ABSTRACT

In this chapter I analyze the Okinawan people’s identity in relation to modern citizenship. Okinawans experienced citizenship as citizens of the Japanese modern state; while previously, they had been only subjects of the Ryukyu Kingdom. The Japanese state and citizenship system, equipped with modern technologies and institutions such as mass media (newspapers and radio) and mass schooling systems, transformed Ryukyuan subjects into Japanese citizens. Okinawans experienced radical changes in living standards and welfare, even though their citizenship was relatively limited and defective. Thus Ryukyuans came to partake in rapid modernization by accepting Japanese identity and thereby became part of modern Japan’s civilization as well as Japanese political constituency.