Short Abstract

This study examines how the Territory of Hawaii became a place of “liberation” for the combatants from the Korean Peninsula and Okinawa Prefecture who had been mobilized into the Japanese Imperial Army prior to and during WWII, when they were transferred there from the battleground of Okinawa.

Long Abstract

Japanese Army combatants from the Korean Peninsula, at the time a colony of Japan, and Okinawa Prefecture who were mobilized into the Japanese Imperial Army prior to and during World War II went through a complicated process of changing their status as prisoners of war. This history has attracted increased public attention and scholarly awareness since 2015, when the Honouliuli Internment and POW Camp on the Island of Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi, was designated a national monument by the U.S. government. Recent studies have shed light on the confinement of Korean and Okinawan POWs at the camps in the Territory of Hawaii, similar to the situation of Italian POWs there. Koreans and Okinawan POWs were separated from the Japanese Imperial troops after they were captured by the Allies. The POW camps were classified by ethnic group and the POWs were treated based on ethnicity. While the treatment and transfer process of each group of POWs has been investigated, there has been little in-depth research of the holistic exploitation system of the soldiers and former soldiers (POWs) by both the Japanese Imperial Army and the U.S. Army.

In this study, the author shows the process of the mobilization of male combatants and soldiers from the Korean peninsula and Okinawa Prefecture for the Battle of Okinawa, and their subsequent “liberation” from the Army through their transfer to the Territory of Hawaii by US forces. The term “liberation” in this context means liberation from the Japanese Imperial Army, despite having to work for the US Army as POWs. Analysis of the timeline of the forced inclusion of the people from these two places in relation to the war reveals that the Territory of Hawaii became a place of “liberation” for these two groups. Although the reason for the transfer of POWs from Okinawa to Hawaiʻi at that time is still unclear, this study clarifies the pathways of Okinawans and Koreans who were exploited in two countries.