Ryūkyū independence movement

Ryūkyū independence movement

The Ryukyu islands are an interesting case. A small string of islands off the south of Japan — including Okinawa — these islands were historically an independent nation from Japan, and have a very separate history and culture from the main islands — before being conquered by the Chinese, then the Japanese, and now more or less controlled by the USA. You can imagine they’d be pissed. But again, you have a relatively small and weak set of islands that would struggle to survive on their own.