Mired in history: Victimhood, memory, and ambivalence in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan.

Abstract

Contemporary Okinawan anti-base activists have attempted to give moral force to the their arguments supporting removal of large American garrisons on Okinawa Island by portraying Okinawans as repeatedly victimized by Japanese and American militaries, beginning with the Pacific War in 1945 through the American Occupation from 1945 through 1972, and continuing through the present. Activists be contemporary perceptions of victimization to past abuses by American military members and mainland Japanese to demonstrate historical continuity. These claims are heavily invested in maintaining that nothing has changed since the occupation ended over three decades ago in 1972. This dissertation introduces specific activist discourses of victimhood, including former Prefectural Governor Ota Masahide's testimony at the Japanese Supreme Court in 1996, where he maintained that Okinawans are a historically pacifist people victimized by Japan and the United States during the 20<super>th</super> century. I also analyze activist and politician Takazato Suzuyo's perspectives on American military crime before turning to the subject of how local newspapers contribute to victim consciousness through their accounts of U.S. military accidents and incidents. I introduce the pragmatic utility of victimhood discourses deployed by activists and politicians, discussing the emergence of a suffering for subsidies moral economy through which activist claims are redirected by local politicians to bring economic support from mainland Japan. Okinawa's economic dependence on mainland Japanese subsidies is discussed as one of the factors that keep the bases in place despite significant opposition. I consider the possible meanings of a new mall constructed in Chatan Town in the 1990s. The mall, called American Village, was built on former military base land as well as that reclaimed from the sea. I discuss how American Village is an historical outgrowth of Okinawan reappropriation of elements of American culture, and as such, may be viewed as an agentic construction that reverses the gaze on its former occupiers. Finally, I explore the how anti-base activism marginalizes Okinawan women who date or are married with military members. This chapter also discusses the discrimination experienced by Amerasians. I demonstrate that ethnic unity aimed at liberation through victimhood discourse can produce its own victims.