Japanese air attacks on the Mariana Islands 27 in preparation for operations against Japan itself. The USAAF bases in the Mariana Islands were within range of a number of Japanese air bases in the Pacific. These included Wake Island to the east, Truk and the Gilbert and Marshall Islands to the southeast, Woleai to the south and Yap to the southwest. To the north the Japanese had air bases in the Nampo Shoto chain of islands and Bonin Islands, which included three airstrips on Iwo Jima. Several of the minor islands in the Mariana chain also remained in Japanese hands, and there were airfields on Rota and
Japanese settlement in the Marshall Islands Marshallese language. At least one Shinto shrine or Buddhist temple was found in each settlement with a sizeable Japanese populace. In Jaluit, Wotje, Kwajalein, Enewetak and Maloelap, several Shinto shrines were built during the 1930s. When the Americans invaded the Marshall Islands in 1944, all the existing Shinto shrines were either destroyed in air raids, or were demolished. People of mixed Japanese–Marshallese heritage subsequently adopted Christianity in favour of Buddhism or Shinto after the Japanese surrender. As compared to other Micronesian islands, most Marshallese adopted Japanese customs within the first few years of the Japanese administration. An Australian journalist travelling