ABSTRACT
This paper explores the militarized situation of Okinawa Island and the ongoing struggles and challenges that Okinawans continue to confront. Particular focus is placed on how Okinawans challenge dominant colonial forms of knowledge, which assert that the U.S. military presence on the island is beneficial for Okinawan and Japanese people. After contextualizing Okinawa Island within contemporary American imperial geopolitics and outlining the current state of the island, the paper looks at three different, yet closely integrated, ways in which Okinawans, led by activists and progressive local officials, challenge the dominant narrative on the U.S. military. By questioning dominant assumptions about security, a base-dependent economy, and Okinawans’ indigenous status, these movements contribute to the decolonization of knowledge, an important step toward the demilitarization of the island. The paper concludes with a discussion of remaining challenges for decolonial knowledge production.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Tristan Grunow and Laura Hein for organizing this special section and giving me an opportunity to contribute to it.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 McCormack and Norimatsu Citation2018, 7. A number of Okinawan and Japanese individuals and scholars cited in this article have published in both English and Japanese. To avoid confusion, I have used standard English usage for citations and references.
3 By “decolonization,” I mean the process and act of undoing colonial forms of knowledge. My focus here is different from some decolonial scholars whose focus is to go beyond Euro-American epistemology (for example, Mignolo Citation2011; Mignolo and Escobar Citation2013; Mignolo and Walsh Citation2018). As I discuss below, Okinawans’ attempts to undo colonial forms of knowledge are often closely connected with concepts and ideas that draw from contemporary international norms (such as human rights and UN recognition of indigenous status) and, thus, they are still within modern epistemology.
4 As the Association of the Indigenous Peoples in the Ryukyus cautions, “Okinawans,” a term which generally refers to residents of Okinawa Prefecture, and the Indigenous peoples of the Ryukyus are not the same. Today, there are many people from mainland Japan living in Okinawa Prefecture. While acknowledging this difference, I use the terms interchangeably for simplicity. See Association of the Indigenous Peoples in the Ryukyus Citation2018, 3.
6 In his recent book The United States of War, David Vine shows the locations and numbers of US overseas bases. See Vine Citation2020.
9 Okinawa Prefecture is comprised of more than 150 islands, of which forty-eight are inhabited.
10 Okinawa Prefectural Government Citation2021b, 1. By “US military facilities” I mean bases that are administered by the United States for its exclusive use and exclude temporary facilities that are administered by the government of Japan.
17 Fortunately, no one at the university was injured. A building was damaged and rebuilt.
19 For the concept of “slow violence,” see Nixon Citation2011.
23 A number of videos have been uploaded by journalists and others on YouTube, which attest to the noise levels Okinawans experience in their everyday lives, see, for example, Mainichi Shimbun Citation2020.
24 Okinawa Prefectural Government Citation2021b, 102–103. Crimes are categorized by in the Japanese justice system this way: “heinous offences” (kyōakuhan), which include murder, robbery, arson, and rape; “violent offences” (sobōhan), which include assault, bodily injury, intimidation, and blackmail; larceny (settōhan); “intellectual offences” (chinōhan), which include fraud and embezzlement; “moral offences” (fūzokuhan), which include gambling and obscenity; and others.
26 The Koza Uprising in December 1970 was a violent and spontaneous protest against the US military presence. A crowd of residents, which soon grew to over a thousand, threw rocks at and burned cars owned by Americans. Some also entered Kadena Air Base and set fire to buildings. For further details of the uprising, see Ueunten Citation2010, 94–97.
27 In September 1995, a twelve-year-old Okinawan girl was abducted and gang-raped by three US service members. The United States government initially refused to hand the three suspects over to Japanese authorities, citing the US-Japan Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). The incident and this refusal angered many Okinawans and 80,000 people protested. As a result of this public outrage, the suspects were eventually transferred and convicted in a Japanese court. See Angst Citation2001. A suspect in the 2016 case was also convicted at a Japanese court.
31 For a discussion of decolonization and knowledge production, see Radcliffe and Radhuber Citation2020. My use of the term “decolonial” is different from, for example, how the Association of Comprehensive Studies for Independence of the Lew Chewans (ACSILs) uses the term. The director of ACISLs Yasukatsu Matsushima – who, as well be explored below, was also involved in the Okinawan Indigenous movement – elucidates their aims as “the decolonization and demilitarization of the Ryukyu Islands,” and political independence (Matsushima Citation2014). My use of the term is not necessarily about an aspiration for political independence or secession but about the decolonization of knowledge, which may or may not lead to political independence. Ginoza makes a similar point in her discussion of the Okinawan indigenous claim. See Ginoza Citation2015.
44 For a discussion of unknowledge and ignorance, see Nishiyama Citation2022b, 550–553.
48 Association of the Indigenous Peoples in the Ryukyus Citation2018, 1.
49 United Nations Human Rights Committee Citation2008, paragraph 32.
50 United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination Citation2010, paragraph 21.
51 The difference in the past few years has been around one percent higher than the national average; in the late 1990s and 2000s, it often was more than three percent higher. See Statistics Bureau of Japan Citation2022.
52 These numbers are calculated based on monthly numbers available at Okinawa Prefectural Government Citation2022.
56 Eleven percent of respondents agreed, while thirty-two percent responded, “generally agree.” NHK Citation2022.
62 The direct economic effect is based on economic activities such as sales in wholesale, retail, restaurant, service, and manufacturing industries as well as real estate rents. It does not count economic impacts expected or realized from land development and maintenance.
67 Tomochi Citation2016. Both the Okinawa Prefectural Government and ACISLs underscore these positive economic impacts in the “Frequently Asked Questions” sections of their websites in order to disseminate concrete information against the idea of Okinawa’s base dependent economy. See Association of Comprehensive Studies for Independence of the Lew Chewans Citation2015; Okinawa Prefectural Government Citation2020.
78 The Japanese terms for “indigenous people,” “senjūmin” or “senjūminzoku,” are not always welcomed by Okinawans due to stereotypes about “backward people” or “primitiveness” they suggest. See Siddle Citation2003, 143.
79 Representing the All-Okinawan Council for Human Rights, Eiichi Hoshino and Jun Shimabukuro, a professor at the University of the Ryukyus, have recently commented on the counter-movement, saying that this “can lead to more human rights violations.” Ryukyu Shimpo Citation2020b.
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Funding
This research was supported by the Academy of Finland [grant number 321755].
Notes on contributors
Hidefumi Nishiyama
Hidefumi Nishiyama is an Academy of Finland postdoctoral researcher in the Geography Research Unit at the University of Oulu. He holds a Ph.D. in Politics and International Studies from the University of Warwick. His research interests include decolonial and postcolonial scholarship, political geography, and island, border, and security studies.
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5845-0459
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