My first glimpse of Koza was a burned out car on a monochrome print I picked up at a recycle shop in Naha. I would see the image again when I visited the history section of the Okinawa City Hall, where there was a prominent display on the Koza Riot of 1970.
In a possible attempt to erase memory through association, the name was changed to Okinawa City in 1974, but like Ho Chi Minh City — which locals, to the despair of the central government, still prefer to call Saigon — Koza remains the name of choice. Even the local buses retain the name.
Contingent with U.S. Kadena Air Base, the largest of its type in the Pacific, the skies of Koza can get noisy. On the way to the city I stopped to photograph a group of activists protesting the presence of Osprey helicopters, which are abhorred not just for their noise levels but poor safety record.
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