A pistol was left in one of the Quonset huts after the US forces left. A curious student found it and hid it. Around that time there were tent dorms where students from Ikei, Tsuken, and other remote islands lived together. Most students who weren’t local had to live in the tents, which accommodated about five students per tent. Boys and girls lived separately. Sometimes American troops would go to the girls’ tents and cause trouble, so the male student with the pistol tried to threaten the troops. The next day, a US education supervisor came by and said they would close the school if the pistol wasn’t returned. All the students were gathered and asked who had the pistol. Of course no one would respond. Answering would lead to trouble so nobody would say anything. So the male student secretly threw away the pistol from the cliff behind the school known as section base. He later confessed that he threw away the pistol there, and all the students were made to go to the bottom of the cliff to find the pistol or else the school would be closed. It took us two days to find it. The pistol was found and returned and the school stayed open.
Both the school and dorms were merely US relief supplies. We were able to avoid starvation by eating dumpling soup made with balls of rolled flour.
Employment after graduation
Maehara High School’s first graduating class graduated in September 1946. I was in the second graduating class, so I graduated in March 1947. I don’t think even one year passed since I was admitted to the school. The requirement to take university entrance exams was to attend school for twelve years, so I couldn’t go on to university. And since Okinawa had no universities, high school was the highest education. So once I graduated from high school, I became a teacher.
At the time, there were more female teachers than male teachers. Wages were low in those days. It was probably around 1948 when we received military currency. By military currency, I mean the “B yen”. Monthly wages were 220 yen for teachers, 400 yen for principals, and 800 to 1,000 yen for the Chief Executive of Ryukyu Islands government. There was a brand of cigarettes available on the black market, with a design of the rising sun called Lucky Strike. One carton had 10 packs of cigarettes and the price was 300 yen. People would say that teachers weren’t even worth as much as a carton of cigarettes. Teachers were sneered at as “just a teacher.” Teachers were highly respected before the war, but after the war, it was a period of material shortage and with low wages, teachers would be belittled and called “shinshi gwa ta,” and I was very much ashamed of being one. Working for American forces or various other places brought in three to four times as much money, so not many men became teachers.
Shipping industry and the scrap boom
For about ten years after the war, roads were not yet properly built and not many trucks were available, so sea transport was flourishing with Henza in the center of the industry. There was a scrap boom in those days. This scrap boom occurred during the period in which sunken ships and abandoned tanks from the war were salvaged for their copper wires and scrap iron to sell. Finding these things, however, was quite difficult. There were no magnets to locate iron back then, so we had to dive in the sea and look for them with our naked eye. There were a number of excellent divers at Henza, and they were successful in finding scrap. They would salvage the materials and sell them off during the scrap boom. Around that time, people in the fishing industry near the Philippines and Thailand came back to Okinawa after the war. These people had been working at sea, so they were very knowledgeable. Some of them made a lot of money finding scrap. On the other hand, others lost money because they were unsuccessful. The scrap boom continued for about three years.
I also worked for a shipping company around 1947 to 1948. Amami Oshima Island had yet to be returned to Japan. There was an island chain of ten islands between Amami Oshima and Kagoshima, including Kuchinoshima and Nakanoshima. Kuchinoshima was on the 30 degrees north latitude line. I have been to Kuchinoshima on a ship that transported copper wire from Okinawa. I was not the ship’s captain, just clerical staff. We bartered on Kuchinoshima trading and selling our copper for timber. Considering the times, you could call it smuggling or contraband trade, but I have never heard of anyone who had been punished by law for participating in the activities. The scrap iron boom probably happened because Japan was short on iron and mines didn’t generate enough. So, Japan would buy up all the copper wire and scrap iron that Okinawa would supply and sell them. Everything was difficult in that era. I traveled far to Kuchinoshima, which is located along the border of the 30 degrees north latitude line.
Struggles as a remote island
Ships that ferried to the remote islands around then were very small. A ship capsized between Yabuchi and Henza Islands. Of the nine passengers, seven died by drowning, and my teacher was among them. Accidents occurred every year at sea. For instance, one could walk to Yakena Island during low tide, but a little disorientation could cause them to fall into the depths. Many people would get stuck and end up drowning.
Giving birth was also very difficult for those living on remote islands. Those who had difficulty delivering would be placed on a door panel and carried by three to four men. If there were no boats, they would run across the shallows to a hospital. Sometimes they were successful, but other times they were not, leading to accidents in giving birth. Ships couldn’t be counted on for sudden illnesses either. No ships could leave the island during low tide and even when a ship’s captain was woken up from his sleep, it took anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour to prepare for departure. Carrying patients on a door panel was difficult during high tide, so patients requiring emergency care had to be transported at low tide. These difficulties helped push for the construction of “Kaichudoro,” a marine road.
A message for young people
I think the current era is centered around material goods. There is no “connection of hearts,” so to speak. That is true for society and for relationships between parents, children, siblings, and friends. I would like to see young people connect with other people through relationships of mutual trust and not just material association. Respect each other’s personal character in order to build relationships of mutual trust. I believe that other people can offer what I don’t have. So let us create a society where we can respect one another.
Mr. Shokou Okudara was an elementary and junior high school teacher and Yonashiro Village council member. He has also held successive posts for various groups and committees for Yonashiro Village. He served 2 terms for 8 years from 1974 as Mayor of Yonashiro Village. In 2001, he was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays award for his many years of service to local government.