Handbook of Education Policy Studies by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789811383434
Publisher: Springer Singapore

Once a pupil spoke the dialect, he or she had to keep the placard hanging from the neck until the pupil found another violator. Within the system of mutual surveillance, the use of the local dialect among children was strictly forbidden in public schooling.

10.4.2 Okinawan People in WWII

As seen in the modern history of Okinawa, policies of assimilation and differentiation had clearly affected the life of Okinawan people. The treatment of Okinawa and Okinawans by the central government and, to a greater extent, by the Imperial Japanese Army had far distressing effects upon their life and history. The Okinawa Islands became the battle ground by the USA landing in Japan’s homeland, along with the Ogasawara Islands, including Iwo Jima. However, as noted by the Governor of Okinawa, Okinawans feel that they were the only Japanese who had been forced to experience hardships on the ground battle, as the about 6000 residents of Ogasawara had been evacuated months before the battles began (Ryukyu Shimpo 2014: xvi).10

Special policy for Okinawa could be seen in the mobilisation of students too. Without an approval in the National Diet, the Ministry of the Army lowered the state-regulated draft age of 17 to 14 for students in Okinawa, Ogasawara and other island territories which were strategically detached from mainland Japan. In Okinawa, male students between 14 and 16 years old were drafted into Tekketsu Kinno-tai, Iron and Blood Corps for the Emperor. For females, nine units of student nurse were formed. Among them, the Himeyuri Student Nurse Corps took the heaviest death tolls. A survivor of Himeyuri recalled their experience that (Fig. 10.3):

Fig. 10.3Two boys of Tekketsu Kinno-tai taken prisoner by the US army on 17 June 1945 (©Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum). (The original photo data of Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum will be attached in the final version)

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.