Life History of Akira Shimada

1900(Meiji 43 )

Born as the eldest son of the current practitioner in Suma Ward, Kobe City.

1922 (Taisho 11)

Entered the Faculty of Law at Tokyo Imperial University after passing through the 3rd high school in the former system of Kobe 2nd junior high school.

He served as the captain of junior high school, high school, university baseball clubs.During the University of Tokyo, he was a star player of six university baseball league.

1925

Joined the Ministry of Interior. Mainly working in the police department.

1940

Appointed as Shanghai Secretary and Deputy General Manager of Police Department in Shanghai. Experience the Shanghai incident.

January 1945

Appointed as the governor of Okinawa Prefecture. Made urgent efforts to evacuate prefectural residents and saved more than 100,000 lives. Procured rice as food for prefectural citizens by visiting Taiwan.

April

Battle of Okinawa started. Maintained the prefectural government at the temporary government building in the midst of intense firearms shooting, and tried to maintain the life and safety of the citizens in contact with the military.

End of May

Japanese army withdrew to the south of the prefecture. The desperate efforts and appeals of the prefectural government were not heard, and the southern residents and evacuated prefectural citizens were involved in the battle and sacrificed. 

Shimada and prefectual staff follow the movement of Japanese army to the south. They took the shelter in some natural hollows.

Jun 6

Shimada declared the desoltion of the prefectual governmet. He told his staff not to kill themmselves but to keep on living.

June 25

Commander Ushijima commited ritual suicide on the 23rd. After the end of the actual battle, Shimada went missing.

His motto was“If you do it with firm resolution, even the demon will give way." In Okinawa, each of the citizens of the prefecture and the staff of the prefecture who met  Govenor Shimada were warmly touched by him. They remember the govener's kindness even now, more than 70 years since the end of the war.

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When I was a high school student, I heard that Governor Shimada was so great.

A “great man” who was destined to share his life with  citizens of Okinawa as a prefectural governor, a “courageous person” who dare to go to the deadly battle field without paying attention to the dangers of life, and “Hero" who achieved the evacuation of the prefectural citizens by making use of experience, personal intelligence and energy.

He was so great that he was for me far from being able to comprehend or feel sympathy with. How disasterous the battle of Okinawa was far beyond understanding by watching the drama or movie of “Tower of Himeyuri” alone.

Nowadays, with the wide spread use of the Internet, it is easy to search for materials and imformation and it is also possible to read the experiences of Okinawa battle. However, even if you read several books and continue reading Internet articles, it is not easy to get an overall picture of the battle of Okinawa.

I think that it is a big obstacle that there is no official (public) record of the 15-year war including the Pacific War itself and the Japan-China War. So, while reading the official American records as documents, I am studying Japanese materials. But the more I know, the more disastrous battle I feel it is.

More than 200,000 people died ony in three months. About 90,000 ordinary citizens were killed.

The fact that the Japanese army killed the residents and forced self-determination(suicide in group)was an unmistakable fact that there were a number of testimonies of the surviving people, and I, as a person who live in Honshu, feel guilt. Often I see these disturbing fact in a book or on internet, I will not be able to endure my heart without closing the book or switching the screen.

But I want to keep looking at the reality.

I have been looking away from it for nearly 40 years since I was a high school student.

The area around my highschool was devastated by the air raid during WWI I, and some teachers escaped the incendiary bombs and lost their family and friends in front of them.

It doesn't mean I was preached or learned in peace learning class, but I felt something from teacher's facial expressions when they talked about what they experience in the war. So after I had started to work as an English teacher or interpreter l always felt like I had to work not only for my happiness and welbeing but also for peace. I have kept that feeling.

Governor Shimada is gradually becoming known more in Kobe, and his story has become a secondary teaching material for morals lesson at junior highschools. A televi drama was made few years ago and a movie will be released next year.

If his achievements become widely known, various interpretations will come out this time, and it seems the part that he dedicated his life for the country is much emphasized nowadays with nationalistic view point.

I think we can see more about Okinawa when we try to know Akira Shimada and as many people as possible should know more about the Battle of Okinawa.