Title 'The Crying Wind' and Hovering Butterflies: Identity andCultural Representations of Okinavva

Author(s) Dileep, Chandralal

Citation 沖縄大学人文学部紀要 = Journal of the Faculty ofHumanities and Social Sciences(7): 1-16

Issue Date 2006-03-31

URL http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12001/6126

Rights 沖縄大学人文学部

'The Crying Wind' and Hovering Butterflies:Identity and Cultural Representations of Okinavva

Dileep Chandralal

AbstractBased on the premise that the processing constitutive of identity has to be described withreference to the social and contextual interaction, this study analyzes a cross-section ofcultural expressions representing modem Okinawa. The results show that Okinawans,

have a strong sense of identity that stems not only from their ethno-cultural and

geographical origins but also from their historical and political experience of being

excluded and discriminated.

Keywords: identity, cultural humiliation, memory, occupation, image building

1. IntroductionA period eqUivalent to two generations has passed since the end of the Pacific War. In

Okinawa, however, the war is not really over and hence the post-war period is yet to start.

Although it is full of ironies, at least, this is the view held by many opinion leaders in

Okinawa. Okinawan writer Shun Medoruma, for example, published a book last year, bythe title "Zero Year of Okinawa Post-war Period" (Okinawa sengo zero-nen). It is qUiteinteresting to find in this regard that Okinawa's images of itself often contradict theperceptions and images born by the mainland Japanese.

The land itself is a fine metaphor for the gap; Okinawa remains literally isolated as

the sole island prefecture in a nation of islands. To further understand the cultural and

mental processes that divided the island nation, one needs to have a glimpse of thehistory. The destiny of 20th century Okinawa is considered to have been shaped by twobig events of its modern history. One is the "Disposal of the Ryukyu Kingdom". The term isused to indicate the abolishment of the Ryukyu Kingdom and subsequent incorporationof Okinawa Prefecture into a centralized, bureaucratic state apparatus under the Meijigovernment of Japan. The other is the "Occupation of Okinawa".

In what follows, I will examine how these main events and sub-events have shaped

the directions taken by this island region, how Okinawan people faced these events with

accompanied repercussions leading to numerous sufferings, and how they were unfairly

burdened with all the legacies of these events and were finally forced to remain voiceless.However, if the Japanese government, with its available political and legal means, hasbeen silencing the voice of the region, in another area of its culture a cacophony of voiceshas erupted. Let me turn to these dissenting voices, some of which, though strong at thelocal level, are not adequately shared across wider cierles. To shed some light on thistheory, I will analyze a representative cross-section of the cultural expreSSions ofOkinawa, namely, in theatre, film, literature and lyrics of popular songs, created by

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Okinawan writers and artists within the last 50 years or so. I will analyze the texts of

these literary works and works of arts by showing how their ideals and expressions are

thoroughly intertwined with the identity of Okinawa, however expressed and reproduced,disagreed with the cultural representations of Okinawa produced and consumed in themainland Japan.

One caveat is required before proceeding. Two complementary sets of problems faceresearchers seeking to understand the interplay between identity and cultural expressions:

1. How cultural expressions reveal the identity of an ethno-linguistic community, and

2. How the features of identity, such as past experiences, memories, relationships and

perceptions, are projected into cultural expressions.

The fIrst set of problems compels us to make use of cultural expressions and analyze themin order to make inferences about identity. 1be second facet of problems, on the other hand;helps us to understand how socio-historical conditions that shape identity also makeinroads into the cultural fields, focusing on how identity is conditioned and constrained bythe historical development of structural properties of a society.

Rather than confining myself to one set of problems, I would like to deal with both sets

of problems, shifting from one to another at appropriate junctures. This is consistent with

the cognitive-conceptual approach, which takes experiential reality as the relevant kind of

framework to explicate identity issues. Dealing with the questions of identity mediated byempirical truths, perceptions and discursive practices, it is appropriate that we proceed inthis way. Our organizational approach itself emphasizes that the processing constitutive ofidentity has to be studied and described with reference to the social and contextualinteraction of identity expressions.

2. Disbanding the Ryukyu KingdolD and the Process ofCultural HUDliliation

During its long history, the Ryukyu islands had achieved a highly developed cultureas a relatively independent kingdom with its central government established in the castlecity of Shuri. Its inhabitants, with their livelihood based in agriculture, fishing andtrading, lived peacefully, without armaments, belieVing in animism and ancestralworship. The Ryukyu Kingdom of the past which shared strong historical relations with

China in terms of politics, trade and culture was rather loyal to the Chinese government.

In 1879, the Meiji government arrested the provincial king, Sho Tai, to make for a smooth

abolishment of the Ryukyu Kingdom. The tributary relationships including diplomaticrelations with China then were banned. However, the voice of China loyalists whobelieved that Ryukyu should continue to be part of China didn't disappear until Japan'

victory in the Sino-Japanese War was assured at the beginning of the 20th century.After the abolishment of the Ryukyu Kingdom, a full-pledged reform program was

launched by the Japanese government in order to establish the new political system,

replacing the Rykyuan civil and criminal laws with Japanese ones. In abolishing the feudal

system, the geographical name, Ryukyu that carried the burden of its history was also

abandoned, and instead Okinawa, strictly speaking the name of the main island of the

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Chandralal : 'The Crying Wind' and Hovering Butterflies

Ryukyu archipelago, was adopted. Afterwards, while 'Ryukyu' was restricted to the sphereof private life, 'Okinawa' was dominantly used to represent the whole gamut of public life.

The first governor of the newly established Okinawa Prefecture, Nabeshima Naoyoshi,

strongly believed that it was the urgent duty of the prefectural government to help

Okinawans to achieve prosperity by directing them on the path of assimilation intoJapanese language and life style and that the most easiest and effective apparatus for thepurpose would be through the educational system. Accordingly, the main pillar of the newcurriculum was designed to raise the self-awareness of its citizens by becoming faithfulJapanese citizens, learning to speak standard Japanese, and growing loyal to the Emperor.The reform program adopted by the government was two-pronged:

1. Assimilation into the Japanese emperor system, and

2. Modernization of Okinawa and 'civilizing' Okinawans.

The Meiji-era Japan that had just stepped onto the modernization path, following the

footsteps of Europe saw herself as secular, progressive and rational, and tended to considerOkinawans to be superstitious, backward and irrational. Thus, as part of the 'Life-styleReform Movement', many old customs, laws and beliefs that were original to Okinawa werebanned. By doing so, they committed the colonialist crime of violating the traditionalcommunity. For instance, while it was then customary for men to wear topknots called

katakashira and for women to tattoo the backs of their hands, called hachyi, these

practices were prohibited amidst strong opposition, especially, of the warrior-class

okinawans. Moreover, the general public was forced to simplify ceremonial occasions,holidays and festivals, which formed a major component of their local culture.

Meanwhile, to facilitate the reform program, Japanese military facilities wereestablished in Okinawa. Inevitably, with the rise of the militarism, the use of standardJapanese was enforced, suppressing the use of local Okinawa language. Japanesegovernment's policies of linguistic coercion forced the mandatory use of standard Japanese

in schools and a total ban of the local dialects.

In pre-war Okinwan schools, each classroom had a Dialect Disgrace Tag (Hogen-juda).

Students had to wear it around their neck if they spoke or happened to speak in their localdialect. When another student spoke in his dialect the tag was passed to him or her. Theidea conveyed was that speaking one's own dialect was a disgrace. The idea was enforcedon them in this way. During the period of the Okinawa Battle, the Japanese militarydeclared that anybody who speaks a local dialect is to be considered as a spy. The notorioushogen-juda continued to be used in Okinwan schools, at least in some areas, even after the

war, until around the middle of the 1960s. 1)

Throughout history, many forms of governments have actively suppressed many

indigenous languages and cultures, especially those in the Periphery. These suppressors,who maintain that their nations and cultures are superior, take upon themselves themission of educating and civilizing other ethnic groups. These superior powers not onlydowngrade other's cultures and languages but also consider that the instruction of nativepeoples in their vernaculars is detrimental to the cause of their education and civilization.This ideology of 'superiority' and 'contempt' has prevailed in the East and the West, is found

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around the world even today, and is largely responsible for linguistic and cultural loss.

Japan from the Meiji period, following western countries, took the path of intolerance, and

as the result, minority groups like the Ainu and the Ryukyu suffered immensely under its

pressure.Nothing else describes the true situation in Japan at that time than the poetry and

dramas. As a good example, I will briefly introduce a drama named Jinruikan ('HumanMuseum') which was first staged in 1976 in Osaka and depicted the contemporarysituation in Meiji Japan in a most humorous and provocative manner.2) The common

theme undertaken by this play was inequality of the power relations between Okinawa and

Japan interconnected with the blatant discrimination of Okinawans under the emperor

system. In those days many okinawans and Koreans left their native places looking for

better lives and better jobs in foreign lands. Instead of the decent life they had expected,they were confronted with discrimination, contempt and scorn. It is said that there werenotices on gates and building entrances saying 'No Ryukuans, No Koreans'.

The stage play Jinruikan is based on an incident that occurred in 1903. As the 5th

National Industrial Exhibition was held in Osaka in 1903, a display stall called 'Academic

Human Museum' was also set up, as a parallel event, where human categories such as

Ainu and Taiwan indigenous people, Okinawans and Koreans were kept to be seen by the

visitors. The battle of Okinawa and the Okinawan experience of the Dialect Disgrace Tagwere incorporated into the script to satirically illustrate the structure of discrimination.

In the play, an Okinawan tries to use Japanese correctly and to cheer the emperor,following the instructions of a Japanese soldier, raising his hands and screaming"Tinooheeka, Banjait" in Okinawan accent, instead of pronouncing in standard Japanese"Tennouheika, Banzai!" ('Long live the Emperor!). The posture and gesture used by the

character in the role of the Okinawan soldier was indicative of the difference in ethos

between Okinawan and Japanese cultures.

In pre-war Okinawa, while the education system emphasized "Emperor Worship", thetypical Okinawan culture, which was subject to contempt and disgrace repeatedly, hadalready lost its dignity. It is well known that in the Meiji period when the Japanesegovernment implemented a rigorous assimilation policy, the use of native dialects wassuppressed and the use of standard Japanese was imposed by force. In this process ofcultural humiliation, Okinawans were mentally dragged into a binary path. Finding the

image of assimilation very allUring, they tried to grab the yamato spirit. They were also

constantly reminded of the reality of differentiation. In Okinawa there is a peculiar use of

the tenn naichi, literally 'inland', when referring to the mainland Japan. One may wonderwhy they use the term naichi to denote a land outside of their own province, instead ofusing something like gaichi ('outer land'). I believe that they came to assume themselves asbelonging to the outer circle, consequently reproducing the mainland as the inner circle. As

Declan Kiberd says, referring to Ireland, "There seems no way out of this mirror-chambercreated by colonialists, because the natives' opinions of themselves are greatly influencedby the low esteem which their rulers have for them."(Kiberd 1996)

In this way, alienation and self-exclusion became a hallmark of Okinawan mentality.

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Chandralal : 'The Crying Wind' and Hovering Butterflies

Because of the binary force of assimilation and exclusion working to oppress Okinawanminds, people increasingly tended to develop a sense of inferiority of constantly havingbeen deprived. Simultaneously, they came to feel that they were forced to be culturallyuprooted by the high-handed mainlanders.

3. Struggling with MeDlories of the WarThe culmination of the project of unification and assimilation of Okinawa into

Japanese imperialist system was the Battle of Okinawa that claimed the lives of more than200,000 people. The brutality of the war and the imperial system is further exposed by the

military strategy adopted by the Japanese army. The primary objective of the Army-Navy

Operation was to delay the American invasion and to protect the mainland and imperial

system by regarding Okinawa as "a stone to be sacrificed".

The battle of Okinawa, which later came to be called the "Typhoon of Steel", was the

last battle fought between the U.S. and Japan. The memories of the bitter battle still haunt

many Okinawans and are reborn afresh every time an occasional dud shell appears from aconstruction site and the remains of human bodies are found in long-forgotten caves on thisisland. These memories never remain as mere relics belonging to the past, but are verymuch a part of the present because they are seen to shape physical and mental landscapes

of the islands.3)

Yoichi Higashi's movie Fuon, The Crying Wind, based on a story written by Okinawan

novelist Shun Medoruma and set in summertime Okinawa, vividly depicts how theunpleasant memories of the war are still interrupting the ordinary life of the people in anorthern village in Okinawa. According to the story, there was a precipice standing on theshore with a dug-in square-shaped grave. On the edge of the grave, there was a skull,facing the sea, probably placed there by somebody. The skull had a hole in its temple

presumably made by a bullet. The wind could be heard passing through the hole, making

an ominous, howling sound. The villagers regarded this awe-inspiring object as their

protective deity and called it 'the crying god' or 'the crying head' (Nakiungamn. Treating it

with religious respect, they shun from it and advised their children not to go near it.One day the village children made a piece of mischief on the 'crying head' and from

that day on the whistling of the wind stopped; the tranquility of the life of the village wasdisrupted. The overlapping memories of the people living on the island, of the peoplevisiting the island and of the people who died on the island were recalled through a chain of

combined episodes to create an alarming and tormenting picture of the past, present and

future of the island.

The villagers didn't have the slightest idea of what the children had done. They only

knew of an old woman from the mainland Japan, named Shiho FUjino, who visited the

island every year, chasing some wartime memories, particularly searching for unknowndetails about 'the crying head'. The man she loved when she was seventeen had left forOkinawa as a commando to join the battle and died there. She wanted to know themeaning of the song she was asked to sing just before he left for Okinawa, and was eager to

delve into the story of war experienced but untold by her beloved. The woman was

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introduced to an old man living in the village who knew the secret of the 'crying head'. He

could remember how his father had taken the corpse of the commando soldier from the

shore to the open-air burial ground. It was only one of the many precious lives that had

vanished into air or into the sea during the battle of Okinawa. Despite his knowledge, theold man seemed determined not to open the window to this dreadful world. The secretdidn't pass his lips. The woman's plea to reveal the secret was met with silence.

Both the old woman and the old man have memories deep in their minds which theywere not comfortable with and were not able to convey. As the author himself expresses, the

central theme addressed by the movie is "how incommunicable the war experience is!" 4)

It is a story of people burdened with a tragic past that cannot be properly conveyed and

handed down. The war experiences are ineffable, indecipherable but ineradicable in the

innocent souls of the villagers and the visitors as well. The old woman cannot forget thescene where she sang the song of "early spring" as a 17-years-old girl upon the request of

the dead commando before he left for the battle ground. They agreed that it would be better,if they could understand the hidden meaning of the song someday.

The spring is only nominal; the wind is cold

Though the song of the bush warbler flying in the valley is in its mind,

The time is not qUite ripe for it.

Nor can it raise its voice.

Finally, the woman understands that 'the spring' in the song is a metaphor for the modemage. The modem age dawned in Japan with horrible incidents against which nobody couldraise their voice. People had to suppress the urge to say what they really thought. The bush

warbler in the valley with a song hidden in its heart represents budding thoughts and

beliefs that remained unexpressed befor~ the rough winds of the contemporary society.

In this movie the skull itself, lingered upon cliffs and zoomed up as an object triggeringwar memories, shows how traces of the war live on in contemporary Okinawan society aspart of the cultural landscape. Seikichi, the old man, with his subdued behavior, works inthe opposite direction, retaining his words and keeping his secrets so as not to kindlememories. His task is to bury the memories along with all the mementos. However, this

does not obscure the scars of war, but reinforces the whole picture by presenting warmemories, violence, death, life, beliefs and spiritual aspects of Okinawan society. How life

and death are intermingled is shown by the scenes of the crabs that were literally living off

the dead and moving around the skull. The spiritual aspects are underlined by the

butterflies hovering over the skull. According to the local tradition of Okinawa, butterflies

are believed to cany the spirits of dead people. All the imagery used in the movie seems tobe carefully selected so as to fit the central theme, excluding, for instance, the popularsymbols like red-tiled roofs and shnnshin, a three-stringed lute, that speak of a simple and

disappearing or nostalgic beauty.

Taken as a whole, the events and the plot of the story really represent today's

prevailing thoughts and concerns of the Okinawan people. The author of the novel and

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Chandralal : 'The Crying Wind I and Hovering Butterflies

script writer for the movie seems to lament that the memory of war is being lost as manypeople have tended to forget the war experience so qUickly. It seems that the writer wantsto suggest that the present-day Okinawa needs a crying wind to act as a reminder of thewar and its memories. The fact is that we cannot hear the crying wind any more means

that we are already robbed of the voice or 'the song of early spring'. The author's mission

has been to give voice to Okinawan feelings inextricably bound with the atrocities of thewar that are still visible on the islands. While many contemporary images of Okinawa

present the islands as a tropical paradise with cheerful life and happy-go-lucky people,creating such popular visions to be consumed by the mainland Japanese tourist, the movieFuon/the Crying Wind confronts the present troubles and harsh realities of Okinawa. Onecan juxtapose Fuon with the NHK produced morning drama Churasan, a good example of

popular stereotype visions, to understand the profundity of a non-stereotyped work and to

draw out the differences between the two genres, on which I cannot embark here because of

the limitations of space.The war experience, as internalized in different ways by Okinawan people, has been

engraved on their collective memory in a powerful way and these memories of the war have

played a vital role in the formation of the Okinawan identity. Many civil organizations andartists and individuals have been active in preseIVing the horrible memories of the war andendeavoring to pass them on to next generations through various means, such as recordingevidence, creating works of art with the motifs of the war memories and maintaining

museums, etc. Shun Medoruma, the novelist and script writer, clearly represents this

tradition, by presenting the land and its people in a profound way without reducingOkinawa to a glossy exotic picture.

4. Land Occupied, Outer and Inner Spaces under SiegeThe end of the Battle of Okinawa marked the beginning of modern Okinawa or 'the

early spring'. Following the unconditional surrender of Japan, Okinawa islands came

under U.S. military rule. With the signing of the San Francisco Treaty in 1951, the u.s.

gained territorial and occupational right over Okinawa, while Japan regained its

sovereignty. By the terms of that treaty, Okinawa and other small islands forming theRyukyu Islands chain were placed under u.S. administration, namely the "Occupation ofOkinawa" which lasted 27 years (1945-1972). In other words, Japan's sovereignty was

recovered by it having sacrificed Okinawa.The U.S. supported Japan's rebuilding efforts, by helping it develop as a non-military

nation; for Okinawa, however, the u.S. had a completely different goal. Their aim was to

separate Okinawa from the rest of Japan and to turn it into a military fortress. To facilitate

a de-Japanization of the islands, the U.S. administration reversed its geographical name

from Okinawa to Ryukyu. This also shows how the U.S. attempted to exploit the minorityconsciousness and the communal feelings of the Okinawans with the ulterior motive ofconsolidating its military rule. Massive military bases were established and have remainedoperational since then. The major strategic role played by the U.S. military bases onOkinawa was called then as "the keystone of the Pacific". Thus, Okinawa turned from a

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Japanese territory to an American territory, involuntarily having to serve a strategic point

for two occupational forces continuously.It is highly relevant to consider as to what kinds of impact the U.S. colonial rule has

had upon Okinawan attitudes towards U.S.A. or towards Japan and upon their ownthinking of their existence itself. The consolidation of the military bases on Okinawa andthe horrors brought by the military rule such as forceful appropriation of residents' lands

and properties, a violation of fundamental human rights and the heinous crimes committedby the U.S. troops aroused strong anti-U.S. sentiments among Okinawan people. Beforelong, Okinawan people turned against the U.s. rule, directly expressing their wishes to

return to Japan in order to embrace Japan as their motherland. Simply, returning to Japan

meant to them "returning to the Peace Constitution of Japan". Eventually, the rising

anti-base movement and accompanying 'Reversion Movement' forced the U.S. to abandon

its occupational right on Okinawa.The movement against foreign rule was only one aspect of the 'Reversion Movement'.

More importantly, with the spread of the 'Reversion Movement', Okinawan people becameincreasingly aware of the need to expand their right of self-government. Their sense ofautonomy developed so rapidly that there were some people, though they comprised aminority group, who believed that okinawa's true freedom could be achieved only by

becoming a totally independent country. They felt that the Japanese government would not

understand their sufferings and grievances and would never look after Okinawan people

properly.Even today there is a section of people in Okinawa who expresses their candid feeling

that Okinawa should be an autonomous country. To understand this feeling, we should lookback at the 'ground situation' in Okinawa. Although Okinawa was returned to Japancomplying to the expectation of the majority of people, this was only a partial fulfillment of

their wish, because reversion was conditional and based upon the retention of the U.S.

bases in the prefecture. While Okinawans longed for a peaceful island free from military

bases, the U.S. and Japan had reached the agreement that administrative power be

returned to Japan on the condition that the military bases remain on Okinawa as theyexisted at that time. While Okinawa comprises only 0.6% of the Japan's total land, thislimited area bears the bitter burden of 750/0 of the U.S. military bases found in Japan. As

often said, setting rhetoric and reality together, "Rather than saying that the U.S. bases arelocated in Okinawa, the situation is better presented by stating that Okinawa is among the

U.S. military bases".

Although I mentioned earlier that we can no longer hear the whistling of 'the cryinghead', Shun Medoruma, the novelist, maintains that 'the crying head' continues to whistle,

that is, down-to-earthly, we can listen to the 'voice' or crying sound emanating from thebones scattered in the forests and the shores of Okinawa. According to the epilogue, thenovel was originally published 1985. However, after the release of the movie which based onthe novel, he was compelled to rewrite the novel as Fuon, The crying wind, andemphasizes that the story continues. 5) The scars of the U.S. invasion and the troubles ofOkinawa continue, as the U.S. military bases continue to occupy much of the land here

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Chandralal: The Crying Wind' and Hovering Butterflies

and so the same story continues to be told again and again. The presence of the militarybases and the Okinawan people's relationship with these military and cultural corps hasobviously affected the process of formation of Okinawan identity. As Okinawan literarycritic Keitoku Okamoto points out, the fact that in Okinawa the negotiations with this

specific Other have prevailed as a day-to-day matter is a big factor involved in the

formation of Okinawan identity and therefore has been a preferred theme in manyliterary works.6)

In 1995, a 12-year-old elementary school girl was abducted and raped by threeAmerican soldiers, an incident that caused wide-spread protests against military bases inOkinawa. Despite the recent crash of a u.s. military helicopter at a local university, theJapanese government has remained deaf to the people's demands for the termination of

U.S. military flights over civilian area, let alone for the closure of the nearby u.s. Marine

Corps' Futenma Air Station. Under these circumstances, an author born in Okinawa,

cannot ignore the complex realities manifested with the existence of u.s. bases: thefrequent occurrence of violence, the issue of mixed parentage, environmental destruction,economic hardships, alcoholism, etc.

Kibo "Hope", a short story by Shun Medoruma, originally published in the eveningedition of the Asahi Shimbun, (June 26, 1999), was hailed as the fIrst post-colonial work ofOkinawan literature. The story began with an evening news broadcast on TV. The newsreported that the corpse of the small child of an American soldier who had been missing

was found. An Okinawan man who was watching the TV news and the narrator of the story

was, in fact, the murderer. The thoughts that flashed across his mind are suggestive of hisact: "That Okinawans-so docile, so meek-could use such tactics was something thebastards had never even imagined. Okinawans were, after all, a people who followed theirleaders, and, at most, held "anti-war" or "anti-base" rallies with polite protest marches....Okinawans were like maggots who clustered around the shit of land rents and subsidy

monies splattered by the bases. And Okinawa was called "an island healed by the love of

peace". It made me want to puke." 7)

Through these words, we can hear the voice of the narrator as a representation of theauthor. 8) It is safe to say that the implied author expresses his anger towards the militarybases and his utter frustration about the indifference on the part of Okinawan people. Hisdisgust at military land-owners and dependents on special subsidies is highlighted by themetaphor "maggots who clustered around the shit of land rents and subsidy monies". Healso makes no effort to hide his disgust at popular images of Okinawa created by outsidersand getting consumed by insiders comfortably. The concepts of peaceful and healing islands,

though capable of enticing mainland Japanese tourist to visit Okinawa, tend to hide the

continuing troubles and turbulences caused by the large areas of land surrounded by the

iron fences and occupied by military personnel.Mter recollecting the way he behaved and the way he committed the abhorrent act of

protest, the narrator gets ready to stage the final act of his protest drama by committinghis body to the flames at the seaside park in Ginowan where the protest rally (according tothe narrator, "that farcical rally") was held after the twelve-year-old girl was raped by the

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three American soldiers. Making his own appraisal of the mission already achieved, hethinks, "I felt no remorse now, or even any deep emotion. Just as fluids in the bodies of

small organisms which are forced to live in constant fear suddenly tum into poison, I had

done what was natural and necessary for this island". Thus, the narrator's act is shown asan outburst of righteous indignation at the current situation of Okinawa.

Now a question poses itself. Why is the title of the story "Hope"? Did the author want

to indicate that the narrator's act represents the last hope left to Okinawan people? I think

the answer is to be found in the larger context of modern and contemporary Okinawa. It isimpossible to disentangle the story from much larger social and political forces that have

been building over many years. In short, Okinawan people have been pinning high

expectations in dealing with mainland Japan, in negotiations with, and in manipulations

by, Japan, as revealed by the cases of Okinawa's Reversion to Japan and being the venue

for the 2000 G-8 summit meeting. Both of these events were celebrated by Okinawanmedia, Okinawan leaders and the general public. Despite these high hopes, Okinawanpeople feel as they were cheated. Time has past, but the situation remains unchanged. Thehoped-for freedom and prosperity didn't dawn. Amidst the increasing disillusionment with

both the Japanese government and the U.S. government, the author seems to suggest that

time has come to confront the realities, which is the way out, the hope implied by the story.

The whole story can be seen as a powerful presentation of how the Okinawan people

feel disappointed by the repeated occurrences of violence and violations of basic freedoms.

At a deeper level, it embodies the optimism and the frustration of the post-colonial era. Iam not saying that it has represented to us what Okinawa is all about, but it would be noexaggeration to say that this brief literary piece represents the dark side of the Okinawansocio-cultural scene, challenging the culture of impunity that has been prevailed in

Okinawa. At the risk of making a sweeping statement, I should add that only Okinawa in

Japan, with special geo-politic features as a former independent country now buffeted

about between Japanese and American powers, might be able to produce this type ofliterary work.

5. Gap in Perspective, and IlIlage BuildingWith not much protection coming from both side, Japan and U.S.A., and with their

prospects for safety and dignity in life remaining bleak, a section of Okinawan society

began to think it is best to be an independent country, rather than remaining just another

region of Japan. Akira Arakawa, Okinawan writer, is one among the few advocates of full

independence for Okinawa. In 1960s he instigated a movement for independence rather

than Reversion. According to a recent survey, the number of those who think thatOkinawans should choose to be independent if the Japanese government approves theirright of self-determination is rated at 24.9. (Lim 2006) 9)

However, this imagination of an independent country can be just wishful thinkingbecause in reality Okinawa is a society highly dependent on the military bases: its economy,directly or indirectly, heavily depends on the military bases and special monetary

provisions of the central government. In fact, the central government has been directing

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Chandralal: 'The Crying Wind' and Hovering Butterflies

local promotion and development measures to compensate for sufferings and sacrificescaused by the presence of the U.S. military bases. Local municipal governments receive ahuge amount of money under the name of the "military base grant" and the budget forpromoting the areas surrounding bases. There is no secret about the fact that this kind

of economic dependency has worked to keep the anti-base movement at a low ebb.

Many opinion leaders believe that the grants and development projects initiated by thecentral government have taken away their dignity and self respect, whereas someleaders are eagerly aWaiting these offerings of carrots.

Shin-ichi Kawamitsu, an Okinawan poet, does not mince words, expressing hisperceptions about how the grants of the central government are controlling the economic

and mental spaces of the island. 10) Three big promotion projects initiated by the central

government, according to Kawamitsu, are all reigns put upon the Okinawan community.

Okinawa international Ocean Expo' 1975-76 is one of the three major projects carried out to

celebrate the return of administration rights of Okinawa from the U.s. to Japan. ShuriCastle, the seat of government dUring the Ryukyu Kingdom period, was partially restored

in 1992 and the whole park was designated as a national park. The national theaterOkinawa was opened in 2004 as a place to perform and admire traditional Okinawanperforming arts.

No doubt all these monumental projects completed under the patronage of the national

government help the Japanese to deepen their understanding of the Okinawa's nature,

culture and histoty. However, Kawamitsu sees the three cultural spaces as important items

on the national agenda. By exerting administrative and financial power over these projects,

the national government had their hold on the three most important make-ups ofOkinawan spirituality: the most basic natural source represented by the ocean, the spirit ofindependence symbolized by Shuri Castle and the major component of the traditionalmental culture enveloped in Okinawa performing arts. Thus, the subsidies and grants

offered by the national government are seen by Okinawan cultural personalities as traps

set to keep their culture besieged.

Another role played by these cultural projects is the construction of more images ofOkinawa. With the inauguration of Okinawa International Ocean Expo, a new image ofOkinawa was constructed in Japanese minds: "blue skies", "blue seas" and "white beaches",

these phrases began to repeatedly appear in tourist posters and other means of media toadvertise Okinawa as the "southern paradise". A careful observation of the theme of OceanExpo expressed as "The Sea We Would Like to See" reveals that the organizers of the event

were very conscious of this image construction role and that they understood the

significance of the theme for the purpose. The phrase is based on the pronounced contrast

between human agents and objects of natural environment. 11) In short, the Japanese

government exploited Ocean Expo' as an effective medium through which to introduce themodern concept of 'development' (made by humans against natural environment) toOkinawa and to camouflage the hard realities of Okinawa with soft, picturesque images.This allowed Japanese people to see Okinawa as a 'healing island' while the people in

Okinawa are yet to be given time to heal their wounded souls.

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In terms of image construction, Mongol 800, a popular music band with Okinawanorigins deserves our special attention. Mongol 800 has already established not only as a

group of artists that shows a strong sense of attachment to their native islands but also as

one of the most original voices of their generation. Their album "Message" can be viewed ofas a deviation from the stereotypical path of producing marketable images. 12)

First, the title itself shows that they have taken upon themselves a mission of raisingtheir voice on behalf of Okinawan people, like a bush warbler flying from valley to valley,without keeping their honest feelings down. Next, starting from the jacket picture, all the

inside pages of the album are furnished with black and white photos easily equated with an

honest depiction of Okinawa. Finally, the lyrics contain words and expressions ensuring the

realities of Okinawa by keeping its past and the landscape alive. A part of the 'message'

reads as follows:

"All countries, please, stop your superficial relationshipsDon't forget the Rykyuan heart which hates weapons and loves nature" (translationmine)

"Please, guys, don't sing fuckin' government song.

..... .How many boys be killed by fuckin' wars.

Every fuckin' stupid, stop it, stop that now." (original lyric)

"Let's root out the flowers coming out from contradictions" (translation mine)

"Why do people kill each other on the same earth?Throwing away life for the sake of countryDon't follow such norms, instead believe in yourself' (translation mine)

Through their songs, they have shown that they cannot be indifferent to the problems

of their native place, to the sufferings of its people and to the inequalities existing

between the islands and the mainland Japan and to similar injustices in the world. Rather

than the music itself, this message and the way it is expressed seem to have a greatappeal to the young generation of Japan. In this regard, their lyrics in English are ofparticular interest. The song writer doesn't hesitate to violate all conventional andsimple grammar rules as far as they can put things across so as to fit the rhythm. "I'mspeak all my mind"; "I want to swimming, fishing and eating BBQ"; "please, goes to be true

to yourself'; "My good friends, be ambitions"; 'This stars will shining still in the twilight of

our life". The negligence for the rules, if they are intentionally twisted, can be taken as a

case of registering the resistance with the classic 'the-medium-is-the-message' force.

6. ConclusionOur analysis of the selected literary and art works shows that Okinawans, in general,

have a strong sense of identity that stems not only from their ethno-cultural andgeographical origins but also from their historical and political experience of being excluded

and discriminated incessantly over a long period. I have delineated three parametric

characteristics of Okinawan identity in terms of which cultural expressions are produced,

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Chandralal : 'The Crying Wind' and Hovering Butterflies

namely, the discrimination and exclusion on the part of the mainland Japan, the memoriesof the war and the interaction with the U.S. administration, in particular, the militaryforces. I have also tried to identify the structural characteristics of Okinawan identity withthe determinate properties of socio-historical and political forces of modern Okinawa.

The experiences of the war and colonial past have provided Okinawan people withample opportunity to think over the importance of protecting life. These thoughts, furthernourished by the teachings of the weaponless society that existed before the colonial periodas presented by the phrase Nuchido takara, "Life itself is a treasure", have developed into apowerful anti-war, peace movement in Okinawa, though not in a coherent way. Some

recent developments show that there are perceived differences, conflicts and confrontations

about the appropriate ways to reflect on the past war, to maintain the sense of identity and

to achieve peace and prosperity. While there are many people who believe that those who

directly experienced the war have been constantly impeded by the bitter war memories anddeprived of the opportunity to live meaningfully, free of mental trauma, no active plan has

evolved from these discussions for an effective system to pass on the war experiences to the

succeeding generations. Even the issue of the military bases remains pregnant withconflicting views. Being a society highly dependent on military bases, some people prefer toretain them, at least partially, while others demand the complete removal of them. Against

this backdrop, the identity of Okinawa can be seen to be split and rocked by outside forces

offering much allure in financial, political or aesthetic terms.

Okinawa is a land manipulated by national projects, inescapably being subject toimage buildings by outsiders and group volition of insiders. Post-colonialism reachedOkinawa before the U.S. colonial rule began and the post-war era still continues to prevail.Okinawan identity has been produced and is being reproduced by historical memories,forces of colonial modernity and imaginary visions of Others as well as of Selves. The ideas

about the appropriate ways to maintain the 'Otherness' of Okinawan culture should

emerge from the cultural and intellectual landscape of Okinawa itself rather than themes

rolling down from the mainland or from any other outer circle. However, for such a debate

to thrive, I believe, Okinawa should be more exposed to outer views and outsiders'

perspectives.

Notes

This paper is a modified version of a paper titled "Post-colonialism and Identity of Asia- A

Case Study of Okinawa" presented for the Asian Culture Symposium 'Asia in a

Globalization Era: Its Modernity and Way of Life' hosted by the May 18 Memorial Culture

Center, Gwangju, Korea in February, 2005. I am grateful to the May 18 Memorial Culture

Center for sponsoring the trip and to Thuy Tran for valuable comments.

1 However, after the war, the issue of language in Okinawa took a different dimension. TheAmerican military government tried to make English the official language of Okinawa and

encouraged the local community to use local dialects in schools. This time, the Okinawan

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civil government, rejecting both English and local dialects, accepted Japanese as thestandard language of Okinawa and as the medium of instruction in schools. To Okinawan

people, Japanese in prewar times was an enforced language but in postwar times a chosen

language. Here is an important lesson for a student of language, culture, or identity forthat matter: language shift, in this case from Ryukyu dialects to the standard Japanese,occurs not only at gun point, but also voluntarily.2 The play was staged in Osaka and Okinawa to commemorate the century anniversary ofthe wretched Incident of Jinruikan in 2003 and 2004 respectively.

3 Okinawan newspapers recently reported that an English translation of a notebook

belonging to a sub-lieutenant of the Japanese Imperial Navy and discovered recently from

the u.s. National Archives revealed that he had killed an Okinawan civilian called Odasan, suspecting the victim as a spy. (Okinawa Times, December 28,2005)4 Wander, Vol 36

5 See the epilogue of Fuon, The crying Wind.

6 Okamoto, Keitoku 19967 Translation by Steve Rabson

8 Though we maintain that the narrator and the author are logically distinct in fictional

first-person narrations, we naturally tend to form our views of the author by applying the

inferences about the narrator drawn on the basis of the text. However, following Bortolussiand Dixon (2003), I use the term "implied author" to distinguish the hypothetical personconstructed through textual inferences from the real author.9 See Okinawa Times (January 1, 2006), for a summarized report of the survey conductedin November 2005 by Lim John Chuan-tiong.

10 Okinawa Times (January 4, 2005)

11 A detailed analysis of the project is offered in Oda 2004.

12 It may be objected that the whole attempt is a marketing gimmick. Considering the fact

that the group gained high popularity among the younger generation, without much

brighter or experimental musical talents, one can argue that they produced and usedOkinawan images in a marketable way to be consumed by a larger audience.

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沖縄大学人文学部紀要 第 7号 2006

沖縄のアイデンティティーと文化的再現表象

DileepChandralal

沖縄の文化人の活動の中で､沖縄社会の歴史的 ･社会的条件がどのように交錯している

かを問うことを通じて､沖縄人のアイデンティティーがどのように表現され､再生産さ

れているのかを明らかにする｡沖縄の代表的な演劇､小説､映画や歌のいくつかを選び､

その文化的表現のコンテクス トにフォーカスを当て､テキストを分析する｡沖縄人アイ

デンティティーの構造的特徴を取り上げ､それが日本本土における<沖縄>イメージと

異なる文化的再現表象を生み出した過程を考察する｡

キーワー ド:アイデンティティー､文化的屈辱､記憶､占領､イメージ構築

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