tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/okinawa-4362/articlesOkinawa – The Conversation2022-05-23T12:25:12Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1832802022-05-23T12:25:12Z2022-05-23T12:25:12ZConflicts over language stretch far beyond Russia and Ukraine<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464046/original/file-20220518-15-3539qd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C34%2C3782%2C2491&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In Canada, the French and English languages generally peacefully coexist.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/toronto-bremner-boulevard-cn-tower-observation-tower-lobby-news-photo/665581862">Jeff Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>One key element of the war between Russia and Ukraine is Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claim that the two countries share not just history, but also a <a href="http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/66181">common language</a>. Both are attempts to diminish Ukrainian claims of an independent identity from Russia. <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ed8LBX0AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">In</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=EZHyWd4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">our</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=iMvIy-gAAAAJ">research</a> on <a href="https://www.languageconflict.org/">language conflict</a>, we have seen that using language as a tool of politics and power is not at all rare. </p>
<p>There are many instances around the world of people who speak different languages living alongside each other – whether in an awkward peace, like <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/languages-linguistics/sociolinguistics/language-conflict-and-language-rights-ethnolinguistic-perspectives-human-conflict">French speakers in English-dominated Canada</a>, or with some low-level conflict, like <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/languages-linguistics/sociolinguistics/language-conflict-and-language-rights-ethnolinguistic-perspectives-human-conflict">Kurdish speakers in Turkish-dominated Turkey</a>. </p>
<p>It’s also common for people who live near an international border to speak the language of the neighboring country, such as <a href="https://www.fpri.org/article/2020/12/russian-encroachment-in-the-baltics-the-role-of-russian-media-and-military-2/">Russian-speaking minorities</a> in Latvia and Estonia; a <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/nationalities-papers/article/polish-ethnic-minority-in-belarus-and-lithuania-politics-institutions-and-identities/12CEBF8DA71190C2B80AB57632A6D269">Polish-speaking minority</a> in Lithuania; the <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/languages-linguistics/sociolinguistics/language-conflict-and-language-rights-ethnolinguistic-perspectives-human-conflict">Hungarian-speaking minority</a> in Slovakia; the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3567140">Mongolian-speaking minority</a> in China; and the <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/languages-linguistics/sociolinguistics/language-conflict-and-language-rights-ethnolinguistic-perspectives-human-conflict">Korean-speaking minority</a> in Japan.</p>
<p>However, none of these have devolved into war, at least not in many decades. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464034/original/file-20220518-15-vkv79h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman holds two photographs in front of a wall of posters about missing people." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464034/original/file-20220518-15-vkv79h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464034/original/file-20220518-15-vkv79h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464034/original/file-20220518-15-vkv79h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464034/original/file-20220518-15-vkv79h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464034/original/file-20220518-15-vkv79h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464034/original/file-20220518-15-vkv79h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464034/original/file-20220518-15-vkv79h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Patmanathan Kokilavani holds a photo of her two children, who are among those who went missing during the Sri Lankan Civil War.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/patmanathan-kokilavani-holds-a-photo-of-her-two-children-at-news-photo/1143968672">Allison Joyce/Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Intervention doesn’t have to mean invasion</h2>
<p>Perhaps the most direct foreign involvement relating to linguistic differences and similarities is the Sri Lankan Civil War, which lasted from 1983 to 2009 and <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/languages-linguistics/sociolinguistics/language-conflict-and-language-rights-ethnolinguistic-perspectives-human-conflict">claimed more than 100,000 lives</a>. </p>
<p>The country’s Tamil-speaking separatists engaged in terrorist attacks and suicide bombings against the Sinhala-speaking majority, which had <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/languages-linguistics/sociolinguistics/language-conflict-and-language-rights-ethnolinguistic-perspectives-human-conflict">oppressed them for decades</a>. The attacks sparked violent backlash from the Sinhalese and prompted India – home to 63 million Tamil speakers, which is <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1067091/population-sri-lanka-historical/">about three times Sri Lanka’s total population</a> – to send in a peacekeeping force in 1987. </p>
<p>Indian troops occupied northern Sri Lanka <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13533319408413499">in an effort to protect Tamil speakers</a>, but they made no effort to conquer the island. After two years, they withdrew completely, having failed to impose peace.</p>
<h2>Is it that different?</h2>
<p>In other cases, people’s claim that they speak different languages from their neighbors is questionable – such as Serbian and Croatian. In 1850, writers and linguists from Serbia and Croatia signed the Vienna Literary Agreement, declaring their intention to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199208753.001.0001">create a unified Serbo-Croatian language</a>. As a result, until the 1991 collapse of Yugoslavia, the people who described themselves as Bosnians, Serbs and Croats <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian-language">called the language they all spoke and understood “Serbo-Croatian.”</a> </p>
<p>After 1991, though, the collapse of the Soviet Union removed the external threat of Soviet intervention that had held Yugoslavia together during the Cold War. Ethnic hostilities held over from World War II, especially between Serbs and Croatians, reemerged. That led both to armed conflict and to each group’s <a href="https://archive.org/details/collapseofyugosl00alas/page/12/mode/2up">calling the language they spoke by that group’s own name</a> – even though it was no different from the Serbo-Croatian they had spoken before.</p>
<p>Other examples of mutually intelligible dialects being counted as languages include the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/IJSL.2007.004">Czech and Slovak</a> spoken in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, <a href="https://artsci.wustl.edu/ampersand/hindi-and-urdu-conversation">Hindi and Urdu</a> of India and Pakistan, and <a href="https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/the-scandinavian-languages-three-for-the-price-of-one">Norwegian and Danish</a> in Norway and Denmark.</p>
<h2>Is it really the same?</h2>
<p>There are also instances in which it is claimed that two groups speak the same language, but actually don’t. One example of this are the Ryūkyūan languages spoken by natives of the Ryūkyū Islands – the best known of which is Okinawan – and Japanese. The <a href="https://asian.fiu.edu/projects-and-grants/japan-studies-review/journal-archive/volume-xvii-2013/dubinsky-language-conflict.pdf">Ryūkyūan languages split from what would become the mainstream Japanese language</a> over 2,000 years ago, and are not mutually intelligible.</p>
<p>However, when the Japanese annexed the Ryūkyū Islands as a province in 1879, they papered over these differences, claiming that Ryūkyūan was just a Japanese dialect. And by 1907, in its quest to promote national unity and homogeneity, Japan legislated against the Ryūkyūan languages, classifying them as <a href="https://asian.fiu.edu/projects-and-grants/japan-studies-review/journal-archive/volume-xvii-2013/dubinsky-language-conflict.pdf">inferior and improper varieties of true Japanese language</a>, and barred children from speaking their native Ryūkyūan languages in school.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464042/original/file-20220518-16-wsv9yd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A map showing the Ryūkyū Islands and the languages spoken there." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464042/original/file-20220518-16-wsv9yd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464042/original/file-20220518-16-wsv9yd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464042/original/file-20220518-16-wsv9yd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464042/original/file-20220518-16-wsv9yd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464042/original/file-20220518-16-wsv9yd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=628&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464042/original/file-20220518-16-wsv9yd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=628&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464042/original/file-20220518-16-wsv9yd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=628&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Ryūkyū Islands, south of Japan, are home to several Indigenous languages that are distinct from Japanese.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ryukyuan_languages_map.png">Garam via Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
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<h2>The real difference</h2>
<p>Ultimately, the determination of whether two groups speak different languages or dialects is partly objective and <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-ukrainian-a-language-or-a-dialect-that-depends-on-whom-you-ask-and-how-the-war-ends-180849">partly determined by politics and power</a>.</p>
<p>A key difference was described to Yiddish linguist Max Weinreich by an attendee at one of his lectures in the mid-1940s: “<a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/yivo-faces-the-post-war-world/oclc/40722532">A language is a dialect with an army and navy</a>.” The Ryūkyūans did not have a military. The Ukrainians do.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183280/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stanley Dubinsky owns shares in ConflictAnalytiX LLC.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Harvey Starr has shares in ConflictAnalytiX LLC</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Gavin is a project consultant/analyst for ConflictAnalytiX LLC.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anyssa Murphy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It’s common for people to live near others who speak a different – but similar – language. But generally, they handle their differences without violence.Stanley Dubinsky, Professor of Linguistics, University of South CarolinaAnyssa Murphy, Ph.D Student in Historical Syntax, University of South CarolinaHarvey Starr, Dag Hammarskjold Professor in International Affairs Emeritus, University of South CarolinaMichael Gavin, Associate Professor of English Language and Literature, University of South CarolinaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/726852017-03-10T14:22:25Z2017-03-10T14:22:25ZWhy a row over military bases on Okinawa spells trouble for US-Japan relations<p>The beautiful subtropical island chain of Okinawa is officially Japan’s <a href="http://www.start-point.net/maps/todouhuken_list/">47th prefecture</a>, but it’s also home to thousands of US marines. Many are stationed at Futenma Airbase, which <a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2014/01/08/ace-of-base/">some have called</a> “the world’s most dangerous [military] base” for its location in the middle of a city. Debates over the future of the base have been rumbling for decades but, despite the decision to relocate the facility, decisive action to resolve the situation is so far not forthcoming.</p>
<p>Hosting American forces overseas has always been a complex business, but the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38999993">unpredictablity</a> of the Trump administration complicates it further – and this is especially true when it comes to Okinawa. The newly directed White House is pursuing what looks like a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/12/world/what-is-donald-trumps-foreign-policy.html?_r=0">fundamentally new foreign policy</a>, and the president himself has explicitly said that he considers the US’s military support for Japanese interests <a href="http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/08/06/national/politics-diplomacy/trump-rips-u-s-defense-japan-one-sided-expensive/#.WMFwchKLRhE">too expensive</a>. This could offer the chance for places that bear the burden of hosting US bases to improve their social, economic and environmental conditions, but it could also start to recalibrate the concept of security altogether. </p>
<p>On Okinawa, this could mean choosing between the short-term economic and military security provided by US forces currently stationed on the islands, or the longer-term peace and prosperity that might take root if the Americans are persuaded to leave. As far as the base’s local detractors are concerned, their departure is long overdue.</p>
<p>While it formally reverted to Japanese rule in 1972, Okinawa still hosts very nearly 75% of all US military bases located in Japan. Their origins lie in the US’s WWII victory in the Battle of Okinawa, which claimed around <a href="http://www.oshietegensan.com/war-history/war-history_b/5031/">200,000 lives</a>. Today, the island chain is host to <a href="http://ryukyushimpo.jp/news/prentry-245387.html">some 25,000 military personnel</a>. </p>
<p>As do their counterparts around the globe, the bases where they live bring noise pollution and environmental degradation. US personnel stationed at the base have on occasion been charged with serious crimes, including <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2016/06/20/asia/us-military-base-protests-okinawa/index.html">rape and murder</a>. Military facilities also <a href="http://www.pref.okinawa.jp/site/chijiko/kichitai/documents/map_ja.jpg">eat up space</a> that could be used for local development projects. Opinion polls suggest that more than 75% of Okinawans would like to see the US presence on their islands <a href="https://www.nhk.or.jp/bunken/summary/research/report/2012_07/20120701.pdf">removed or reduced</a>. </p>
<p>But some see upsides to the heavy military presence. In hard-power terms, US forces stationed on Okinawa are well-placed to support Japan’s territorial claims against China – something reinforced by the Trump cabinet’s reassurance that the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands do indeed fall under <a href="http://www.asahi.com/international/reuters/CRWKBN15P2S1.html">Article 5 of the US-Japan security alliance</a>. But then there are the knock-on effects of hosting US forces: increased revenues from consumption (sometimes including the <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/special-report-us-troops-are-stationed-in-japan-to-protect-the-nation-but-to-sex-workers-in-okinawa-8661078.html">sex industry</a>), on-base jobs for locals, and some improvements to infrastructure and amenities. US troops have become part of modern-day Okinawa’s so-called “champuru” (mixed-up) culture and, as such, feed into the area’s tourist trade.</p>
<p>Now a staunch US ally, Japan is also increasing its own fortification of the island chain in response to the perceived threat posed by <a href="http://journals.rienner.com/doi/abs/10.5555/0258-9184-37.3.437?code=lrpi-site">China’s military expansion</a>. Amid this, debates over Okinawa typically accuse the US and Japanese central government of putting security objectives and other foreign policy interests ahead of the rights and wishes of a majority of the Island’s people. </p>
<p>There’s some truth in this narrative, but it nonetheless misrepresents a far more complex situation. Life on Okinawa is shaped by unique economic and social circumstances – as illustrated by the fact that despite the opposition to US forces, <a href="https://www.nhk.or.jp/bunken/summary/research/report/2012_07/20120701.pdf">polls</a> also indicate that Okinawans both consider China a direct threat and support the US-Japan alliance as a protective measure. </p>
<h2>Pros and cons</h2>
<p>Okinawa, in all its complexity, is becoming a focal point once again, not least since the visit of the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/02/10/donald-trump-shinzo-abe-japan/97736828/">to the US to meet Donald Trump</a>, during which the security of Japan was an important theme. Lying in such a strategically key location puts Okinawa in a pivotal position when it comes to influencing US-Japan relations, responding to the (military) rise of China and enforcing regional security.</p>
<p>It’s clear that the US bases on Okinawa are hardly the foundations of a glorious and sustainable future, but the picture of their pros and cons is often very distorted. This is rarely portrayed accurately by the mainstream media – and certainly not by heavily partisan politicians (both American and Japanese) who are in a position to change things. </p>
<p>The current debate is highly polarised, meaning real progress is not forthcoming. Politicians and business leaders need to start thinking with clarity, and to approach this unstable moment as an opportunity rather than a crisis. This includes acknowledging that while the heavy US military presence comes with some short-term advantages, in the long-term, it comes with serious social, environmental and economic ills. </p>
<p>Okinawa’s maverick governor, Takeshi Onaga, wants to see the troops’ presence greatly reduced. He is lobbying to draw Trump’s attention to the issue, but is <a href="http://www.okinawatimes.co.jp/articles/-/70420">struggling</a> to get his voice heard. If he and his team are serious about their cause, they not only need to attract greater international support, they need to pitch it in economic and political terms. Given the Trump team’s “America first” <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/2017-trump-inauguration-foreign-policy-reaction-233924">mantra</a>, only a persuasive “deal” that features something to the US forces on the ground is likely to convince Trump and his team.</p>
<p>For Okinawa, policy changes need to fully prosecute and prevent heinous crimes, reduce damage to fragile ecosystems and take concrete measures to protect local identity and culture. If this can be done, these “paradise islands” could serve as a model for how to scale back and manage the impact of US military bases around the world, where they still cause so many problems.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/72685/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ra Mason does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Hosting a military base is difficult in the best of circumstances, but some bases are more dangerous than others.Ra Mason, Lecturer in International Relations and Japanese Foreign Policy, University of East AngliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/393572015-04-01T09:32:18Z2015-04-01T09:32:18ZBattle of Okinawa’s legacy lives on 70 years later as locals chafe against Japanese rule, US arms<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/76150/original/image-20150326-8722-18jrdnu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Peace Memorial Park was dedicated to everlasting peace and a reminder of the miseries of war.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Okinawa park from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Today marks the 70th anniversary of the beginning of the Battle of Okinawa, a prolonged and bloody encounter at the end of World War II. </p>
<p>As military history, the battle is often told in numbers. </p>
<p>More than 100,000 Japanese soldiers were <a href="http://www.japanfocus.org/-Ota-Masahide/4230">killed</a> alongside approximately 12,000 Allied troops and as many as 150,000 Okinawan civilians. These numbers don’t include the masses of wounded or captured prisoners of war. </p>
<p>It was an unquestionably vicious, intimate battle that unfolded over nearly six weeks, helped bring about the end of World War II and left Naha and other population centers across Okinawa in ruin. </p>
<p>Yet the numbers give an incomplete picture of the battle’s significance, particularly its cultural and social ramifications for Okinawa, Japan and the United States since 1945. </p>
<p>The legacy and consequences of this battle persist today, evident in the strained relationships between Okinawans and the Japanese Government and the lingering tensions that periodically burst into open conflict over the continued American military presence in Okinawa. </p>
<p>Even in my own work with alcoholism in Tokyo, a topic much removed from the memories of historical turmoil, Okinawa’s unusual position in contemporary Japan <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780739192054/Japan-Alcoholism-and-Masculinity-Suffering-Sobriety-in-Tokyo">is not unnoticed</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.japanfocus.org/-Gavan-McCormack/4299">Culturally and geographically distinct</a> from mainland Japan, Okinawans still <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/24/world/asia/okinawas-governor-orders-building-of-us-marine-corps-base-to-be-halted.html">confront</a> the battle’s scars 70 years later. </p>
<h2>A center for commerce, culture, conflict</h2>
<p>Okinawa, a chain of a few dozen islands on Japan’s southernmost edge, is home to about 1.3 million people, whose longevity is among the highest in the world. It’s known for its coral reefs, ancient forests and white sand beaches.</p>
<p>The prefecture sweeps down from southern Japan towards Taiwan, marking one edge of the East China Sea, casting it at the center of commerce, culture and conflict for millennia. At differing points in history, it was the independent Ryukyu Kingdom as well as a tributary state to various Chinese Emperors and Japanese Shogunates. </p>
<p>Japan annexed Okinawa through a military incursion in 1872 and gave it the status of prefecture in 1879, but this did little to dissolve rising tensions between Okinawans and Japan’s central government. These tensions were unresolved as World War II, which put Okinawa once again at the center of a bloody conflict, drew to a close. Today that history is remembered and retold in markedly differing ways. </p>
<p>In the Japanese government’s historical account of the battle, little mention is made of the coercion by retreating Japanese soldiers of Okinawan civilians to commit suicide, in <a href="http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2011/04/23/national/okinawa-notes-suit-favors-oe/#.VRmX-0L0gS0">some instances</a> by detonating hand grenades. As evidence of the contentious nature of these accounts, Nobel laureate Kenzaburo Ōe was made to stand trial for claims made in his book Okinawa Notes concerning these suicides forced by Japanese soldiers before the arrival of the Americans. His claims were found to be accurate. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/76151/original/image-20150326-8699-10jvlim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/76151/original/image-20150326-8699-10jvlim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/76151/original/image-20150326-8699-10jvlim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/76151/original/image-20150326-8699-10jvlim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/76151/original/image-20150326-8699-10jvlim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/76151/original/image-20150326-8699-10jvlim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=619&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/76151/original/image-20150326-8699-10jvlim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=619&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/76151/original/image-20150326-8699-10jvlim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=619&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">US landing craft arrive on Okinawa 13 days into the American invasion.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Okinawa battle from www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Simmering anger over US military presence</h2>
<p>It is not just Japan’s central government and its role in Okinawa’s recent past that generates anger among Okinawans. </p>
<p>From 1945 until 1972, the US government administered Okinawa, 20 years beyond the Allied occupation of Japan after World War II, <a href="http://www.japanfocus.org/-Gavan-McCormack/3365">using the islands</a> as a staging area for the Vietnam War.</p>
<p>This American military presence aroused widespread anger among Okinawans. US military bases occupy about 18% of Okinawa’s main island. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, the primary runway for aircraft moving in and out of Okinawa, is today surrounded by local homes and businesses in a part of Japan where land is at a premium. </p>
<p>More than 85% of Okinawans say they oppose the US military presence for <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/28/world/asia/28rice.html">reasons</a> ranging from noise pollution to tensions between local residents and soldiers. Several high profile incidents, particularly the 2008 rape of a 14-year-old girl by a US Marine, have only deepened this divide. </p>
<p>Anger has again flared recently over US military plans to expand their base. Takeshi Onaga, Okinawa’s governor, has <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/24/world/asia/okinawas-governor-orders-building-of-us-marine-corps-base-to-be-halted.html">ordered a halt</a> to construction of a runway at Camp Schwab Marine Corps Base that would jut out into picturesque Oura Bay. Local residents (in kayaks and rafts) are now locked in a constant standoff against Japan’s Coast Guard (in military ships), to preserve the bay and <a href="http://www.japanfocus.org/-Gavan-McCormack/4299">block</a> any new construction. Prime Minister Abe asserts that Governor Onaga does not have the authority to intervene. Okinawan anger continues to smolder. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/76152/original/image-20150326-8725-1bx4h0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/76152/original/image-20150326-8725-1bx4h0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/76152/original/image-20150326-8725-1bx4h0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/76152/original/image-20150326-8725-1bx4h0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/76152/original/image-20150326-8725-1bx4h0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/76152/original/image-20150326-8725-1bx4h0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/76152/original/image-20150326-8725-1bx4h0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/76152/original/image-20150326-8725-1bx4h0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Shuri Castle, constructed in the 14th century as the palace of the Ryukyu Kingdom, was mostly destroyed in the battle and rebuilt in the ‘90s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shuri Castle from www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Battle’s legacy lives on</h2>
<p>Local Okinawan politicians are growing more vocal in their opposition to the American military presence. A Ryukyuan independence movement is discussing severing ties with Japan. The Ryukyuan family of languages has found resurgent popularity as a powerful contemporary marker of Okinawan identity, in part because it <a href="http://www.cambridgescholars.com/download/sample/61932">is distinct</a> from Japanese.</p>
<p>Seventy years after one of World War II’s bloodiest battles, Okinawa’s future remains ambivalent and antagonistic on a variety of fronts. </p>
<p>Some clamor for independence, while others want to see the US military presence removed or at least reduced. All the while tourists from the Japanese mainland visit in droves, driving a local economy that further complicates Okinawa’s status. </p>
<p>The Battle of Okinawa’s legacy is still very visible, long after the physical scars and markings of war have faded.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/39357/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Christensen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The battle was among the bloodiest of World War II and left scars that still linger today.Paul Christensen, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Rose-Hulman Institute of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/110412012-11-29T19:06:33Z2012-11-29T19:06:33ZAustralia is now Uncle Sam’s ‘Keystone of the Pacific’: learn from Okinawa<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/18077/original/bj8xxvt9-1354058760.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">US Marine Corps Camp Schwab: on-site protesters have hindered Japan's new US airbase construction here to replace the controversial Futenma Air Station</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Ashimine</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Uncle Sam’s military presence in Australia is greater now than ever, and more is on the way. The hundreds of <a href="http://www.crikey.com.au/2012/11/09/all-the-way-with-the-usa-how-darwin-received-its-us-troops/">Marines rotational in Darwin</a> since April will grow to 2,500 by 2016, bringing with them more ships, aircrafts and deadly weapons (e.g. <a href="http://www.crikey.com.au/2011/11/17/could-the-us-stockpile-and-transit-banned-cluster-bombs-in-darwin/">cluster bombs</a>). </p>
<p>This builds upon America’s most important surveillance station Pine Gap that taps into communication from Asia to Middle East, and Talisman Sabre, an all-out US-Australia biennial joint military training event at the foot of the Great Barrier Reef ongoing since 2007. </p>
<p>Future plans in a Center for Strategic and International <a href="http://images.smh.com.au/file/2012/08/01/3518277/CSIS%2520Independent%2520Assessment.pdf">(CSIS) report</a> submitted to the US Congress in July include the basing of a US nuclear powered navy carrier group in HMAS Stirling Harbour (Western Australia) and a “drone” base on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. </p>
<p>Without knowing, Australia could become a new US “keystone of the Pacific”: a name given to Okinawa – a Japanese territory and a US legacy base won in World War II, located northeast of Taiwan.</p>
<p>What is the purpose of the US military presence in Australia, and what does it mean for people on the ground? Until now, most public debate has focused on the first question; whether the presence will be good for Australia, especially that it may be harmful for our <a href="http://www.china.embassy.gov.au/bjng/relations1.html">relations with China</a>. </p>
<p>Not much is said about how it will impact local people. On this subject, we can learn much from the people’s dealings with the US military presence (especially Marines) on Okinawa. For decades, even when they threaten the right to autonomy and a peaceful existence of the hosting community, the US military’s extraterritorial privileges have given first priority to protecting their personnel and ability to conduct operations. </p>
<p>I have studied the Okinawan people’s protest, documented in a book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Protest-Struggle-Sheffield-Japanese-Routledge/dp/0415546885">Myth, Protest and Struggle in Okinawa.</a></p>
<p>It is all in the details – in Okinawa if you’re hit by a motor vehicle driven by US military personnel on civilian roads you are not protected by local traffic laws or insurance schemes. <a href="http://www.mofa.go.jp/region/n-america/us/security/agree0009.html">The Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA)</a> exempts on-duty US military members from application of local criminal or civil jurisdiction. In October 2012, a local woman in central Okinawa was <a href="http://www.stripes.com/news/pacific/okinawa/us-navy-sailors-accused-of-raping-japanese-woman-on-okinawa-1.193346">raped</a> by two US navy soldiers on her way home from work. </p>
<p>In November, violating the <a href="http://www.stripes.com/news/pacific/japan/us-troops-in-japan-hit-with-curfew-after-alleged-rape-on-okinawa-1.193632">post-rape curfew</a> imposed on the US military members, a drunken Kadena Air Force serviceman trespassed into the family flat <a href="http://english.ryukyushimpo.jp/2012/11/14/8561/">assaulting a 13-year-old boy</a>, following this a US Marine officer <a href="http://japandailypress.com/another-drunken-u-s-marine-arrested-in-okinawa-trespassed-slept-in-apartment-1918591">found in a local residence</a> sleeping after drinking. </p>
<p>There are countless <a href="http://www.stripes.com/news/pacific/okinawa/okinawans-protest-u-s-japan-status-of-forces-agreement-1.147755">other cases</a> where perpetrators were dealt with exclusively by the US military, out of reach of Japanese authorities. In some cases that meant escape back to the US, with their fate unknown to the victims and their families. It is after these seemingly mundane daily incidents that locals come to realise they are living in a US military colony. </p>
<p>Due to the SOFA privileges that often allows US military perpetrators to escape local law and order, rape in Okinawa by US military members transcends the individuals’ traumatic experience, becoming a political outrage. The lesson for Australia is this: even if US military training and operations cause fatal harm to the locals, the US is not responsible.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/18078/original/3tdzhgph-1354059616.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/18078/original/3tdzhgph-1354059616.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18078/original/3tdzhgph-1354059616.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18078/original/3tdzhgph-1354059616.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18078/original/3tdzhgph-1354059616.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1133&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18078/original/3tdzhgph-1354059616.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1133&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18078/original/3tdzhgph-1354059616.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1133&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">US Marines arrive in Darwin April 2012.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Australian Defence Force media</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What does this mean for Australia? Australia also has a <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/dfat/treaties/1963/10.html">SOFA</a> with the US, written in 1963: according to Article 8, “US military authorities” has primary jurisdiction over offences in Australia committed during “official duty” (leaving room for arbitrary interpretation); even with local primary jurisdiction, the custody of a US military personnel remains in the hands of the US authorities until officially charged (leaving room for escape). </p>
<p>The Marines in Darwin belong to one of four rotational Marine Air Ground Task Forces (MAGTF) the US is now stationing across the Western Pacific: Okinawa, Guam, Hawaii and Australia. Note here that apart from Australia, all three of them have a history of being US or Japanese colonies. In all three places, indigenous people continue to fight for self-determination denied to them by US militarism. </p>
<p>It’s no coincidence that Guam’s collective will to become a <a href="http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-103hr1521ih/content-detail.html">Commonwealth</a>, introduced as a bill in the 1980s after a series of referendums, has been ignored in the US Congress. Guam remains “<a href="http://www.doi.gov/archive/oia/Islandpages/gumpage.htm">unincorporated territory</a>” without formal political representation in the US, providing the military freedom to conduct operations unhindered by local opposition.</p>
<p>Should Australians be thankful that the US military presence is providing strategic stability in Australia and the nearby region? It is more that Uncle Sam is thankful to Australians. His bases have been ousted from <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/18/AR2009091803407.html">Ecuador (in 2009)</a> and the <a href="http://globalnation.inquirer.net/24093/bigger-us-military-role-in-philippines-sought">Philippines</a> (in 1991). Maintaining US forward defence capabilities overseas depends on the “political sustainability” of their presence (as <a href="http://images.smh.com.au/file/2012/08/01/3518277/CSIS%2520Independent%2520Assessment.pdf">the CSIS report</a> put it): meaning that it depends on overseas communities who allow US extraterritorial privileges, sacrificing the wishes of those attempting to build a safe and humane space for living. </p>
<p>Now that they’re here, Australians could learn much from the experience of the Okinawans, who have been living with a foreign military presence for a long time and are saying “no” to it, shaking up the US-Japan alliance.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/11041/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Miyume Tanji does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Uncle Sam’s military presence in Australia is greater now than ever, and more is on the way. The hundreds of Marines rotational in Darwin since April will grow to 2,500 by 2016, bringing with them more…Miyume Tanji, Visiting Fellow, Pacific and Asian History, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.