Contested geopolitical messages for tourists at the Okinawa Peace Park and memorials

Abstract

Now marketed as a tropical beach destination, Okinawa's identity is also forever linked with the horrors of war. Okinawa's tumultuous past encompasses the Ryukyu Islands, which had close economic ties to China until being annexed by mainland Japan, were invaded by the US in the Second World War, were occupied until 1972 and, more recently, have become the centre of heated debates over the continued presence of US military bases. The Battle of Okinawa was one of the bloodiest of the Second World War and the inhabitants faced not only the American invasion but also the tactics of the Japanese army, who viewed the islands as expendable in order to slow invading forces from reaching mainland Japan. In the context of the seventieth anniversary of the end of the Battle of Okinawa in 2015, and beyond, it is argued here that these conflicting geopolitical disputes present significant challenges in terms of the messages presented to educational dark tourists visiting the Okinawa Peace Park and Memorials. The Peace Park Story Tellers or kataribe who are the Second World War survivors, have the critical task of mediating the message to both domestic and international tourists, some of whom are not prepared to hear anti-Japan sentiment. Through an examination of the historical and geographic background, and an analysis of the tourist experience at the Peace Park and Memorials, this paper explores the complexity of educational dark tourism where competing messages collide.

Keywords:

• educational dark tourism
• geopolitics
• Okinawa
• Peace Park Museum
• storyteller

Disclosure statement

The authors have no financial interest or benefit arising from the direct application of this research.

Notes

1. ‘Konpaku-no-Tou’ literally means Monument of Floating Spirits (Allen and Sakamoto 2014; Naha City n.d.). The villagers relocated to Komesu-ward, Itoman city after the war to grow food, were hindered by scattered remains of the war dead (Naha City n.d.). People collected bones and remains, and used a natural bowl-shaped cave as an ossuary (NHK 2009). After it was named Konpaku-no-Tou in 1946, more bones were gathered from the southern end of Okinawa island and 35,000 deceased (counted by skulls) were interred. However, the Japanese government disregarded Okinawan mortuary rituals and transferred the bones to National Cemetery in the Okinawa Peace Park in 1979.

2. The Himeyuri Memorial complex comprises a memorial, mausoleum, peace museum, and the remains of natural caves used for field hospitals where students worked as nurses. During the war, high-school aged boys and girls were conscripted. The ‘Himeyuri’ troop represents teachers and students from only two girls' schools. The other seven girls' school troops have their own memorials but they are not as well known as Himeyuri, owing to the large numbers of casualties (123 Himeyuri students died out of 222 recruited).

3. Figal (2001) cited Arasaki's book ‘Kanko kōsu de nai Okinawa’, however, excerpts from 1982 Okinawa-ken Izoku Rengōkai (Okinawa association of families of deceased), indicate a few bones were left in the Konpaku-no-Tou (Umisedo 2003). Unlike the deceased from other Prefectures, there is no memorial for Okinawans, the Konpaku-no-Tou functions as a tomb of the unknown Okinawan (Naha City n.d.).

Additional information

Funding

No funding was received for this research.

Notes on contributors

Atsuko Hashimoto

Atsuko Hashimoto an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and Tourism Studies at Brock University, Canada. Her areas of research include Green Tourism in rural Japan, socio-cultural issues in tourism, culinary tourism, heritage tourism and social justice in tourism. She may be contacted at [email protected].

David J. Telfer

David J. Telfer is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and Tourism Studies at Brock University, Canada. His areas of research include the relationship between development theory and tourism, tourism planning, heritage tourism and rural tourism. He has been conducting ongoing research on Green Tourism in rural Japan. He may be contacted at [email protected].