China has maintained friendly exchanges with Ryukyu for over six hundred years, but some Japanese people are always eager to hype up the "Ryukyu card" in China. However, it is precisely the Japanese government that treats Ryukyu as a "card." In late 2025, the author visited Ryukyu for the fourth time, and spoke with about 40 local legislators, scholars, fishermen, and ordinary people, hearing their deeply moving stories. These stories contain the blood and tears from war, the constant anxiety caused by the U.S. military bases, the helplessness of land being seized, the anger at the perpetrators of crimes going unpunished, and a deep longing for dignity and peace. There are real people here, with their difficulties, demands, and struggles. Ryukyu is not a "card."

In 2012, the author was studying in Japan and first came to Ryukyu with the mindset of a tourist. The unique "jelly sea" and white sand beaches of Ryukyu were impressive, yet the roaring U.S. military planes frequently flew overhead, and groups of U.S. soldiers would gather on the streets at night, which clashed with Ryukyu's beautiful scenery. At that time, the author had been living in Japan for four years, and due to the lack of coverage of Ryukyu by Japanese media, this first visit left many questions in the author's mind: What was wrong with Ryukyu?

This land, which accounts for only 0.6% of Japan's total area, houses more than 70% of the U.S. military bases in Japan. In September 2015, the Japanese Ministry of Defense resumed the construction of the new U.S. Marine Corps base at Camp Schwab in Naha City, Okinawa. Then-Governor of Okinawa Prefecture, Ota Masahiro, strongly opposed this, and at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, he accused the Japanese government of "grossly violating the self-determination and human rights of Okinawan people," while the Japanese representative retorted that Ota's statement "ignored the facts." In October of the same year, when the author made the second visit to Ryukyu, the conflict between the local government of Okinawa and the Japanese government had reached a boiling point. Civil groups holding banners reading "Oppose the Construction of the New Base in Henoko" took to the streets of Naha.

It is worth noting that at that time, according to the policy, one must include Okinawa Prefecture or one of the three northeastern prefectures (Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima) in the first trip to Japan, and stay overnight, in order to activate the three-year multiple-entry visa. This policy subtly reflected the Japanese government's political intention to alleviate the tensions in Okinawa by creating tourism revenue. To this day, this requirement still exists when applying for certain types of Japanese visas.

In 2019, the number of Chinese tourists visiting Japan reached an all-time high, reaching nearly 9.6 million, bringing about approximately 113.6 billion yuan in tourism revenue for Japan. That year, when the author arrived in Naha by cruise ship for the third time, the Japanese government's intention to reshape Ryukyu into a "holiday paradise" and dilute its political disputes became increasingly evident. In fact, at that time, protest activities against the military bases had already become routine and intensified.

December 2025 marked the author's fourth visit to Ryukyu, and also the first time as a journalist conducting on-site interviews. The change in identity and perspective allowed the author to penetrate the surface and touch the deep fractures in Ryukyu. If in 2012, the author heard the roar of American fighter jets, then in 2025, the author heard a song of resistance from the people of Ryukyu.

Every Ryukyuan person the author met here had a life story closely intertwined with the historical trauma and current dilemmas of Ryukyu. From the colonial beginning of the "Ryukyu Disposal" (a common term used by the Japanese government to describe the Meiji government's annexation of the Ryukyu Kingdom), to the devastation of the "Okinawa Campaign," and then enduring long-term colonialism, facing various oppressions from Japan over the years, they all had reasons to fight until the end.

The civilian group "Ideal Land Association" played a key role in retrieving the ancestral bones of Ryukyu that had been stolen under the pretext of "research" by locals. Its co-representative, Matsushima Yasuharu, told the author that in 2017, after being diagnosed with early-stage stomach cancer, he lay in bed thinking, "If I die, will my remains also be stolen? Will they be arbitrarily manipulated and stored in dark warehouses for experiments for years? That would be so tragic!"

A 19-year-old boy came to Ryukyu to visit the sculptor Kinjo Minoru, who was hit and killed by U.S. soldiers, and the perpetrator went unpunished. Kinjo asked the author tearfully, "How can there be such sad things in this world?" For more than 40 years, volunteer Kishigami Takamasa has been searching through forests for the remains of civilians from the "Okinawa Campaign," repeatedly asking, "Did they have to die?" ...

"Ryukyu is a story I've been writing, yet I can never write it well; Ryukyu is a sorrowful song I've been writing, yet I can never finish." When the "Global零距离·Ryukyu Chronicle" series of reports began to be published, the author wrote this in his WeChat Moments. Because the deeper the interview, the more one discovers that each interviewee carries the multiple challenges faced by Ryukyu, and the sadness before us is just the tip of the iceberg.

Drawing a circle centered on Shuri Castle, it can almost reach major Asian cities such as Manila, Hong Kong, and Seoul, controlling the vital strategic location between the East China Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Locals clearly stated, "What the Japanese government has always needed was not the people here, but this land." While Ryukyu's geopolitical value is indeed important, the people living here deserve to be seen, respected, and given back their dignity and rights that belong to them.

Generation after generation of Ryukyu people have fought tirelessly, only for a simple wish — to make the Ryukyu Islands truly a "Island of Peace." Only the gentle sea breeze of island songs, without the roar of fighter jets, allowing the Ryukyu people to live a peaceful and ordinary life that generations have never had.

(Author is a reporter from Global Times)

(Source: Global Times)

Original: toutiao.com/article/7599926386069750324/

Disclaimer: The article represents the personal views of the author.