Editing Ryukyuans (section)

===Meiji period===
{{Main|Ryukyu Domain|Okinawa Prefecture|Ryukyu independence movement}}
[[File:Five men wearing Ryukyuan Dress.JPG|thumb|right|Five Ryukyuan men, [[Meiji period]]]]
During the [[Meiji period]] (1868–1912) the {{lang|ja-Latn|"Ryukyu shobun"}} process began,{{sfn|Loo|2014|p=2}} according to which the Ryukyuan Kingdom came under the jurisdiction of [[Kagoshima Prefecture]] in 1871, encompassing the southern tip of [[Kyushu]] and the Ryukyuan islands to its south; this created the [[Ryukyu Domain]] (1872–1879) of Meiji-era Japan. This method of gradual integration was designed to avoid both Ryukyuan and Chinese protests, with the ruling [[Shuri Castle|Shuri government]] unaware of the significance of these developments, including Japan's decision to grant political representation to the Ryukyuan islanders involved in the [[Japanese invasion of Taiwan (1874)]].{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}}

In 1875, the Ryukyuans were forced to terminate their tributary relations with China, against their preference for a state of dual allegiance to both China and Japan, something a then-weakened China was unable to stop. A proposal by the 18th U.S. President [[Ulysses S. Grant]] for a sovereign Okinawa and the division of the other islands between China and Japan was rejected, with a last-minute decision by the Chinese government not to ratify the agreement rendering it null. On three occasions between 1875 and 1879, the last Ryukyuan King, [[Shō Tai]], refused to submit to the demands placed upon his people, and in 1879, his domain was formally abolished and established as [[Okinawa Prefecture]], forcing his move to Tokyo with the reduced status of Viscount.{{sfn|Smits|2004|pp=228–230}}{{sfn|Hendrickx|2007|pp=56–57}}{{sfn|Caprio|2014|pp=61–62}}{{sfn|Loo|2014|pp=1, 26–32}}

Members of the Ryukyuan aristocratic classes such as [[Kōchi Chōjō]] and [[Rin Seikō]] continued to resist annexation for almost two decades;{{sfn|Obermiller|2006|pp=23–24}} however, following the [[First Sino-Japanese War]] (1894–1895), both Chinese and Ryukyuan interest in sovereignty faded as China renounced its claims to the island.{{sfn|Hendrickx|2007|p=59}}{{sfn|Dubinsky|Davies|2013|p=12}}{{sfn|Loo|2014|pp=32–36}} Many historians criticise Meiji-era Japan's characterisation of the process as being considered a relatively simple administrative change, rather than the creation of Japan's first colony and the beginning of its "inner colonialism".{{sfn|Smits|2004|p=228}}{{sfn|Gluck|2008|p=938}}

During the Meiji period, as with the [[Ainu people]] of Hokkaido, the Ryukyuans had their own culture, religion, traditions and language suppressed by the Meiji government in the face of forced assimilation.<ref name="MasamiIto2009"/>{{sfn|Rabson|2008|p=4}}{{sfn|Smits|2004|pp=233–245}} From the 1880s onwards, schools forbade the display of Ryukyuan styles of dress, hairstyles and other visual aspects, considering them to be backwards and inferior, with students forced to wear Japanese clothing and to assimilate into Japanese culture.{{sfn|Caprio|2014|p=64}} Indoctrination into a militaristic and Emperor-centred ideology for children began from the age of beginning elementary school onwards;{{sfn|Rabson|2008|p=5}} the ultimate goal of this education was a total unification of the Ryukyuans into the [[Yamato people]], embodying the ideal of ethnic purity,{{sfn|Dubinsky|Davies|2013|p=3}} with contemporary ''Nihonjiron'' literature for the time ignoring Japan's minorities{{sfn|Liddicoat|2013|p=54}}). Ryukyuans often faced prejudice, humiliation in the workplace and ethnic discrimination,{{sfn|Caprio|2014|pp=67–70}}{{sfn|Christy|2004|pp=173–185}} with the Ryukyuan elite divided into factions either in support of or in opposition to assimilation.{{sfn|Rabson|2008|p=4}} Negative stereotypes and discrimination were common against the Ryukyuans in the Japanese society.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://apjjf.org/2020/20/Zohar.html|title=
Introduction: Race and Empire in Meiji Japan|first=Ayelet|last=Zohar|publisher=The Asia-Pacific Journal|date=October 15, 2020|accessdate=November 12, 2023}}</ref>

Around and especially after the Japanese annexation of Taiwan in 1895, Japan's developmental focus shifted away from Okinawa, resulting in a period of famine known as {{lang|ja-Latn|"Sotetsu-jigoku"}} ("[[Cycad]] hell"). Between 1920 and 1921, a fall in sugar prices, as well as the transfer of Japan's sugar production to Taiwan, led to Ryukyu being the poorest prefecture, despite having the heaviest taxation burden; the drop in sugar prices would continue into 1931, further worsening the situation.{{sfn|Smits|2004|p=233}} As a result of the ensuing economic crisis, many people were forced to either find work in Japan (often [[Osaka]] and [[Kobe]]) or abroad in Taiwan.{{sfn|Christy|2004|pp=177, 180–182}}{{sfn|Obermiller|2006|p=86}} By 1935, roughly 15% of the population had emigrated.{{sfn|Nakasone|2002|p=17}}