Peace

Today I went to Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum.

Between March and September 1945, the bloodiest and fiercest battle of the Pacific War took place on the islands of Okinawa after the U.S. invaded, which were seen by the Allied forces saw as a pivotal stepping stone to invade mainland Japan. Also referred to as the "Typhoon of Steel," the Battle of Okinawa lasted for ninety days, during which mountains were disfigured, the cultural legacy of Okinawa was destroyed, and the lives of more than 200,000 people were lost. Among the casualties, more than half were civilians who perished in the fighting, died of starvation, or committed suicide under orders from the Imperial Japanese military.

One of the exhibition rooms was dedicated to personal testimonies from survivors of the war. In one video, an elderly woman recounted the story of first losing her parents and later witnessing her aunt kill her own child because she feared that the infant's crying would reveal their hiding place as they tried to flee. With much poignancy in her face and tone, she said, "If you were not there in those circumstances, you cannot understand it. How could you?"

After the war, the U.S. military pushed forward with the large-scale construction of military bases, seeing Okinawa as a strategic base in East Asia. A few years later, supervision of Okinawa was transferred from the U.S. military to the U.S. Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands, which devised policies for industrial promotion, social welfare, and the furtherance of education and culture. But as Okinawa was turned into a vast military base complex, resentment from Okinawans led to the island-wide movement for reversion. Finally, in 1971, the Okinawa Reversion Agreement was signed, and Okinawa was returned to Japan from the U.S. in 1972.

Today, Okinawa Prefecture still hosts 32 U.S. military facilities, with Kadena Air Base being the largest U.S. military installation in the Asia-Pacific region.

On my way back to Naha, I saw a small protest against both U.S. military bases and Japanese governance of the Ryukyu Islands, the southern part of which makes up Okinawa Prefecture.

The protesters' signs read: "Those who have weapons perish with weapons." "CLOSE ALL BASES"

Lew chew = Ryukyu. On the left side of the flag, it says "establishing a constitutional republic", "human rights", "separation of religion from the state." On the left it reads "Aspiring for a non-nuclear, non-military, and non-warring country."

Later when I checked the news, I read that Iran had attacked Israel with drone and missile strikes. And many wars are continuing all over the world. Thinking about current global affairs and geopolitics, I started wondering if what I am doing is truly important. It's hard to not feel guilty when I get to travel around the world pursuing my passion project about plant-based food while so many are still suffering from violence and deprivation of all kinds around the world.

But at its core, my project is about peace. Until humans stop killing and eating animals, I don't think there will be real peace in the world.