Country Japan District Kunigami Area 22.75 km² | Region Kyushu Website www.iejima.org/ieson/ Prefecture Okinawa Prefecture | |
 | ||
Time zone Japan Standard Time (UTC+9) Weather 14°C, Wind NE at 14 km/h, 80% Humidity Points of interest Mount Gusuku, Yushutsu, Ernie Pyle Monument, Misui Park | ||
Ie (伊江村, Ie-son, Kunigami: Ii, Okinawan: Ii (伊江)) is a village located in Kunigami District, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. The village lies on the island of Iejima.
Contents
Map of Ie, Kunigami District, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan
As of 2012, the village has an estimated population of 4,610 and the density of 200 persons per km². Ie is in a period of sustained population loss, and has the highest rate of population loss in Okinawa Prefecture. The total area of the village is 22.75 square kilometres (8.78 sq mi). Iejima Airport serves the village.
Geography
The Village of Ie covers the entirety of Ie Island, and is located to the northwest of Okinawa Island off the Motobu Peninsula. The village is connected to Okinawa via ferry service.
History
The Village of Ie was the site of intense fighting during World War II in the Battle of Okinawa. Ernie Pyle (1900 – 1945), a popular World War II-era American journalist and winner of the 1944 Pulitzer Prize was killed in Ie on April 18, 1945. Pyle was initially buried on the island, but is now interred at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.
Approximately 1,500 villagers survived the Battle of Okinawa, and were removed first to the Kerama Islands, then to Okinawa Island. Residents of Ie were allowed to return to the island during a two-year period starting in May 1946. Life in the village was hard after World War II; little housing remained on the island, and prewar property boundaries were difficult or impossible to determine. Residents in the immediate post-war period lived homes made of scavenged materials and relied on American rations for food.
An elementary school was built immediately after the war, and the first village hall was constructed in front of Udunyama. One third of the village remains under U.S. military control.
Air
The Village of Ie has a single airport, Iejima Airport, but regular flights to Naha ended in 1977. The runway of the airport were part of the Ie Shima Airfield complex built during World War II. Iejima Airport is primarily used in training exercises by the United States military.
Ferry service
The Village of Ie is connected to Okinawa Island via ferry service. A car ferry from Port Toguchi in the town of Motobu takes approximately 30 minutes. The village is also connected to the prefectural capital of Naha via a one-hour high-speed ferry from the Port of Tomari.