The Ryūkyūans are a group of indigenous peoples living in the Ryūkyū archipelago, which stretches southwest of the main Japanese island of Kyūshū towards Taiwan. The largest and most populated island of the archipelago, Okinawa Island, is actually closer to Manila, Taipei, Shanghai and Seoul than it is to Tokyo.

The Japanese military directed Ryukyu people to end their lives themselves rather than become US prisoners. sometimes distributing grenades and making them kill themselves.. 25. Ryukyuans who tried to surrender or became prisoners of U.S. forces were killed. The Japanese military even prohibited Ryukyuans using the Ryukyuan language, and

Indigenous Peoples in the Ryukyus: all the persons whose ancestors lived in the Ryukyus before annexation / 1olonization of the Ryukyu kingdom by Japan in 1879, share the history of the indigenous peoples in the Ryukyus and identify themselves as indigenous