Japan’s Okinawa marks half century since US handover

TOKYO, MAY 15 (REUTERS)- The Japanese island chain of Okinawa marked the 50th anniversary on Sunday of the end of U.S. occupation and its return to Japan with calls for more economic growth and fewer U.S. bases despite growing worries over its proximity to an increasingly assertive China.

Okinawa, a string of tropical islands off far southwest Japan much closer to Taiwan than Tokyo, suffered massive devastation in World War Two.two months of bloody battles between U.S. and Japanese forces left as many as a third of its people dead. Nearly 30 years of U.S. rule followed.

On May 15, 1972, the islands were finally returned to Japan in what was seen as a hopeful step forward from the war’s painful legacy. But today they still host the majority of U.S. military bases in Japan, a devil’s bargain that has provided jobs but also fed worries about crime and military accidents.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida delivers a video message during the ceremony for the 50th Anniversary of Okinawa’s reversion to Japan from U.S. occupation, in Tokyo, Japan