Fifty years after America returned Okinawa to Japan, it still feels cut off

FLAMES LICKED the sky over Cape Hedo on the northernmost tip of Okinawa’s main island, burning bright enough to be seen from the nearby island of Yoron. After the second world war, when Yoron belonged to Japan but Okinawa was under American occupation, locals lit bonfires as signals, as if to say “Hi, we’re still here” to their brethren. When the fire burned again in late April, it was to mark the 50th anniversary of Okinawa’s return to Japan. Politicians waxed lyrical about peace, occasionally interrupted by American military aircraft overhead. An old protest song blared from a tinny speaker: Okinawa wo kaese! (Give back Okinawa!)