ABSTRACT
The recent explosion of work on Okinawa focuses attention on Okinawans in Japan’s empire, the diaspora, the American postwar order, and the more distant past. Another major topic is the multiple ways that individuals experience their relationship to Okinawan identity. This research matches the energy and creativity of Okinawan culture today. Popular frustration with the presence of U.S. military bases, enabled by the Japanese government, remains an inescapable issue in the background.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
24 Steve Rabson (Citation2016) emphasizes the similarities between the privileges enjoyed by nineteenth-century European and American citizens in both Japan and the Ryukyus on the basis of these treaties and those bestowed on American military personnel today through the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) between the Japanese and U.S. governments.
26 Miyumi Tanji and Daniel Broudy have a similar focus in their work on contemporary Okinawa (Tanji and Broudy Citation2017).
29 Nakasone Citation2002; 17. Matsuda Citation2019, chapter 6. Another 180,000 people were required by Allied Occupation officials to leave mainland Japan and return to Okinawa, where they languished in refugee camps for several years. Watt Citation2009, 193–5.
30 Okinawans’ standing overseas was not always made easier by the Japanese government or community leaders, who tended to discriminate against Okinawans and blame them for frictions with the host country. Often, they criticized Okinawans for behavior characteristic of people with few economic resources – such as illiteracy in an era when poor people could not afford an education. Kaneshiro (Citation2002) and Uchida (Citation2016) show this for Japanese and Okinawans in Davao, the Philippines.
32 She explores the limits of the Saidian insight that empire is best understood as a self/other relationship. For major work from that perspective regarding Okinawa, see Oguma Citation2002 and Oguma Citation2014.
41 Uehara Carter Citation2014. Other work focuses directly on the identity categories themselves in relation to mixed race people, such as Shimabuku Citation2018.
43 The appeal of organizing on the basis of indigeneity is also one reason for defining Japan’s historical relationship with Okinawa as colonialism.
Franks, Luke. 2017. “The Politics of Stalemate: Local Power, U.S. Military Bases, and the Japanese Courts.” ASIANetwork Exchange 24 (2): 56–69. doi: 10.16995/ane.242. Dudden, Alexis. 2019. “Japanese Territorial Disputes and the Legacy of Empire.” The Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History. doi: 10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.013.309. Wada, Haruki, with an introduction by Alexis Dudden. 2019. “Overcoming the San Francisco System: One Japanese Person’s View.” The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus 17 (3): 23. Accessed September 10, 2022. https://apjjf.org/2019/23/Wada.html. Skabelund, Aaron Herald. 2022. Inglorious, Illegal Bastards: Japan’s Self-Defense Force During the Cold War. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. McCormack, Gavan, and Satoko Oka Norimatsu. 2012. Resistant Islands: Okinawa Confronts Japan and the United States. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. Howell, David. Forthcoming. “On the Peripheries of the Archipelago: Ryukyu and Hokkaido.” In New Cambridge History of Japan: Early Modern Japan in Asia and the World, edited by David Howell. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Uchida, Jun, and Asano Toyomi. Forthcoming. “Japan and Its Margins: Okinawa, Hokkaido, Korea, and Taiwan from the Meiji to the Postwar Period.” In New Cambridge History of Japan, Vol. 3, edited by Laura Hein, 87–137. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Chatani, Sayaka. 2018. Nation-Empire: Ideology and Rural Youth Mobilization in Japan and its Colonies. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. Minami, Ryoshin. 2008. “Income Distribution of Japan: Historical Perspective and Its Implications.” Japan Labor Review 5 (4): 5–20. Minami, Ryoshin. 2008. “Income Distribution of Japan: Historical Perspective and Its Implications.” Japan Labor Review 5 (4): 5–20. Junkerman, John. 2016. “Base Dependency and Okinawa’s Prospects: Behind the Myths: A Conversation with Maedomari Hiromori.” The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus 1 (2): 22. Accessed September 10, 2022. https://apjjf.org/2016/22/Junkerman.html. Ziomek, Kirsten. 2020. “SPY! The Battle of Okinawa and the Legacy of Espionage: The Real Secret Agents, Executed ‘Traitors,’ and the Hunt for the Enemy Within.” Paper presented at December 2020 Workshop, University of Southern California. Rabson, Steve. 2017. “American Literature on the Battle of Okinawa and the Continuing US Military Presence.” The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus 15 (1): 20. Accessed September 10, 2022. https://apjjf.org/2017/20/Rabson.html. Inoue, Fumi. 2022. “Japanese Solidarity with U.S.-Occupied Okinawa in the 1950s: Reflections on the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Reversion of Okinawa to Japan.” The Asia-Pacific Journal-Japan Focus 20 (9): 10. Accessed September 10, 2022. https://apjjf.org/2022/10/Inoue.html. Avenell, Simon. 2022. Asia and Postwar Japan: Deimperialization, Civic Activism, and National Identity. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Hein, Laura, and Mark Selden. 2003. “Culture, Power and Identity in Contemporary Okinawa.” In Islands of Discontent: Okinawan Responses to Japanese and American Power, edited by Laura Hein, and Mark Selden, 1–35. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield. Allen, Matthew. 2017. “The Shaman Hunts and the Revival and Reinvention of Okinawan Shamanism.” Japan Forum 29 (2): 218–235. doi: 10.1080/09555803.2016.1189447. Ueunten, Wesley. 2016. “Nakayoshi Group: Postwar Okinawan Women’s Articulation of Identity in America.” In Transpacific Japanese American Studies: Conversations on Race and Racializations, edited by Yasuko Takezawa, and Gary Y. Okihiro, 213–237. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press. Smits, Gregory. 2019. Maritime Ryukyu, 1050-1650. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press. Akamine, Mamoru. 2017. The Ryukyu Kingdom: Cornerstone of East Asia. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press. Smits, Gregory. 2019. Maritime Ryukyu, 1050-1650. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press. Hudson, Mark. 2022. “Re-thinking Jōmon and Ainu in Japanese History.” The Asia Pacific Journal: Japan Focus 20 (2): 15. Accessed September 10, 2022. https://apjjf.org/2022/15/Hudson.html. Howell, David. 2000. “Review of Gregory Smits, Visions of Ryukyu: Identity and Ideology in Early-Modern Thought and Politics.” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 60 (1): 304–312. Howell, David. Forthcoming. “On the Peripheries of the Archipelago: Ryukyu and Hokkaido.” In New Cambridge History of Japan: Early Modern Japan in Asia and the World, edited by David Howell. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Shapinsky, David. 2014. Lords of the Sea: Pirates, Violence, and Commerce in Late Medieval Japan. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Smits, Gregory. 2019. Maritime Ryukyu, 1050-1650. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press. Rabson, Steve. 2016. “Perry’s Black Ships in Japan and Ryukyu: The Whitewash of History.” Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus 14 (9): 16. Accessed September 10, 2022. https://apjjf.org/2016/16/Rabson.html. Matsumura, Wendy. 2015. The Limits of Okinawa: Japanese Capitalism, Living Labor, and Theorizations of Community. Durham: Duke University Press. Tanji, Miyumi, and Daniel Broudy. 2017. Okinawa Under Occupation: McDonaldization and Resistance to Neoliberal Propaganda. Singapore: Palgrave McMillan. Chatani, Sayaka. 2018. Nation-Empire: Ideology and Rural Youth Mobilization in Japan and its Colonies. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. Nakasone, Ronald Y. 2002. “An Impossible Possibility.” In Okinawan Diaspora, edited by Ronald Y. Nakasone, 3–25. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press. Matsuda, Hiroko. 2019. Liminality of the Japanese Empire: Border Crossings from Okinawa to Colonial Taiwan. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press. Nakasone, Ronald Y. 2002. “An Impossible Possibility.” In Okinawan Diaspora, edited by Ronald Y. Nakasone, 3–25. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press. Matsuda, Hiroko. 2019. Liminality of the Japanese Empire: Border Crossings from Okinawa to Colonial Taiwan. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press. Watt, Lori. 2009. When Empire Comes Home: Repatriation and Reintegration in Postwar Japan. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center. Kaneshiro, Edith M. 2002. “‘The Other Japanese’: Okinawan Immigrants to the Philippines, 1903-1941.” In Okinawan Diaspora, edited by Ronald Y. Nakasone, 71–89. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press. Uchida, Jun. 2016. “The ‘Pacific Empire’ as a Useful Analytical Category.” Amerasia Journal 42 (3): 28–31. Matsuda, Hiroko. 2019. Liminality of the Japanese Empire: Border Crossings from Okinawa to Colonial Taiwan. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press. Tomiyama, Ichiro. 2002. “The ‘Japanese' of Micronesia: Okinawans in the Nan’yō Islands.” In Okinawan Diaspora, edited by Ronald Y. Nakasone 57–70. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press. Ziomek, Kirsten. 2019. Lost Histories: Recovering the Lives of Japan’s Colonial Peoples. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center. Oguma, Eiji. 2002. A Genealogy of “Japanese” Self-Images. Melbourne: Trans Pacific Press. Oguma, Eiji. 2014. The Boundaries of “the Japanese” 1: Okinawa, 1818-1972. Melbourne: Trans Pacific Press. Matsuda, Hiroko. 2019. Liminality of the Japanese Empire: Border Crossings from Okinawa to Colonial Taiwan. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press. Matsuda, Hiroko. 2019. Liminality of the Japanese Empire: Border Crossings from Okinawa to Colonial Taiwan. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press. Arakaki, Robert K. 2002. “Theorizing on the Okinawan Diaspora.” In Okinawan Diaspora, edited by Ronald Y. Nakasone, 26–43. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. Enloe, Cynthia. 1988. Does Khaki Become You? The Militarization of Women's Lives. London: Pandora Press/Harper\Collins. Enloe, Cynthia. 2000. Bananas, Beaches and Bases: Making Feminist Sense of International Politics. Berkeley: University of California Press. Johnson, Chalmers, ed. 1999. Okinawa: Cold War Island. Cardiff, CA: Japan Policy Research Institute. Johnson, Chalmers. 2004. The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic. New York: Metropolitan Books. Immerwahr, Daniel. 2019. How to Hide an Empire. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Moore, Adam. 2019. Empire’s Labor: The Global Army that Supports U.S. Wars. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. Man, Simeon. 2018. Soldiering Through Empire: Race and the Making of the Decolonizing Pacific. Berkeley: University of California Press. Vine, David. 2017. Base Nation: How U.S. Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World. 2nd ed. New York: McMillan. Koikare, Mire. 2015. Cold War Encounters in US-Occupied Okinawa: Women, Militarized Domesticity, and Transnationalism in East Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Johnson, Akemi. 2019. Night in the American Village: Women in the Shadow of the U.S. Military Bases in Okinawa. New York: The New Press. Mitchell, Jon. 2020. Poisoning the Pacific: The US Military’s Secret Dumping of Plutonium, Chemical Weapons, and Agent Orange. Lanham, MD: Roman & Littlefield. Dower, John W. 2020. “Forward.” In Poisoning the Pacific: The US Military’s Secret Dumping of Plutonium, Chemical Weapons, and Agent Orange, edited by John Mitchell, ix–xi. Lanham, MD: Roman & Littlefield. Johnson, Akemi. 2022. “Book Talk: Night in the American Village featuring Akemi Johnson.” East Asia National Resource Center, George Washington University. Accessed September 10, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3waDqQI3rw. Johnson, Akemi. 2019. Night in the American Village: Women in the Shadow of the U.S. Military Bases in Okinawa. New York: The New Press. Uehara Carter, Mitzi. 2014. “Mixed Race Okinawans and Their Obscure In-Betweenness.” Journal of Intercultural Studies 35 (6): 646–661. Shimabuku, Annmaria. 2018. Alegal: Biopolitics and the Unintelligibility of Okinawan Life. New York: Fordham University Press. Young, Victoria. 2020. “Contemporary Okinawan Studies and its Borders: Four Perspectives.” Journal of Asian Studies 79 (1): 185–194. Yokota, Ryan Masaaki. 2015. “The Okinawan (Uchinānchu) Indigenous Movement and its Implications for Intentional/International Action.” Amerasia Journal 41 (1): 55–73. McAdams, D. P., and K. C. McLean. 2013. “Narrative Identity.” Current Directions in Psychological Science 22 (3): 233–238. Franks, Luke. 2017. “The Politics of Stalemate: Local Power, U.S. Military Bases, and the Japanese Courts.” ASIANetwork Exchange 24 (2): 56–69. doi: 10.16995/ane.242. Additional information
Notes on contributors
Laura Hein
Laura Hein is the Harold H. and Virginia Anderson Professor of History at Northwestern University. Her most recent book, Post-Fascist Japan: Political Culture in Kamakura after World War II, (Bloomsbury Press, 2018), will appear in Japanese translation from Jinbun Shoin Press in 2023.
![Sample our Area Studies journals, sign in here to start your access, latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5922/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Area-Studies.jpg"})