ABSTRACT

Okinawan people have developed a unique tradition of protest in their long history of oppression and marginalization. Beginning with the Ryukyu Kingdom’s annexation to Japan in the late nineteenth century, Miyume Tanji charts the devastation caused by the Second World War, followed by the direct occupation of post-war Okinawa and continued presence of the US military forces in the wake of reversion to Japan in 1972.

With ever more fragmented organizations, identities and strategies, Tanji explores how the unity of the Okinawan community of protest has come to rest increasingly on the politics of myth and the imagination.

Drawing on original interview material with Okinawan protestors and in-depth analysis of protest history, Myth, Protest and Struggle in Okinawa will appeal to scholars of Japanese history and politics, and those working on social movements and protest.

chapter 1|10 pages

Introduction

A community of protest in Okinawa

chapter 3|15 pages

Annexation and assimilation

Ambiguous origins

chapter 5|24 pages

The first wave

Opposition to US military land acquisition

chapter 6|29 pages

The second wave

Towards reversion

chapter 7|21 pages

The anti-war landowners and the progressive coalition

The constitutional framing of protest

chapter 8|23 pages

Kin Bay and Shiraho

Emergence of new social movements

chapter 9|27 pages

The third wave and beyond

The power of Unai and the dugongs

chapter |4 pages

Conclusion