[8]: 86  Some human bone fragments thought to be from the Paleolithic era were unearthed from a site in Naha, but the artifact was lost in transportation before it was examined.

The Ryukyu Kingdom entered into the Imperial Chinese tributary system under the Ming dynasty beginning in the 15th century, which established economic relations between the two nations.

Four years after the 1868 Meiji Restoration, the Japanese government, through military incursions, officially annexed the kingdom and renamed it Ryukyu han.

[25] In fall 1960, U.S. commandos in Green Light Teams secret training missions carried small nuclear weapons on the east coast of Okinawa Island.

[26] Between 1965 and 1972, Okinawa was a key staging point for United States in its military operations directed towards North Vietnam.

Along with Guam, it presented a geographically strategic launch pad for covert bombing missions over Cambodia and Laos.

The Vietnam War highlighted the differences between United States and Okinawa but showed a commonality between the islands and mainland Japan.

[28] As controversy grew regarding the alleged placement of nuclear weapons on Okinawa, fears intensified over the escalation of the Vietnam War.

Okinawa was perceived by some inside Japan as a potential target for China, should the communist government feel threatened by United States.

As information leaked out, and images of air strikes were published, the local population began to fear the potential for retaliation.

The movement employed tactics ranging from demonstrations to handing leaflets to soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines directly, warning of the implications for a third World War.

[36][37] On October 25, 2005, after a decade of negotiations, the governments of the U.S. and Japan officially agreed to move Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from its location in the densely populated city of Ginowan to the more northerly and remote Camp Schwab in Nago by building a heliport with a shorter runway, partly on Camp Schwab land and partly running into the sea.

[18][38] According to a 2007 Okinawa Times poll, 85% of Okinawans opposed the presence of the U.S. military,[39] because of noise pollution from military drills, the risk of aircraft accidents,[note 5] environmental degradation,[40] and crowding from the number of personnel there,[41] although 73% of Japanese citizens appreciated the mutual security treaty with the U.S. and the presence of the USFJ.

In early 2008, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice apologized after a series of crimes involving American troops in Japan, including the rape of a young girl of 14 by a Marine on Okinawa.

[47] Yet, per Marine Corps Installations Pacific data, U.S. service members are convicted of far fewer crimes than local Okinawans.

Reports that more than a third of the barrels developed leaks have led Okinawans to ask for environmental investigations, but as of 2012[update] both Tokyo and Washington refused such action.

[52] On September 30, 2018, Denny Tamaki was elected as the next governor of Okinawa prefecture, after a campaign focused on sharply reducing the U.S. military presence on the island.

[58] On June 25, 2018, Okinawa residents held a protest demonstration at sea against scheduled land reclamation work for the relocation of a U.S. military base within Japan's southernmost island prefecture.

[59] Since the early 2000s, Okinawans have opposed the presence of American troops helipads in the Takae zone of the Yanbaru forest near Higashi and Kunigami.

[69] Eleven cities are located within the Okinawa Prefecture: (name in brackets) These are the towns and villages in each district: (name in brackets) (Kunigami) Yunoon (Yaeyama) The indigenous Ryukyuans make up the majority of Okinawa Prefecture's population and are also the main ethnic group of the Amami Islands to the north.

[72] With the introduction of American military bases, there are an increasing number of half-American children in Okinawa, including prefecture governor Denny Tamaki.

Its body is often bound with snakeskin (from pythons, imported from elsewhere in Asia, rather than from Okinawa's venomous Trimeresurus flavoviridis, which are too small for this purpose).

This provides a sense of security for the community members and as mentioned in the Blue Zone studies, may have been a contributing factor to the longevity of its people.

[81] Two Okinawan writers have received the Akutagawa Prize: Eiki Matayoshi in 1995 for The Pig's Retribution (豚の報い, Buta no mukui) and Shun Medoruma in 1997 for A Drop of Water (Suiteki).

[82][83] Okinawans have traditionally followed Ryukyuan religious beliefs, generally characterized by ancestor worship and the respecting of relationships between the living, the dead, and the gods and spirits of the natural world.

[87] In addition, twenty-three Ryukyuan architectural complexes and forty historic sites have been designated for protection by the national government.

Internationally, the various styles and sub-styles include Matsubayashi-ryū, Wadō-ryū, Isshin-ryū, Shōrinkan, Shotokan, Shitō-ryū, Shōrinjiryū Kenkōkan, Shorinjiryu Koshinkai, and Shōrinji-ryū.

[104] However, Koji Taira argued in 1997 that because the U.S. bases occupy around 20% of Okinawa's land, they impose a deadweight loss of 15% on the Okinawan economy.

Forces Japan Okinawa Area Field Office estimated that in 2003 the combined U.S. and Japanese base-related spending contributed $1.9 billion to the local economy.

[108][109] The Okinawa Convention and Visitors Bureau is exploring the possibility of using facilities on the military bases for large-scale meetings, conferencing, exhibitions events.