An invisible minority? Return migration and ethnicity in Okinawa^*

* An earlier version of this paper (entitled ‘Okinawa's invisible minority: The case of the Philippine Uchinȃnchu Nisei’) was presented at the SIETAR Kansai meeting on 6 July 2013 at Ryukoku University Umeda Campus, Osaka. A small part of the earlier version of the paper was presented as ‘Being half in the context of empire’, at a relay talk at the ‘International symposium: Between and beyond two empires (Part I)’ held at Kyoto University's Shinagawa Office on 29 July 2013 and subsequently published in the conference proceedings of said symposium.

ABSTRACT

This paper examines ethnic return migration in Japan by looking at a particular case – that of people of half-Okinawan parentage returning to Okinawa, referred to in this paper as the Nisei. By going beyond conventional theories that entice people to return migrate to their ethnic homelands, I also look at issues regarding nationality and how the category of ‘Japanese’ tends to conflate race and ethnicity, thus creating boundaries as well as ‘invisible minorities’. I also explore how ethnicity and nationality intersect using this particular case and how these intersections are actually created and enabled through processes of migration. In line with this, I also discuss how ‘Japanese’ and ‘half’ are both ascribed and self-ascribed identities, and how each of these two categories delineate ‘boundaries’ and hence engage in ‘boundary-making process/es’.

KEYWORDS:

• Return migration
• ethnic identity
• nationality
• Japan
• Okinawa

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

* An earlier version of this paper (entitled ‘Okinawa's invisible minority: The case of the Philippine Uchinȃnchu Nisei’) was presented at the SIETAR Kansai meeting on 6 July 2013 at Ryukoku University Umeda Campus, Osaka. A small part of the earlier version of the paper was presented as ‘Being half in the context of empire’, at a relay talk at the ‘International symposium: Between and beyond two empires (Part I)’ held at Kyoto University's Shinagawa Office on 29 July 2013 and subsequently published in the conference proceedings of said symposium.

1 For this paper I capitalize the first letter of ‘Nisei’, hence making it a proper noun, primarily to establish the term Nisei as an ethnic category as well as an identity marker.

2 I use the term ‘half’ in this paper for the sole reason that my informants also refer to themselves as ‘half’. Thus, my use of the term and subsequent analyses take into account these individuals’ perceptions of themselves. While I personally do not agree with using this term, the loose usage of ‘half’ to mean being of two different parentages is largely employed by these individuals in out-group situations, that is, interacting with non-Nisei. Meanwhile, during the course of my fieldwork, I did not hear the term ‘double’ or ‘daburu’ being used.

3 This was despite giving out formal letters to prospective respondents and stating the purpose of my research.

4 Issei means first generation in Japanese. This term is also used by Okinawan women returnees to refer to themselves.

5 The exact number of Nisei born in Okinawa is difficult to get hold of due to the fact that no records of registration exist in the Philippine Consulate in Okinawa.

6 (United States Civil Administration of the Ryukyus (USCAR) files). There were cases wherein the Filipino husband left his Okinawan wife and child in Okinawa, and no contact was ever made upon the husband's return to the Philippines. Some of these Nisei only have vague memories of their father. An illustration of this is a novel written by a Nisei who travelled to Manila in search of his father. See Sunamori, 2000.

7 Based on the membership list of the Philippine Okinawan Society (POS, as of 2003), it can be estimated that a majority of its 1000 plus Nisei members are residing in Metropolitan Manila (other members reside in the outskirts of the metropolis). In the years when I was conducting research, I also visited the POS office for updates, but unfortunately, as of writing, the membership list is still in the process of being updated and the POS could not give me an updated list. The office secretary also told me that some of the Nisei who are listed had already gone to Okinawa.

8 The POS is the first and the biggest Okinawan association in post-war South East Asia. Founded in 1982 by a group of Philippine-based Okinawan businessmen and young Okinawan students studying in Philippine universities, it was created to ‘cultivate mutual friendships among the Okinawans in the Philippines and further their well-being; promote international exchange especially in the fields of culture and education; and deepen mutual understanding between the people of two cultures’ (see Evangelista, 2002, p. 6). The organization served as a venue that enabled issei women to get-together and socialize during monthly meetings. However, due to financial problems as well as the termination of the subsidy given by the Okinawan prefectural government, the POS is currently beset with problems of maintaining their office and other operations. This was relayed to me when I visited the POS office in August 2008. I was again informed of this issue when I spoke with a past president of the POS in October 2012.

9 While the 1972 reversion of Okinawa Prefecture to Japan as well as Japan's growing economy may be seen to play a role in the return of these individuals, data I collected from interviews point primarily to the political and economic situation in the Philippines in the 1970s and the declaration of martial law by then President Ferdinand Marcos in 1972 as a reason for the ‘return’. Two of my informants, Raphael and Marco, mentioned that classes were usually called off due to political unrest and hence they moved to Okinawa to continue their education there. During fieldwork at Oroku Catholic Church in 2010, I also happened to speak to a Nisei who was involved in student politics and activism during this time and who decided (and was told by his Okinawan mother) to ‘return’ to Okinawa for his safety.

10 See also: Labour Management Organization for USFJ Employees, Incorporated Administrative Agency (LMO/IAA) website: http://www.lmo.go.jp.

11 Not all Nisei are members of the POS. Several of them, particularly those who left for Okinawa before the organization was founded in 1982, do not even know that the POS exists (information relayed to me by Nisei I spoke with at various occasions in Okinawa). For many Nisei and Sansei in the Philippines, membership in the POS served as a vehicle for them to work and live in Okinawa and other parts of Japan.

12 During the interviews, my informants told me how some of their siblings who were not registered in their mother's koseki had difficulty obtaining Japanese nationality. On the other hand, two of my informants were not entered in their mother's koseki, while their older siblings were. Hence, they could not easily acquire Japanese nationality and had to present necessary documents and undergo required processes (e.g. language test) for naturalization.

13 This same information was also shared to me by Yagi Tsunekazu, president of the Okinawan-Pilipino Association in Okinawa.

14 These three districts are now part of Naha City.

15 With the 1985 amendment to the Nationality Act, the requirement to adopt a Japanese name has been removed, but it was said that the Ministry of Justice ‘recommended’ that applicants adopt Japanese names and this unofficial policy has been enforced at the local level (see Chung, 2010, p. 20).

16 In 1609, the Ryukyus were subjugated by the Shimazu clan of the Satsuma fief in present-day Kagoshima prefecture and in 1879, the Meiji government of Japan officially made the Ryukyus into Okinawa Prefecture. Between 1879 and 1895, the government initially sought to maintain the old Ryukyuan traditions and customs, but gradually enacted policies of ‘forced’ cultural assimilation towards them, wherein the practice of Okinawan customs as well as the use of the Okinawan dialect were prohibited.

Additional information

Funding

I would like to acknowledge fieldwork grants received from the Shibusawa Minzokugaku Shinkȏkikin Daigakuinsei ni Taisuru Kenkyû Katsudȏ Joseikin (Shibusawa Foundation for the Promotion of Ethnology Research Fund for Graduate Students) received in 2010–2011 as well as the KAKENHI Tokubetsu Kenkyûin Shȏreihi (Grants in Aid for Scientific Research KAKENHI for specially-appointed researchers), received when I was JSPS postdoctoral fellow from 2011 to 2013.