Gabe Masao in Translation

Abstract

The following section includes an introduction to the work of Okinawan historian Gabe Masao by Wendy Matsumura and Tze M. Loo, along with translations of two of his articles that were previously available only in the original Japanese. First, Matsumura and Loo’s introduction situates Gabe’s work within the historiographical literature on the Ryūkyū kingdom’s annexation by the Japanese state, arguing that although he eschews the word “colonialism” to describe the process through which the newly formed Okinawa prefecture is incorporated into the empire, his work provides compelling evidence to support the application of a colonial framework to understand Japan’s rule of the prefecture. Next is Gabe’s essay “From Ryūkyū to Okinawa,” as excerpted and translated by Matsumura. Last is Loo’s excerpt and translation of Gabe’s “Actions toward Modern Japanese National Consciousness: The Case of Ryūkyū-Okinawa.”