RYUKYU PEOPLE — NEWMAN AND ENG 391 



populated islands have narrow roads, mostly running along the coasts 

 and connecting the larger towns. Few roads were cut through rugged 

 terrain, so that the more isolated areas were served only by footpaths. 

 Most of the smaller islands had only trails. The roads were usually 

 made of limestone topped with coral sand, and were nationally, pre- 

 fecturally, or locally maintained. Cut and fitted rock bridges were 

 used to traverse streams on the major roads. 



Owing to a heavier population and more favorable terrain, most of 

 the roads were in the Central and South Ryukyus. The bulk of these 

 were on Okinawa Jima. Even so, the total of 4,000 miles of roads over 

 the entire Ryukyus in 1939 is small as compared with areas the same 

 size in this country. 



Major Ryukyuan cities had many broad and well-paved streets. In 

 1939 Naha and Shuri (combined population of over 80,000) had a street 

 system totaling almost 1,300 miles. 



Most of the vehicles were bicycles, rickshas, and horse-drawn carts. 

 There were few automobiles and busses. In 1939 the Central and 

 South Ryukyus had a total of 504 miles in bus routes. 



Railroads were of little consequence in Rjoikyu transportation and 

 were only narrow-gauge spur lines between large towns, or were used 

 in nationally-promoted mining and lumbering activities. Steam and 

 gasoline engines were used, as well as horse cars. 



Means of water transportation ranged from the single-log native 

 dugout through motor launches to the small Japanese steamers which 

 touched only the several main ports. Most of the interisland traffic 

 was by motor sampans and larger sailing craft. The bulk of the ocean 

 travel was by Ryukyuans in search of seasonal or permanent employ- 

 ment. Few Japanese or other foreigners visited the islands. 



Communication between the larger islands and Japan was possible 

 by radio, submarine cable, airmail, and regular mail. Small post 

 offices were located in almost every township, in addition to those in 

 the larger towns. Telegraph and telephone lines connected the post 

 offices on the same island. In addition to a small circulation of Jap- 

 anese newspapers, a handful of 2- to 8-page local papers were printed. 

 The circulations were not known, although plenty of newspapers were 

 found in abandoned rural homes during the invasion. Both the 

 Japanese and local press were rigidly controlled. 



Utility crafts. — The textile industries employed more people than 

 all the other crafts combined, and rivaled sugar production in capital 

 return. Most of the work was done by hand, producing goods of excel- 

 lent quality mainly for Japanese luxury trade. The first ranking tex- 

 tile industry was silk, wherein an expert weaver would take 2 or 3 

 months to produce 10 yards of high-grade material of 14-inch width. 

 Most silk was made in the North R3aikyus. The next most important 



