Hidden History - Dissent and Fire at Gate 2

An Introduction to the Koza Incident of December 20, 1972

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Hidden History - Dissent and Fire at Gate 2

Okinawa, Okinawa 904-0031, Japan

Created By: Phillip Korkowski

Tour Information

This is a short walking tour with accompynaig audio commentary. It starts at the visitors parking lot outside of Kadena Air Base Gate 2 and and at hte Okinawa City Museum of Postwar Culture and History. It is by no means exhautive in nature, rather it is desigend to foster a greater desire for more knowledge on an event many U.S. persons on Okinawa do not know or understand.


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What You'll See on the Tour

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 ... Read more
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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... Read more
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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 for... Read more
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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... Read more
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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. Co... Read more
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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 Ok... Read more
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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... Read more
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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 includ... Read more
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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... Read more
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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. A... Read more
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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 ... Read more
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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 ... Read more
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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... Read more
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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 wa... Read more
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 i... Read more

 

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