Occupation without End: Opposition to the US Military in Okinawa

Abstract

In the aftermath of the Pacific War, the US military began an occupation of the Japanese prefecture of Okinawa that continues to this day. Although formal sovereignty of the islands was returned to Japan in 1972, the physical and social space of Okinawa remains dominated by a massive network of US military installations. For decades, soldiers and Marines trained in the northern jungles for wars in places like Indochina, Iraq, and Afghanistan; the military airfields and harbors have supported American interests and operations across the Pacific and Indian Oceans. While the Japanese state has been, at best, disinterested and, at worst, complicit in this occupation, there is a long history of Okinawan resistance. Most recently, a dynamic and complex network of groups and individuals has come together to contest plans by the Japanese and US authorities to relocate a Marine airfield to the northeast coast of Okinawa and create new training facilities in the nearby forests.