¹ Although Okinawa and Hokkaido were both incorporated into the nation state some differences in their governance distinguished them from other prefectures. For example, the military conscription of Okinawans and Ainu began in 1898, twenty-five years after implementation of the nationwide conscription law in 1873. Furthermore, differences in educational and economic administration distinguished both Okinawa and Hokkaido from other prefectures. In Okinawa, land reform, tax reform, and full representation in the Diet were all delayed.

² “Subaltern meaning ‘of inferior rank,’ is a term adopted by Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) to refer to those groups in society who are subject to the hegemony of the ruling classes.” He defined peasants, workers and other groups denied access to “hegemonic power” as subaltern but in colonial and postcolonial studies subaltern has become synonymous with defining both the colonized and those at the peripheries of society due to their race or gender as well as Gramsci's class concerns, or a combination of all these factors. See Bill Ashcroft, Post-Colonial Studies: The Key Concepts (London: Routledge, 2001): 177-8.