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 experience of nuclear warfare shaped critical views held by Japanese–Marshallese politicians. From the 1990s onwards, Japanese–Marshallese politicians including James Matayoshi and Hiroshi Yamamura often led lobbies against the United States for monetary compensation of victims of radioactive fallout. When Marshall Islands became independent in 1986, second and third-generation Japanese–Marshallese offsprings formed the Japanese–Marshallese association (also known as "Marshall Nikkeijin Kai" in Japanese), and rendered assistance to families of Japanese soldiers who died during the Pacific War. Although the association had limited patronage from the younger generation of Japanese–Marshallese, it played an important role in lobbying the government to forge