Reading Oshiro Tatsuhiro’s Asa, Shanghai ni Tachitukusu ：Shousetsu Toua Doubun Shoin ：The Memories of Okinawans in China during The Second Sino-Japanese War

Abstract

Oshiro Tatsuhiro (1925-2020) wrote a large number of works about Okinawa, which are generally referred to as “Oshiro literature”. Among them, the novel “Asa, Shanghai ni Tachitukus u：Shousetsu Toua Doubun Shoin” is unique. It is a first-person novel based on Oshiro’s experience of studying in Shanghai (1943-1945), and it describes the collapse of Japanese identity there and the budding of the Okinawan people’s consciousness. Other Okinawans who emigrated overseas during the war also had the same experience. Under the American occupation after World War II, Okinawans once again fell into a crisis of identity, which was related to the rebirth of Japanese consciousness and the thought of a “rebirth of Japan”. The memories formed by Okinawans during the prewar period and the war were unconsciously held long after the war. Therefore, this novel is also important as an origin of Okinawans’ memories and experiences in the postwar period.