The American eagle in Okinawa: the politics of contested memory and the unfinished war

Abstract

This article on contested memory and the ‘unfinished war’ in Okinawa explores the link between the memories of the battle of Okinawa and US military accidents in the prefecture, on the one hand, and the calls to reduce US installations, on the other. National government policy-makers and security managers view Okinawa's outposts of American power as an essential ingredient in a security policy aimed at deterring potential enemies, whether these are identified as the Soviet Union during the Cold War, or a rising China and a nuclear-armed North Korea today. But the unequal distribution and concentration of US bases in the prefecture and the military accidents associated with their operation mean the memories of the battle of Okinawa and of US military accidents have become a political resource for opponents of the bases. The article demonstrates how these memories serve to embed Okinawans as victims of the national government as well as of the United States, manifest as a contestation between collective memory at the national and prefectural levels.