Hostname: page-component-55f67697df-2z2hb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-05-08T14:05:25.389Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Songs of War and Peace: Music and Memory in Okinawa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 May 2025

James E. Roberson
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The year 2010 marks the 65th year since the 1945 Battle of Okinawa between American and Japanese armed forces, the 50th year since the signing of the Japan-US Security Treaty in 1960, and the 38th year since Okinawa was officially returned from American to Japanese control in 1972. In May of 2010, after juggling ill-conceived and unpopular alternative proposals for the relocation of the American military's Futenma Airbase in Okinawa, the short-lived Democratic Party's Hatoyama Government capitulated to American demands for the continuation of the original relocation plans, agreed upon in 1996 with the then ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which call for the construction of a heliport at Camp Schwab, in Henoko, also in Okinawa. Despite this latest Japan-US agreement, or rather because of it, the controversial and much contested issue of Futenma Airbase's return-as-relocation (see Inoue 2007) remains unresolved, especially for Okinawans.

Type
Research Article
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 8 , Issue 31 , July 2010 , e3
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2010

References

Ahagon, Shōkō (1992) Nuchi Koso Takara: Okinawa Hansen no Kokoro (Life is a Treasure: The Heart of Anti-War Okinawa). Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten.Google Scholar
Angst, Linda (1997) “Gendered Nationalism: The Himeyuri Story and Okinawan Identity in Postwar Japan.” PoLAR 20(1): 100–13.Google Scholar
Angst, Linda (2001) In a Dark Time: Community, Memory, and the Making of Ethnic Selves in Okinawan Women's Narratives. Ph.D. diss., Yale University.Google Scholar
Angst, Linda (2003) “The Rape of a Schoolgirl: Discourses of Power and Women's Lives in Okinawa,” in Islands of Discontent: Okinawan Responses to Japanese and American Power, ed. Hein, Laura and Selden, Mark. Lanham and Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.Google Scholar
Appadurai, Arjun (1981) “The Past as a Scarce Resource.” Man 16: 203–19.Google Scholar
Arakawa, Akira (1982) “Shōwaki ‘Shim-uta’ no Seishinshi,” (Spiritual History of Songs of the Shōwa Era). Shin Okinawa Bungaku 52: 1–11.Google Scholar
Arasaki, Moriteru (1996) Gendai Okinawa-shi (Contemporary Okinawan history). Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten.Google Scholar
Shinbun, Asahi (2004a) “Bei Heri, Daigaku-nai ni Tsuiraku” (American Helicopter Crashes in University Campus). Asahi Shinbun, August 14, 2004.Google Scholar
Shinbun, Asahi (2004b) “Bei Heri Jikō 3-Mannin Kōgi” (American Helicopter Crash: 30,000 Protest). Asahi Shinbun, September 13, 2004.Google Scholar
Barrell, Tony and Tanaka, Rick (1997) Okinawa Dreams OK. Berlin: Die Gestalten Verlag.Google Scholar
Bise, Katsu (1998) “Sengo Okinawa Ongakushi: 1945-1998” (Postwar Okinawan Music History: 1945-1998), in Uehinā no Uta: Meikyoku 101sen & CD Gaido, ed. Tadashi, Fujita. Tokyo: Ongakunotomosha.Google Scholar
Christy, Alan S. (1997) “The Making of Imperial Subjects,” in Formations of Colonial Modernity in East Asia, ed. Barlow, Tani E.. Durham and London: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Climo, Jacob J. and Cattell, Maria G. (2002) “Introduction: Meaning in Social Memory and History: Anthropological Perspectives,” in Social Memory and History: Anthropological Perspectives, ed. Climo, Jacob J. and Cattell, Maria G.. Walnut Creek: Altamira Press.Google Scholar
Figal, Gerald (1997) “Historical Sense and Commemorative Sensibility at Okinawa's Cornerstone of Peace.” positions 5(3): 745–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Figal, Gerald (2003) “Waging Peace on Okinawa,” in Islands of Discontent: Okinawan Responses to Japanese and American Power, ed. Hein, Laura and Selden, Mark. Lanham and Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.Google Scholar
Fujitani, Takashi, White, Geoffrey M. and Yoneyama, Lisa (2001) “Introduction,” in Perilous Memories: The Asia-Pacific War(s), ed. Fujitani, Takashi, White, Geoffrey M. and Yoneyama, Lisa. Durham and London: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Fujiwara, Kiichi (2001) Sensō o Kioku Suru: Hiroshima, Holocaust, Genzai (Remembering War: Hiroshima, Holocaust, Present). Tokyo: Kodansha Gendaishinsho.Google Scholar
Inoue, Masamichi S. (2007) Okinawa and the U.S. Military: Identity Making in the Age of Globalization. New York: Columbia University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ishihara, Masaie (2001) “Memories of War and Okinawa,” in Perilous Memories: The Asia- Pacific War(s), ed. Fujitani, Takashi, White, Geoffrey M. and Yoneyama, Lisa. Durham and London: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Masaie, Ishihara, Masayasu, Oshiro, Hiroshi, Hosaka and Katsutoshi, Matsunaga (2002) Sōten: Okinawasen no Kioku (Point of Dispute: Memory and the Battle of Okinawa). Tokyo: Shakaihyoronsha.Google Scholar
Kamiya, Kazuyoshi (1998) “Shima-uta 70- Nenshi: Fukuhara Tsuneo” (Island Songs 70- year History: Fukuhara Tsuneo) in Oto no chikara — Okinawa: Koza futtō, ed. Inter, DeMusik. Tokyo: Impact Shuppansha.Google Scholar
Kaneshiro, Atsumi (1997) Yamatonchu no tame no Okinawa Ongaku Nyūmon (Introduction to Okinawa Music for Japanese Mainlanders). Tokyo: Ongakunotomosha.Google Scholar
Kenny, Michael G. (1999) “A Place for Memory: The Interface between Individual and Collective History.” Comparative Studies of Society and History 41(3): 420–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kerr, George (1958) Okinawa: The History of an Island People. Rutland, Vt., and Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle.Google Scholar
Lipsitz, George (1990) Time Passages: Collective Memory and American Popular Culture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Matsumura, Hiroshi (2002) Uta ni Kiku Okinawa (Listening to Okinawa in Song). Tokyo: Hakusuisha.Google Scholar
Medoruma, Shun (2005) Okinawa [Sengo] Zero-nen (Okinawa “Postwar” Year Zero). Tokyo: NHK Shuppan.Google Scholar
Molasky, Michael (1999) The American Occupation of Japan and Okinawa: Literature and Memory. London and New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Molasky, Michael (2003) “Medoruma Shun: The Writer as Public Intellectual in Okinawa Today,” in Islands of Discontent: Okinawan Responses to Japanese and American Power, ed. Hein, Laura and Selden, Mark. Lanham and Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.Google Scholar
Morris-Suzuki, Tessa (1998) Re-Inventing Japan: Time, Space, Nation. Armonk, NY and London: M.E. Sharpe.Google Scholar
Yūji, Nakae and Motoko, Nakae (2000) “Okinawa Eigashi” (Okinawa Movie History), in Okinawa Pop Culture, ed. Kikaku, Tenkū. Tokyo: Tokyo Shoseki.Google Scholar
Nakahodo, Masanori (1988) Shima-Uta no Shōwashi: Okinawa Bungaku no Ryōbun (The Shōwa History of Island Songs: The Field of Okinawan Literature). Tokyo: Gaifūsha.Google Scholar
Nakasone, Kōichi (1997) Ryūkyū Rettō Shimauta Kikō, Dai-isshū (Ryūkyū Archipelago Folksong Journal, Volume One). Naha: Ryūkyū Shinpōsha.Google Scholar
Nakasone, Kōichi (1999) Ryūkyū Rettō Shimauta Kikō, Dai- sanshū (Ryūkyū Archipelago Folksong Journal, Volume Three). Naha: Ryūkyū Shinpōsha.Google Scholar
Nelson, Christopher (2003) “Nuchi nu Sūji: Comedy and Everyday Life in Postwar Okinawa,” in Japan and Okinawa: Structure and Subjectivity, ed. Hook, Glenn D. and Siddle, Richard. London and New York: RoutledgeCurzon.Google Scholar
Nelson, Christopher (2008) Dancing with the Dead: Memory, Performance, and Everyday Life in Postwar Okinawa. Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Noborikawa, Seijin (2002) Okinawa o Utau: Noborikawa Seijin Jiden (Singing Okinawa: Noborikawa Seijin Autobiography). Tokyo: Shinshōsha.Google Scholar
“Okinawa o Dō Oshieru Ka” Henshūiinkai (2006) Okinawa o Dō Oshieru Ka (How Teach about Okinawa?). Osaka: Kaihō Shuppansha.Google Scholar
Prefecture, Okinawa (1991) Heiwa e no Shōgen (Testimonies for Peace). Itoman: Okinawaken Senbotsushairei Hōsankai.Google Scholar
Okinawa Prefecture Military Base Affairs Division, “U.S. Military Issues in Okinawa,” ([English]. pdf, September 03, 2004).Google Scholar
Orr, James J. (2001) The Victim as Hero: Ideologies of Peace and National Identity in Postwar Japan. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.Google Scholar
Ota, Masahide (1996 [1982]) Okinawa: Sensō to Heiwa (Okinawa: War and Peace). Tokyo: Asahi Shinbunsha.Google Scholar
Ota, Masahide (2000) Essays on Okinawa Problems. Gushikawa City: Yui Shuppan Co.Google Scholar
Okinawa, Radio (1994) Okinawa no Uta 100-sen (Okinawan Songs 100 Select). Naha: Radio Okinawa.Google Scholar
Roberson, James E. (2003) “Uchinā Pop: Place and Identity In Contemporary Okinawan Popular Music,” in Islands of Discontent: Okinawan Responses to Japanese and American Power, ed. Hein, Laura and Selden, Mark. Lanham and Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.Google Scholar
Roberson, James E. (2007) “Trouble in Paradise: Politics, Poetics, and Music in Okinawa and Hawaii,” in Japanese Studies Around the World 2006: Research on Art and Music in Japan, ed. Fister, Patricia and Shuhei, Hosokawa. Kyoto: International Research Center for Japanese Studies.Google Scholar
Roberson, James E. (2009) “Memory and Music in Okinawa: The Cultural Politics of War and Peace.” positions: east asia cultures critique 17(3): 683–711.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberson, James E. (2010a) ““歌で語るー沖縄戦と平和をめぐる文化的記憶と政治性” (Narrating in Song: Cultural Memory and Politics Surrounding the Battle of Okinawa and Peace). In Sekizawa, Mayumi (ed.) If 戦争記憶論：忘却、変容そして継承 (War Memory: Forgetfulness, Change and Inheritance). Kyoto: Shōwadō.Google Scholar
Roberson, James E. (2010b) “Singing Diaspora: Okinawan Songs of Home, Departure and Return.” Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power 17(4): 430–453.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwartz, Barry (1982) “The Social Context of Commemoration: A Study in Collective Memory.” Social Forces 61(2): 374–402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shima, Tsuyoshi (1997) Okinawasen o Kangaeru (Considering the Battle of Okinawa). Naha: Hirugisha.Google Scholar
Taira, Koji (1997) “Troubled National Identity: The Ryukyuans/Okinawans,” in Japan's Minorities: The Illusion of Homogeneity, ed. Weiner, M.. London and New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Takahashi, Miki (2010) Okinawa Popyurā Ongakushi: China Sadao no Shiteki Kenkyū, Gakkyoku Bunseki wo Tōshite (Okinawan Popular Music History: Through Historical Research and Musical Analysis of China Sadao). Tokyo: Hituji Shobō.Google Scholar
Takaesu, Yoshihiro (1982) “Shōwa Shimauta Nenpyō” (Shōwa Island Song Chronology). Shin Okinawa Bungaku 52: 147–59.Google Scholar
Tanji, Miyume (2006) Myth, Protest and Struggle in Okinawa. London and New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Tomiyama, Ichirō (1990) Kindai Nippon Shakai to “Okinawajin”: “Nipponjin” ni naru to iu koto (Modern Japanese Society and “Okinawans”: Becoming “Japanese”). Tokyo: Nippon Keizai Hyōronsha.Google Scholar
Tomiyama, Ichirō (1995) Senjō no Kioku (Memories of the Battlefield). Tokyo: Nippon Keizai Hyōronsha.Google Scholar
Tomiyama, Ichirō (1998) “The Critical Limits of the National Community: The Ryukyuan Subject.” Social Science Japan Journal 1(2): 165–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tomiyama, Ichirō (2005) On Becoming ‘a Japanese’: The Community of Oblivion and Memories of the Battlefield. The Asia-Pacific Journal.Google Scholar
Uehara, Naohiko (1982) “Shōwa ni Fukubaru Bushiari” (Fukubaru Songs in the Shōwa Period). Aoi Umi 109: 206–8.Google Scholar
Uehara, Naohiko (1986) Katayabira Shimauta (Talking about Folksongs). Naha: Naha Shuppansha.Google Scholar
Uehara, Naohiko (2005) “On Becoming ‘a Japanese’: The Community of Oblivion and Memories of the Battlefield.” The Asia-Pacific Journal.Google Scholar
Wagner-Pacifici, Robin and Schwartz, Barry (1991) “The Vietnam Veterans Memorial: Commemorating a Difficult Past.” American Journal of Sociology 97(2): 376–420.Google Scholar
Yelvington, Kevin A. (2002) “History, Memory and Identity: A Programmatic Prolegomenon.” Critique of Anthropology 22(3): 227–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yonetani, Julia (2000) “On the Battlefield of Mabuni: Struggles over Peace and the Past in Contemporary Okinawa.” East Asian History 20: 145–68.Google Scholar
Yoshida, Kensei. (2010). Okinawa and Guam: In the Shadow of U.S. and Japanese. The Asia- Pacific Journal.Google Scholar
Yoshizawa, Naomi (2004) “Watashi no Jōtō Yaibin Vol. 5 ‘Kuroi Ame’” The Bang 4: 3.Google Scholar