[PDF] The History And Culture Of Okinawa eBook

Author : George H. Kerr
Publisher : Tuttle Publishing
Page : 596 pages
File Size : 32,85 MB
Release : 2011-10-11
Category : History
ISBN : 1462901840

GET BOOK

"[Okinawa: The History of an Island People is] a book that answers the questions of the curious layman, satisfies the standards of critical scholarship, and is readable and fascinating besides. --American Historical Review"

Author : Laura Elizabeth Hein
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
Page : 334 pages
File Size : 49,7 MB
Release : 2003
Category : History
ISBN : 9780742518667

GET BOOK

Exploring contemporary Okinawan culture, politics, and historical memory, this book argues that the long Japanese tradition of defining Okinawa as a subordinate and peripheral part of Japan means that all claims of Okinawan distinctiveness necessarily become part of the larger debate over contemporary identity. The contributors trace the renascence of the debate in the burst of cultural and political expression that has flowered in the past decade, with the rapid growth of local museums and memorials and the huge increase in popularity of distinctive Okinawan music and literature, as well as in political movements targeting both U.S. military bases and Japanese national policy on ecological, developmental, and equity grounds. A key strategy for claiming and shaping Okinawan identity is the mobilization of historical memory of the recent past, particularly of the violent subordination of Okinawan interests to those of the Japanese and American governments in war and occupation. Its intertwining themes of historical memory, nationality, ethnicity, and cultural conflict in contemporary society address central issues in anthropology, sociology, contemporary history, Asian Studies, international relations, cultural studies, and post-colonial studies. Contributions by: Matt Allen, Linda Isako Angst, Asato Eiko, Gerald Figal, Aaron Gerow, Laura Hein, Michael Molasky, Steve Rabson, James E. Roberson, Mark Selden, and Julia Yonetani.

Author : Pedro Iacobelli
Publisher : Lexington Books
Page : 213 pages
File Size : 39,30 MB
Release : 2017-11-22
Category : History
ISBN : 1498533124

GET BOOK

This edited volume presents the latest multidisciplinary research that delves into developments related to contemporary Okinawa (a.k.a Ryukyu Islands), and also engages with contemporary debates on American hegemony and Empire in a larger geographical context. Okinawa, long viewed as a marginalized territory in larger historical processes, has been characterized solely by the U.S. military presence in the islands, despite having embraced a multiplicity of social and cultural transformations since the end of the Pacific War. In this timely academic revision of Okinawa, occurring at the time of numerous debates over the building of yet another military base in the island, this volume's contributors tell a story that situates Okinawa in the context of other militarized territories and thus, goes beyond the limits of Okinawa prefecture. Indeed, the book examines the ways in which studies on Okinawa have evolved, moving away from the direct problems brought by the establishment of foreign military bases. Previous studies have explicated how Okinawa has fallen prey to power politics of more dominant nations. In expanding on these themes, this volume examines the unique social and cultural dynamics of Okinawa and its people that had never been intended by the political authorities.

Author : Hudson Benjamin
Publisher :
Page : 220 pages
File Size : 26,35 MB
Release : 2017-10-14
Category : Architecture
ISBN : 9781912483112

GET BOOK

Okinawa, Japan. The People, History, World War II, Culture and Tradition. Travel and Tourism. Before Okinawa, there was Ryukyu, an independent kingdom ruled by its kings, its people seafarers prospering through trade with China and other neighboring countries. In 1609, Ryukyu was invaded by Satsuma Han forces and incorporated into mainland Japan's Tokugawa Era "bakuhan" feudal regime. Okinawa prefecture was created in 1879 when Japan's new Meiji government abolished hans (feudal domains).During the Pacific War, the people of Okinawa were engulfed in the war's only land battle on Japanese territory. After the war, America retained control of Okinawa until 1972 when sovereignty reverted to Japan. Japan's only prefecture in the subtropical latitudes, Okinawa enjoys a mild climate all year round. With schools of brightly tropical fish, the coral reef seas support a rich profusion of life. In the forests of northern Okinawa island and Iriomote island, rare animals Yambaru Kuina (Okinawa Rail) and Iriomote Wildcat live, and they are known worldwide as rare and important creatures. Okinawa is one of most popular resorts in Japan and there are a great number of fine hotels. Okinawa is located at southernmost area in Japan and its north latitude is between 24 degrees and 28 degrees. Okinawa is the only region in Japan that belongs to the subtropical oceanic climate. Okinawa has interesting cultures, heritages, nature and delicious foods. The committee members believe that all participants will have excellent experiences in Okinawa, Japan.

Author : Elizabeth Miki Brina
Publisher : Vintage
Page : 304 pages
File Size : 22,99 MB
Release : 2021-02-23
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 0525657355

GET BOOK

A “hauntingly beautiful memoir about family and identity” (NPR) and a young woman's journey to understanding her complicated parents—her mother an Okinawan war bride, her father a Vietnam veteran—and her own, fraught cultural heritage. Elizabeth's mother was working as a nightclub hostess on U.S.-occupied Okinawa when she met the American soldier who would become her husband. The language barrier and power imbalance that defined their early relationship followed them to the predominantly white, upstate New York suburb where they moved to raise their only daughter. There, Elizabeth grew up with the trappings of a typical American childhood and adolescence. Yet even though she felt almost no connection to her mother's distant home, she also felt out of place among her peers. Decades later, Elizabeth comes to recognize the shame and self-loathing that haunt both her and her mother, and attempts a form of reconciliation, not only to come to terms with the embattled dynamics of her family but also to reckon with the injustices that reverberate throughout the history of Okinawa and its people. Clear-eyed and profoundly humane, Speak, Okinawa is a startling accomplishment—a heartfelt exploration of identity, inheritance, forgiveness, and what it means to be an American.

Author : Steve Rabson
Publisher :
Page : 336 pages
File Size : 34,35 MB
Release : 2012-01-31
Category : History
ISBN :

GET BOOK

This book is a very readable narrative history of Okinawans in Japan, the first English-language book to cover that territory. Based on interviews, memoirs and other literature, oral histories, and survey responses, and engaging with important elements of the huge body of Japanese scholarship on Okinawa, this book offers a historical narrative interwoven with first-person accounts either translated or collected by the author.

Author :
Publisher : University of Hawaii at Manoa
Page : 700 pages
File Size : 34,10 MB
Release : 1981
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN :

GET BOOK

History on Okinawan immigrants and their descendents in Hawaii.

Author : Akemi Johnson
Publisher : The New Press
Page : 283 pages
File Size : 16,49 MB
Release : 2019-06-18
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 1620973324

GET BOOK

"A lively encounter with identity and American military history in Okinawa. Night in the American Village is by turns intellectual, hip, and sexy. I admire it for its ferocity, style, and vigor. A wonderful book." —Anthony Swofford, author of Jarhead A beautifully written examination of the complex relationship between the women living near the U.S. bases in Okinawa and the servicemen who are stationed there At the southern end of the Japanese archipelago lies Okinawa, host to a vast complex of U.S. military bases. A legacy of World War II, these bases have been a fraught issue in Japan for decades—with tensions exacerbated by the often volatile relationship between islanders and the military, especially after the brutal rape of a twelve-year-old girl by three servicemen in the 1990s. But the situation is more complex than it seems. In Night in the American Village, journalist Akemi Johnson takes readers deep into the "border towns" surrounding the bases—a world where cultural and political fault lines compel individuals, both Japanese and American, to continually renegotiate their own identities. Focusing on the women there, she follows the complex fallout of the murder of an Okinawan woman by an ex–U.S. serviceman in 2016 and speaks to protesters, to women who date and marry American men and groups that help them when problems arise, and to Okinawans whose family members survived World War II. Thought-provoking and timely, Night in the American Village is a vivid look at the enduring wounds of U.S.-Japanese history and the cultural and sexual politics of the American military empire.