ABSTRACT
This chapter includes that the traditional vs. non-traditional security, the domestic/international divide, identity, and Japan's response to China's rise. Each of which has implications either for International Relations theory or for the study of Japan's foreign policy. The chapter highlights the complex nature of the struggle between local actors in Okinawa and the central Japanese state in defining the risks as represented by the 'China threat' discourse as well as the risks created by the United States (US) military presence in Okinawa. It elucidates the agency behind this in terms of the current leader's effective adaptation of risk in response to international and transnational challenges - from China, North Korea and Russia to trans-border pollution and national identity construction. The chapter discusses that the 'Maritime Great Wall' highlighted a similar difficulty in identifying where the domestic starts and the international stops.
