The globe-independent. (Hagerstown, Md.) 1943-19??, 1945-06-21
Comparison With
States, Landscapes,
Okinawa Climate
Island In Ryukyu Is Termed
Beautiful By Marine Cores
pondent - Ground Cultivated
Women Do Manual Labor.

pOhNNuh ~AOhhu CuAlANdNEd
Women Do Manual Labor.
By S/Sgt. James r. Moser, Jr.
OkinaWa (Delayed) This is Oki-
nawa an island as different to
Marines from other conquered Pa
cific islands as fertile farms of In
diana to the desert wastes of Utah
There are no coconut trees, no
dense jungles-e except in the north
ern part; no intense heat and hui
Nudity, as Marines have seen and
experienced elsewhere. OkinaWa is
| large and beautiful-not Il coral
atoll, or a crusty tip Of some dead
and forgotten volcano.
1t is, however, of volcanic origin,
with great part sunk beneath the
sea. Enough remains of it to make
up perhaps 10000 square miles of
mountains and fields, hills and v5l-
leys-many acres of fertile land, as
in the States.
The mountain ranges compare in
beauty with those of the eastern
United States. There are, however,
no Skyline Drives" no tourists
There are many valleys, fertile,
sloping hillsides, for high ridges
are numerous.
TerraciDg Extensive
Good examples of everything
Okinawan, can be seen on a drive
over any of its many, narrow, wind
( ing roads. Fields, none larger than
two acres, dot the island like cam
outage paint. All the tiny rice
paddles, the bean and cane fields,
the sweet potato and wheat plots
are terraced.
This is the typical hillside or
fertile valley: Perhaps five to 20
fields, each succeeding one lower
than the other, drop away from the
top of the ridge When not in Gull
tivation these are tiny senni-circular
patches of light and green grass,
the difference in shade due to the
amount of rainfall. Small ridges
about six to eight inches high IN
sure catching of all rain. Every
drop is put to use, every square
foot of fertile soil producing farm
and garden products.
One farming expert said, 'Tf
farmers in the States would pat
tern their soil conservation more
on the order of these ancient meth
DDS, farm products there would be
doubled or tripled"
The terracing of Okinawa, how
ever, has taken centuries. This was
due-and still is--to the crude
farming implements, used mostly by
the women. (Of the 425,000 Oki-
,nawans, there are $4,000 more wo-
men than men,
Women Do Hard Work
The men are not interested in
working, but see that their wives
and daughters are. That is, worn-
en- are ordered to do the hard,
manual labor. AS they grow old,
they are bent from constantly dig
ging in the fields. They carry heavy
sacks sof sweet potatoes, rice and
beans on their shoulders The men
take what's left from the fields in
two-wheel carts, pulled by horses
The people, who are a mixture of
Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Malsyan
and now japanese, are Orlentals.
Women wear kimono-Iike dresses
and carry their babies on their
backs The men dress in shirts and
and short pants. Homes of the
Okinawans are built mostly of
stone and coral foundations. The.
buildings themselves are of very
thin wood, with sliding windows
and doors Food is prepared over
fires in open concrete ovens in
room adjoining each house. There's
nothing modern about Okinawa
roofs of the houses are of
ridged tile or matched grass. Stone
walls around the yards protect the
fragile structures from typhoons
which strike the island often.