The widely cited narrative that mainland Japan treated Okinawa as a “sacrificial stone” during World War II is reexamined in light of military actions, reinforcements, and historical context. This section explores differing interpretations of the Battle of Okinawa and the broader debate over historical memory.

The Okinawa Times often claims that during the Greater East Asia War, mainland Japan treated Okinawa as a sacrificial stone.
2018-01-16.
The following continues from the previous chapter.
Emphasis in the text is mine.
The Okinawa Times often asserts that during the Greater East Asia War, mainland Japan treated Okinawa as expendable.
That same tone appears in articles about me.
However, this is completely incorrect.
Seventy-two years ago, Japan did not treat Okinawa as a sacrificial stone at all.
To treat it as expendable would mean that when U.S. forces arrived in Okinawa, the Japanese military would have made no effort to defend it, conserved its strength, sent not a single soldier for Okinawa, and simply watched as Okinawa was destroyed in preparation for a decisive battle on the mainland.
How much effort did Japan actually expend to defend Okinawa?.
Thousands of special attack aircraft were deployed, and more than five thousand pilots died.
The battleship Yamato also set out for Okinawa despite a hopeless situation.
It was sunk along the way, and more than three thousand people perished.
During the Battle of Okinawa, many Okinawan soldiers died, but even more soldiers from outside Okinawa were sent there and tens of thousands lost their lives.
More people from outside Okinawa died than Okinawan soldiers themselves.
Therefore, Japan did not abandon Okinawa nor treat it as expendable.
In other words, Japan exerted tremendous effort to defend Okinawa.
Even so, Okinawa became the only ground battlefield of the Greater East Asia War, and many people lost their lives.
Nearly one hundred thousand Okinawan civilians died, but in fact most of them died after the ground battle in Okinawa had ended.
In other words, during the ground battle itself, relatively fewer Okinawan civilians died.
Why was that?.
Because the Japanese military fought desperately to defend them.
However, after defeat in the ground battle and the destruction of Japanese forces, killings by U.S. forces began.
To be continued.