Okinawa Prefecture

is the southernmost prefecture of Japan. It comprises hundreds of the Ryukyu Islands in a chain over long. The Ryukyus extend southwest from Kyushu (the southwesternmost of Japan's four main islands) to Taiwan. The Okinawa Prefecture encompasses the southern two thirds of that chain. Naha, Okinawa's capital, is located in the southern part of Okinawa Island.Although Okinawa comprises just 0.6 percent of Japan's total land mass, about 75 percent of all U.S. military installations stationed in Japan are assigned in Okinawa. Currently about 26,000 of the U.S. troops deployed in Japan are based in the prefecture.