Henry A Wiley (DM 29) - Naval Cruise Book

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WMM The Ulithi Islands lie on two atolls and consist of about fifty-five islets of various sizes. The soil is constructed of broken coral covered with coconut palms and it is not suitable for cultivation. Qfulnawa. The Okinawa Gunto, consisting of Okinawa Shima and numerous smaller islands, are located at the approximate center of the Nansei Shoto group. The Gunto covers an area roughly 90 miles east and west and 65 miles north and south. The center link in the chain which screens the East China Sea from the Pacific Ocean, Okinawa Shima, larg- est and most important island of the Nansei Shoto, lies roughly at an equal distance from Formosa on the south- west, China on the west and Kyushu, Japan, on the northeast. The population of the Okinawa Gunto in 1940 was 462,000 of whom 435,000 lived on Okinawa Shima. Although the people are racially a mixed group they have the same basic characteristics as the Japanese. Physically they differ slightly as they are shorter, darker, and are inclined to have more body hair. For 700 years as part of the Ryukyu Retto the Okinawans maintained their own succession of kings. Chinese inva- sions began as early as 600 A. D. and continued intermittently. In the seven- In 1930 a total of 450 people inhabit- ed these islands. In Ulithi as well as the Marshalls the natives are Kanakas who were governed as Japanese mandates. teenth century the islands were con- quered by the Japanese, and for the next 250 years the shaky Ryukyu Kingdom maintained a precarious existence, in- fluenced by both China and Japan. In 1879, the king was reduced to the rank of a non-imperial prince of Japan, and the islands were incorporated in the Em- pire as Okinawa Prefecture. It was not until the end of the Sino-Japanese War in 1894 that the N ipponese rule receiv- ed full recognition, and the imprint of Chinese culture still remains. Chinese Ancestor Worship still has a strong influence and large whitewashed funeral vaults are conspicuous through- out the countryside. The average Okin- awan believes that he dwells after death as he did in life, and nearly every family has a funeral vault. There are few other external indications of active re- ligious influences. The Capital of Okinawa is Naha, the largest city of Okinawa Gunto. As a rule, Japanese from the empire filled all important administrative posts. The standard of living is lower than in Japan while the dress predominates Japan. Page nineteen

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