FOR many Okinawans, visiting Northern Marianas also means reliving the past.
“I was here the other year but I missed last year’s trip. So I said I need to come this year by all means,” 69-year-old Choko Fukuyama said in an interview during the CNMI-Japan friendship night held on Monday at Hafa Dai Beach Hotel.
Fukuyama said visiting CNMI is one occasion he and his friends look forward to every year.
He said he traveled with 15 of his colleagues last weekend.
“We are from one company. Other companies also brought their own groups. We want to come here in groups,” he said.
“Okinawans will always remember the Northern Marianas,” he added.
The annual event was attended by top CNMI officials headed by Gov. Juan N. Babauta and lt. Gov. Diego T. Benavente who joined over 260 Okinawans and about 20 other Japanese nationals.
The Okinawans were headed by their lt. governor, Higa Shigemasa, Japanese Consul to the CNMI Takeo Saito and Okinawan association leaders.
“This is very special to them because some of them were born here and on Tinian and Rota,” acting Marianas Visitors Authority Managing Director Vicky I. Benavente said.
Okinawan visitors, this week, held memorial ceremonies in various historical sites on Saipan, Tinian and Rota.
The visitors are members of the Micronesian Repatriation Association chaired by Ginoza Choken and Assembly of Okinawa headed by Iramina Kokichi.
Most of the Okinawan visitors are in their 60s and early 70s.
After World War II, over 9,000 Okinawans residing on Saipan wanted to remain here, but they were relocated to Tinian.
By Feb. 1946, the number of Okinawans in the Northern Marianas declined to 6,500. The number further went down to over a thousand by May. By the end of the year, all of them had been repatriated.
According to historical accounts, the repatriation period was a most difficult time for the Okinawans as some of them were forcibly separated from families and in some cases never reestablished contact.
