Okinawa: Cold War Island

by Chalmers Johnson

On September 4, 1995, three American servicemen abducted and raped a twelve-year-old schoolgirl in Okinawa. The reaction to that rape throughout Japan and around the world mobilized otherwise inattentive people to the persistence of Cold War-type relationships in East Asia-- particularly to the presence of 100,000 American troops-- and started to end the artificial distinction between economics and security in relations between the United States and its trading partners in East Asia. It also caused some observers to begin to see Okinawa not simply as Japan's poorest prefecture but also as an American colony located on Japanese soil. Okinawa and its role in the Cold War is hidden history for most Americans and Japanese. It was the scene of the last and bloodiest battle of World War II and was occupied by the American military until 1972. Since then it has remained the site of some 39 American military bases located in close proximity to the 1.29 million people of Okinawa. This book offers a pioneering selection of essays on the Battle of Okinawa, forced emigration of Okinawans to Bolivia, Okinawan identity, the rape incident and the rekindling of Okinawan protest against the bases, the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty, economic development in Okinawa, the environmental degradation of Okinawa, and the Clinton administration's deceptive promises to the Okinawans. Authors include former governor of Okinawa prefecture Masahide Ota, the editor of The Ryukyuanist Koji Taira, the pioneer writer on Okinawans in Bolivia Kozy K. Amemiya, one of the founders of Okinawa Women Act Against Military Violence Carolyn Bowen Francis, the leading American scholar of Okinawan literature Steve Rabson, journalists Mike Millard, Shunji Taoka, and Patrick Smith, and professors Gavan McCormack, Masayuki Sasaki, and Chalmers Johnson.

Genres: Japan, Asia

310 pages, Paperback

First published December 15, 1999

About the author

Chalmers Ashby Johnson was an American author and professor emeritus of the University of California, San Diego. He fought in the Korean war, from 1967-1973 was a consultant for the CIA, and ran the Center for Chinese Studies at the University of California, Berkeley for years. He was also president and co-founder of the Japan Policy Research Institute, an organization promoting public education about Japan and Asia.

Reviews

[Bloblo · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of essays on Okinawa. I learned a lot about Okinawa from this one book. Which, previous to reading it my knowledge base was about zero. Of course I'd heard of the three US servicemen raping a 12 year old girl, that there were US military bases there, and that it was the Japanese prefecture furthest from the mainland.

But with this book I learned
-about the US landing there during WW2, and never leaving.
-About Okinawans being relocated to South America, which I never would have guessed happened.
I knew there was a large diaspora of Japanese in Peru, due in part to Alberto Fujimora's fame, or infamy.
-I learned Okinawa is the poorest prefecture of Japan and people are working toward a more sustainable economy.

Each essayist has their own unique field of study to bring to the book.
Each essayist does not necessarily agree with every other essay.

As a book of information that provides this information to go that goes with the title; basically how Okinawa and Okinawans fared during the past 60+ years of US occupation, I give it a five star rating because it is information the average person in the US cannot necessarily get in any one other place.

Basically if you are from the US and studying Japan this should definitely be on your to read list.

[Mills College Library]

952.294 O414 1999