ABSTRACT
This chapter refracts the Heisei era through the lens of Okinawa, in particular: militarized Okinawa. It interrogates subtle shifts on the ground through the ongoing presence of US troops and the increasing presence of Japanese troops as well. Emperor Akihito's 2018 injunction that the imperial household together with all Japanese bear a special ‘commitment’ to ‘the sacrifices that the people of Okinawa have endured over the years’ is the touchstone on which analysis of change rests: what is different if anything for Okinawans at the end of Heisei? The chapter argues that the biggest shift is yet to be realized and centres less on American military presence and more on the augmentation of Japanese strategic assets and personnel on Okinawa's outer islands.
