DOCSLIB.ORG

What Does the Demise of Ryukyu Mean for the Sino-Japanese Diaoyu/ Senkaku Islands Dispute?1

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
What Does the Demise of Ryukyu Mean for the Sino-Japanese Diaoyu/ Senkaku Islands Dispute?1 History as a Mirror: What Does the Demise of Ryukyu Mean for the Sino-Japanese Diaoyu/ Senkaku Islands Dispute?1 Ching-Chang CHEN* Abstract The on-going dispute over the ownership of move from calls for putting aside sovereignty the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands between China differences towards a more inclusive, post- and Japan has often been ridiculed by observers Westphalian bordering practice in East Asia. as an unwise struggle for rocks. One must question, however, why so much significance has been attached to those “trivial specks” in Key Words the first place. This paper maintains that the seed of contemporary Sino-Japanese rivalry Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands, international cannot be separated from the “expansion” society, non-Western international relations, of European international society, after Ryukyu, Sino-Japanese relations, territorial which China and Japan came to be obsessed dispute. with sovereign independence and territorial integrity. Following the demise of the Ryukyu Kingdom, Qing Chinese officials realised that Introduction Meiji Japan was no longer within the borders of a once-shared civilisation, which prepared the A clutch of eight tiny, uninhabited ground for a series of violent conflicts between islets in the Western Pacific, named them, unusual in their millennium-old, largely the Senkaku Islands by Japan and the peaceful interactions. A sustainable resolution of the Diaoyu/Senkaku issue, then, should Diaoyu Islands by the People’s Republic of China (PRC), recently became one of * Ching-Chang Chen (Ph.D. Aberystwyth) the most headline-making flashpoints in is Associate Professor of International East Asia. Administrated by Japan but Politics at the College of Asia Pacific Studies, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, Japan. also claimed by China, the ownership He is currently working on a book manuscript dispute further involves competition for that analyses the relationship between threat perception and national identity construction fishery resources, potential oil deposits in post-Cold War Taiwan. His research also and, indeed, a “reputation for resolve”.2 focuses on the theories and practices of “non- Western” international relations in Asia. Dr. In September 2010, a Chinese trawler Chen’s recent journal articles appeared in Issues collided with a Japan Coast Guard patrol & Studies, Journal of Chinese Political Science, International Relations of the Asia-Pacificand boat in waters near the contested islands; Asian Perspective. to press for the release of the detained 87 PERCEPTIONS, Spring 2014, Volume XIX, Number 1, pp. 87-105. Ching-Chang Chen captain, Beijing allegedly delayed the Sea.4 The Chinese foreign ministry in export of rare earth metals to Japan.3 April referred to the Diaoyus as a part of Tensions continued to build up during China’s “core interests”, a term normally 2012, which, ironically, marked the 40th associated with Xinjiang, Tibet and anniversary of the normalisation of the Taiwan, for the first time.5 diplomatic relationship between these The on-going standoff between two nations. Following Tokyo’s naming the world’s second and third largest of some islets early that year, Beijing economies has been a cause of great countered with its own naming amid concern for stakeholders of the region’s then-Tokyo Governor Ishihara Shintaro’s peace and prosperity.6 The United States, statement indicating his intention in particular, is caught in an unwanted to purchase the three larger islets. To situation where it is obliged by treaty prevent the Senkakus from entering to defend territory under Japanese the hands of conservative nationalists administration (which includes the such as Ishihara, the Senkakus, despite Japanese government The on-going standoff between Washington’s proceeded to buy the the world’s second and third avoidance of taking islands from their a stand on their largest economies has been private landlord in sovereignty), while September. Thisa cause of great concern for needing China’s move, in turn, stakeholders of the region’s cooperation on a set in motion a peace and prosperity. wide range of issues series of large- from cyber security scale anti-Japanese to North Korea’s demonstrations in major Chinese cities, nuclear programmes. On the other hand, a slump in Japanese exports to China and many wonder why Beijing and Tokyo in Chinese tourists to Japan, and frequent have been so obsessed with those “trivial appearance of Chinese petrol vessels and specks”, which are of limited strategic and aircraft in the surrounding waters and economic values. After all, any occupied airspace. With the increasing number islet is easy to invade and virtually of aerial and maritime near-misses, and impossible to defend in war. Moreover, without hotline-like conflict-prevention possession of the Diaoyus/Senkakus mechanisms between them, in January does not represent a key to controlling 2013, Chinese warships were said to the sea; the strategic advantage is at have pointed their fire-control radar at best marginal and can be easily offset a Japanese helicopter and a destroyer by increasing military capabilities and/ in close proximity in the East China or building closer alliances. Likewise, 88 History as a Mirror the size of the Diaoyus/Senkakus means to illuminate why the present Senkaku/ that, even though the islands are used as Diaoyu issue has often been handled by legitimate baselines, they are deemed too hotter heads. small to have any significant impact on To make sense of China’s underactive the Sino-Japanese maritime delimitation response to Japan’s gradual incorporation under the existing international law.7 of Ryukyu in the 1870s, one cannot Since there will be few real interests overlook the absence of compellence to gain but a lot to lose in solving the in Chinese strategic behaviour. In dispute by force, calls for “cooler heads International Relations (IR) jargon, to prevail” in Asia so as not to go to war compellence refers to a specific type “over a rock” have abounded.8 of coercion that threatens to use force But why has so much significance been to make another actor do (or undo) attached to the supposedly negligible some action. The Qing dynasty did Diaoyus/Senkakus in the first place? not resort to any military threat to get Beijing’s apparent belligerence over the Meiji government to change course the islands is puzzling, because China at several junctures when the Ryukyu did not resort to coercive diplomacy Kingdom was first reduced to a clan in to prevent the Ryukyu Kingdom from 1872, then prohibited from sending falling under Japan’s full control during tribute embassies to the Qing in 1875, the 1870s. In a retrospective thought and eventually abolished in 1879. Three experiment, a more proactive Chinese possible explanations stand out. First, intervention at that particular juncture from the perspective of the coercion might have altered the island kingdom’s literature,9 compellence was simply not a fate as well as prevented the Senkaku/ credible policy for the declining Qing to Diaoyu issue from becoming an issue adopt in its dealings with a modernising today. To be sure, Ryukyu had been Japan. This materialist view and the under the strict control of the Satsuma mainstream scholarly works on Chinese clan since 1609, but it maintained an strategic culture are complementary, for ambiguous status as a “double tributary both maintain that the pacifist rhetoric state” (ryozoku no kuni) to both Japan and the principle of minimal use of force and China in East Asian international was no more than a temporary measure society; it was not until the kingdom to compensate for China’s material being formally annexed and turned into inferiority.10 Third, in contemporary Okinawa Prefecture in the late 1870s Chinese nationalist discourse, the “failure that the first border dispute between to act” is attributable to the corruption China and Japan broke out. Systematic and incompetence of late Qing leaders inquiries into this old dispute will help who were unable to comprehend the 89 Ching-Chang Chen perils China was facing in the age of with Confucian norms, values and imperialism.11 While China’s lack of hard practices, not by their relative power power at that time did limit the Qing (including territorial possessions). As court’s ability to effectively respond to such, the legitimacy of this hierarchy the fait accompli in Okinawa, material entailed a credible commitment on the constraints (military capabilities) part of the dominant state not to exploit or strategic ignorance (having no the secondary states.12 Employing knowledge of “realism”) alone are not compellence against Japan over Ryukyu strong explanations and together do not or dividing up the islands with Japan, make the puzzle more intelligible to us. however, would violate this key aspect Careful inquiry into Sino-Japanese of status hierarchy and call into question diplomatic history suggests that top China’s position as the centre within Chinese officials such as Li Hongzhang Confucian cosmology and the assumed (1823-1901) were not unaware of the moral superiority of its leadership. consequences of their passive approach China’s difficulty in establishing clearly to the dispute, which included not defined, exclusive borders enshrined in exploiting Japan’s weakness during the international legal treaties (instead of the Satsuma Rebellion (1877) and not Confucian influence of ritual protocol) acquiring the southern parts of Okinawa at the expense of the secondary states, as offered by Japanese negotiators then,
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Pictures of an Island Kingdom Depictions of Ryūkyū in Early Modern Japan
    PICTURES OF AN ISLAND KINGDOM DEPICTIONS OF RYŪKYŪ IN EARLY MODERN JAPAN A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI‘I AT MĀNOA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN ART HISTORY MAY 2012 By Travis Seifman Thesis Committee: John Szostak, Chairperson Kate Lingley Paul Lavy Gregory Smits Table of Contents Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………… 1 Chapter I: Handscroll Paintings as Visual Record………………………………. 18 Chapter II: Illustrated Books and Popular Discourse…………………………. 33 Chapter III: Hokusai Ryūkyū Hakkei: A Case Study……………………………. 55 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………. 78 Appendix: Figures …………………………………………………………………………… 81 Works Cited ……………………………………………………………………………………. 106 ii Abstract This paper seeks to uncover early modern Japanese understandings of the Ryūkyū Kingdom through examination of popular publications, including illustrated books and woodblock prints, as well as handscroll paintings depicting Ryukyuan embassy processions within Japan. The objects examined include one such handscroll painting, several illustrated books from the Sakamaki-Hawley Collection, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Library, and Hokusai Ryūkyū Hakkei, an 1832 series of eight landscape prints depicting sites in Okinawa. Drawing upon previous scholarship on the role of popular publishing in forming conceptions of “Japan” or of “national identity” at this time, a media discourse approach is employed to argue that such publications can serve as reliable indicators of understandings
    [Show full text]
  • Sino-US Relations and Ulysses S. Grant's Mediation
    Looking for a Friend: Sino-U.S. Relations and Ulysses S. Grant’s Mediation in the Ryukyu/Liuqiu 琉球 Dispute of 1879 Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Chad Michael Berry Graduate Program in East Asian Studies The Ohio State University 2014 Thesis Committee: Christopher A. Reed, Advisor Robert J. McMahon Ying Zhang Copyright by Chad Michael Berry 2014 Abstract In March 1879, Japan announced the end of the Ryukyu (Liuqiu) Kingdom and the establishment of Okinawa Prefecture in its place. For the previous 250 years, Ryukyu had been a quasi-independent tribute-sending state to Japan and China. Following the arrival of Western imperialism to East Asia in the 19th century, Japan reacted to the changing international situation by adopting Western legal standards and clarifying its borders in frontier areas such as the Ryukyu Islands. China protested Japanese actions in Ryukyu, though Qing Dynasty (1644-1912) leaders were not willing to go to war over the islands. Instead, Qing leaders such as Li Hongzhang (1823-1901) and Prince Gong (1833-1898) sought to resolve the dispute through diplomatic means, including appeals to international law, rousing global public opinion against Japan, and, most significantly, requesting the mediation of the United States and former U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885). Initially, China hoped Grant’s mediation would lead to a restoration of the previous arrangement of Ryukyu being a dually subordinate kingdom to China and Japan. In later negotiations, China sought a three-way division of the islands among China, Japan, and Ryukyu.
    [Show full text]
  • Recent Developments in Japan-China Relations - Basic Facts on the Senkaku Islands and the Recent Incident
    Recent Developments in Japan-China Relations - Basic Facts on the Senkaku Islands and the Recent Incident - Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan October 2010 1 Senkaku Islands ◦ Location ◦ The Basic Facts of the Senkaku Islands Obstruction of the execution of official duty by a Chinese fishing trawler (September 7, 2010) Recent Developments in Japan-China Relations Japan’s Position (Statement by MOFA Press Secretary on September 25 2010) 2 China 330km Uotsuri-Shima Okinawa 170km 410km Japan 170km Taiwan Ishigaki-Shima East China Sea Main island of Okinawa Ishigaki-Shima Kuba-Shima Taisho-To About 27km About Uotsuri-Shima 110km Kitako-Shima About 5km Minamiko-Shima ◦ From 1885 on, the Senkaku Islands had been thoroughly surveyed by the Government of Japan through the agencies of Okinawa Prefecture and by way of other methods. Through these surveys, it was confirmed that the Senkaku Islands had been uninhabited and showed no trace of having been under the control of China. Based on this confirmation, the Government of Japan made a Cabinet Decision on 14 January 1895 to erect a marker on the Islands to formally incorporate the Senkaku Islands into the territory of Japan. ◦ Since then, the Senkaku Islands have continuously remained as an integral part of the Nansei Shoto Islands which are the territory of Japan. These islands were neither part of Taiwan nor part of the Pescadores Islands which were ceded to Japan from the Qing Dynasty of China in accordance with Article II of the Treaty of Shimonoseki which came into effect in May of 1895. ◦ Accordingly, the Senkaku Islands are not included in the territory which Japan renounced under Article II of the San Francisco Peace Treaty.
    [Show full text]
  • US Ambiguity on the Senkakus' Sovereignty
    Naval War College Review Volume 72 Article 8 Number 3 Summer 2019 2019 Origins of a “Ragged Edge”—U.S. Ambiguity on the Senkakus’ Sovereignty Robert C. Watts IV Follow this and additional works at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review Recommended Citation Watts, Robert C. IV (2019) "Origins of a “Ragged Edge”—U.S. Ambiguity on the Senkakus’ Sovereignty," Naval War College Review: Vol. 72 : No. 3 , Article 8. Available at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol72/iss3/8 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Naval War College Review by an authorized editor of U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Watts: Origins of a “Ragged Edge”—U.S. Ambiguity on the Senkakus’ Sovere ORIGINS OF A “RAGGED EDGE” U.S. Ambiguity on the Senkakus’ Sovereignty Robert C. Watts IV n May 15, 1972, the United States returned Okinawa and the other islands in the Ryukyu chain to Japan, culminating years of negotiations that some have 1 Ohailed as “an example of diplomacy at its very best�” As a result, Japan regained territories it had lost at the end of World War II, while the United States both retained access to bases on Okinawa and reaffirmed strategic ties with Japan� One detail, however, complicates this win-win assessment� At the same time, Japan also regained administrative control over the Senkaku, or Diaoyu, Islands, a group of uninhabited—and uninhabitable—rocky outcroppings in the East China Sea�2 By 1972, both the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan also had claimed these islands�3 Despite passing con- trol of the Senkakus to Japan, the United States expressed no position on any of the competing claims to the islands, including Japan’s� This choice—not to weigh in on the Senkakus’ sovereignty—perpetuated Commander Robert C.
    [Show full text]
  • The Senkakus (Diaoyu/Diaoyutai) Dispute: U.S. Treaty Obligations
    The Senkakus (Diaoyu/Diaoyutai) Dispute: U.S. Treaty Obligations Updated March 1, 2021 Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov R42761 The Senkakus (Diaoyu/Diaoyutai) Dispute: U.S. Treaty Obligations Summary Since 2012, tensions have increased between Japan and China over the disputed Senkaku islands in the East China Sea. These flare-ups run the risk of involving the United States in an armed conflict in the region. Each time a crisis has erupted over the Senkakus over the past decade, questions have arisen concerning the U.S. relationship to the islands. Japan administers the eight small, uninhabited features, the largest of which is roughly 1.5 square miles. Some geologists believe the features sit near significant oil and natural gas deposits. China, as well as Taiwan, contests Japanese claims of sovereignty over the islands, which Japan calls the Senkaku-shoto, China calls the Diaoyu Dao, and Taiwan calls the Diaoyutai Lieyu. Although the disputed territory commonly is referred to as “islands,” it is unclear if any of the features would meet the definition of “island” under international law. U.S. Administrations going back at least to the Nixon Administration have stated that the United States takes no position on the question of who has sovereignty over the Senkakus. It also has been U.S. policy since 1972, however, that the 1960 U.S.-Japan Security Treaty covers the islands. Article 5 of the treaty states that the United States is committed to “meet the common danger” of an armed attack on “the territories under the Administration of Japan.” In return for U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Ticks of Japan, Korea, and the Ryukyu Islands Noboru Yamaguti Department of Parasitology, Tokyo Women's Medical College, Tokyo, Japan
    Brigham Young University Science Bulletin, Biological Series Volume 15 | Number 1 Article 1 8-1971 Ticks of Japan, Korea, and the Ryukyu Islands Noboru Yamaguti Department of Parasitology, Tokyo Women's Medical College, Tokyo, Japan Vernon J. Tipton Department of Zoology, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah Hugh L. Keegan Department of Preventative Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Mississippi, Jackson, Mississippi Seiichi Toshioka Department of Entomology, 406th Medical Laboratory, U.S. Army Medical Command, APO San Francisco, 96343, USA Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byuscib Part of the Anatomy Commons, Botany Commons, Physiology Commons, and the Zoology Commons Recommended Citation Yamaguti, Noboru; Tipton, Vernon J.; Keegan, Hugh L.; and Toshioka, Seiichi (1971) "Ticks of Japan, Korea, and the Ryukyu Islands," Brigham Young University Science Bulletin, Biological Series: Vol. 15 : No. 1 , Article 1. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byuscib/vol15/iss1/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Western North American Naturalist Publications at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Brigham Young University Science Bulletin, Biological Series by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. MUS. CO MP. zooi_: c~- LIBRARY OCT 2 9 1971 HARVARD Brigham Young University UNIVERSITY Science Bulletin TICKS Of JAPAN, KOREA, AND THE RYUKYU ISLANDS by Noboru Yamaguti Vernon J. Tipton Hugh L. Keegan Seiichi Toshioka BIOLOGICAL SERIES — VOLUME XV, NUMBER 1 AUGUST 1971 BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY SCIENCE BULLETIN BIOLOGICAL SERIES Editor: Stanley L. Welsh, Department of Botany, Brigham Young University, Prove, Utah Members of the Editorial Board: Vernon J.
    [Show full text]
  • Indigenous Peoples in Okinawa
    United Nations A/HRC/20/NGO/20 General Assembly Distr.: General 8 June 2012 English only Human Rights Council Twentieth session Agenda item 4 Human rights situations that require the Council’s attention Written statement* submitted by the International Movement against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR), a non-governmental organization in special consultative status The Secretary-General has received the following written statement which is circulated in accordance with Economic and Social Council resolution 1996/31. [3 June 2012] * This written statement is issued, unedited, in the language(s) received from the submitting non-governmental organization(s). GE.12-13880 A/HRC/20/NGO/20 Japan: Violation of human rights of indigenous peoples of Ryukyus in Okinawa** Introduction Okinawa, which was Former Ryukyu Kingdom, is the southernmost prefecture of Japan with the population of about 1,400,000, most of them Ryukyuans, the indigenous peoples in Ryukyu Islands. Ryukyu Kingdom, which Ryukyuans had founded, was colonized by Japan in 1872, and renamed as “Okinawa prefecture” in 1879, in violation of Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, Article 51. While Japanese government has enforced assimilation policy on Ryukyuans, Ryukyuans have been facing discrimination as another ethnic group. However, the Japanese government has never accepted Ryukyuans as indigenous peoples, but been holding the view that they are Japanese in contradiction to the opinions of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) and the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.1 Issues of Iigunkuba2 islands Iigunkuba Islands, also called Senkaku Islands in Japanese or Diaoyu Islands in Chinese, were a part of the territory of Ryukyu Kingdom.
    [Show full text]
  • Winds Over Ryukyu. a Narrative on the 17Th Century Ryukyu Kingdom
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Jagiellonian Univeristy Repository Mikołaj Melanowicz Winds over Ryukyu . A Narrative on the 17th Century Ryukyu Kingdom Introduction A historical drama ( taiga dorama 大河ドラマ), broadcast by Japanese public television NHK about the Ryukyu Kingdom – the present Okinawa prefecture – was an important event which brought back to life things that many Japanese would prefer to remain concealed. The story concerns the history of the Ryukyu Kingdom’s subjugation by the Japanese in the seventeenth century. Before that time, the Ryukyu Kingdom had maintained trade relations with China, the Philippines, Japan and even South-East Asia. It was a period of prosperity stretching over the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the time when the kingdom was united and strengthen. The TV series was based on the novel Ryūkyū no kaze (Winds over Ryukyu, 1992), by Chin Shunshin, a well-known writer of Chinese origin. The novel is 900 pages long and divided into three volumes: Dotō no maki ( 怒涛の巻: ’the book of angry waves’), Shippū no maki ( 疾風の 巻 雷雨の巻 : ‘the book of the violent1 wind’), and Raiu no maki ( : ‘the book of the thunderstorm’) . These titles reflect the increasing danger faced by the heroes of the novel and the 100,000 inhabitants of the archipelago. The danger comes from the north, from the Japanese island of Kyushu, the south-eastern part of which was governed by a clan from Satsuma ( 薩摩, present Kagoshima 鹿児島). The Characters of Winds over Ryukyu The heroes of the novel are two fictional brothers: Keitai, who pursues a political career, and Keizan, who devotes himself to the art of dance in its native form; and their girlfriends, future wives, Aki and Ugi.
    [Show full text]
  • By Cao Cunxin
    Introduction On a cold December night in Quedlinburg, Germany, in 1589, thirty-two women were burnt at the stake, accused of possessing mysterious powers that enabled them to perform evil deeds. Thousands of people were similarly persecuted between the fifteenth and the seventeenth centuries.1 However, this event was not unique, as fifty years earlier on a rainy night in August, 1549, ninety-seven maritime merchants were beheaded on the coast of Zhejiang 浙江 province for violation of the Ming maritime prohibition. In addition, 117,000 coastal people were immediately ban- ished from their homes to prevent them from going to sea. Thousands of Chinese and foreign merchants lost their lives in the subsequent military campaigns in support of the maritime interdiction. 2 If historians were asked to list the early modern phenomena that have most „disturbed‟ their academic rationale, the two centuries-long witch-hunt in early modern Europe (1500–1700) and the 200 year term of the maritime prohibition, or “hajin 海禁” (1372–1568), during the Ming dynasty (1368––1644) would probably be near the top of the list. For the past few centuries, scholars have debated vigorously the two phenomena and tried to iden- tify the factors that led to their formation, maintenance and eventual change. While the study of the witch-hunt has generated a degree of consensus, there are still many questions surrounding the Ming maritime prohibition. The maritime prohibition policy, introduced in 1371 by the newly enthroned Ming founder, the Hongwu Emperor 洪武 (r. 1368–1398), was institutionalised to maintain systematic control over foreign contact and foreign trade relations.
    [Show full text]
  • THE RYUKYU ISLANDS by William P
    THE RYUKYU ISLANDS by William P. Lebra Introduction The commonly held stereotype of Japan as a culturally and linguistically homogeneous nation overlooks the existence of more than one million Ryukyuans (not to mention the Ainu, Chinese, and Koreans) also present in Japan. To illustrate more vividly that point I considered, somewhat face- tiously, subtitling this paper with a well-known Okinawan joke, "Urukun Nippon du yaibii ga yaa" ("Is Oroku a part of Japan?"), which pokes fun at the dialect spoken by the inhabitants of the Oroku district of Naha, the capital of the Ryukyu Islands. It also expresses, I believe, the concern withidentity vis-&-vis Japan common among Ryukyuans. This problem of identity derives from the fact that the Ryukyus have maintained culture(s) and language(s) quite separate and distinct from those of Japan until very recent times. The island groups of Amami, Okinawa, Miyako, and Yaeyama encompass at least four related yet mutually un- intelligible languages which make up the Ryukyuan branch of a Japanese- Ryukyuan family. From 1372 until 1874 the Ryukyu kingdom made regular tribute payments to China, permitting a beneficial trade and assimilation of many aspects of Chinese culture. Although conquest by Satsuma in 1609 reduced the small state to vassalage, a high degree of cultural and political autonomy was permitted; moreover, interaction with China, especially trade, was actually encouraged to the benefit of Satsuma. This duality of cultural influences has been well-recognized by Ryukyuans; for example, the author of the Kian Nikki (1618-1619) ascribes to "elders" the saying, "Think of China as grandmother and regard Japan as grandfather." Al- though the Japanese government announced annexation in 1872, direct administration did not occur until March 30, 1879, when the last king, Sh6 Tai, was forcibly removed by soldiers to permanent exile in Tokyo.
    [Show full text]
  • THE UNIVERSITY of HULL New Lives in the Ancestral Homeland
    THE UNIVERSITY OF HULL New Lives in the Ancestral Homeland: Return migration from South America to mainland Japan and Okinawa being a Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the University of Hull by Naoko Horikawa MSc January 2012 New Lives in the Ancestral Homeland: Return migration from South America to mainland Japan and Okinawa Naoko Horikawa MSc January 2012 Thesis Abstract This work presents a study of identity formation in migrants of Japanese and Okinawan descent who relocate from countries of South America to mainland Japan and to the island prefecture of Okinawa, initially to seek economic advantage. The migrants, called Nikkeijin, are predominantly progeny of earlier migrants from Japan to South America. In a cross-generational sense, they are return migrants. The ethnographic study, based on field research conducted in two sites on the mainland and in Okinawa, compares Nikkeijin experience and attitudes as they interact with native Japanese. Because of their Japanese background, Nikkeijin benefit from privileged visa status; nonetheless, in Japan they are treated as foreigners, and their identity diversifies. Nikkeijin are found to construct simultaneous social fields in both the country of departure and the new environment. This situation may be recognized through the concept of transnationalism. I argue that Nikkeijin self-identity can be multiple and flexible, and does not necessarily coincide with social identity. An increasing and officially promoted diasporic consciousness among migrants of Okinawan descent would seem to produce a different ethnic response to any on the mainland and a greater potential for integration. My thesis should contribute to the understanding of identity in Nikkeijin return migration.
    [Show full text]
  • Okinawan Identity Development Among Okinawan University and College Students Through Activiti
    BEING MORE OKINAWAN IN HAWAIʻI: OKINAWAN IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT AMONG OKINAWAN UNIVERSITY AND COLLEGE STUDENTS THROUGH ACTIVITIES, LEARNING, INTERACTIONS, AND EXPERIENCES IN HAWAIʻI A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI‘I AT MĀNOA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY August 2019 By Kazufumi Taira Dissertation Committee: Lois Yamauchi, Chairperson Joyce Chinen Katherine Ratliffe Tasha Wyatt Julie Kaomea Keywords: Okinawan identity, identity development, international students, grounded theory i Acknowledgements I would like to express my appreciation to all the participants who spent their precious time and shared their experiences with me for this research. Without their contributions, I would not have been able to conduct this research. Their shared experiences are valuable for not only academia but also Okinawan communities. I am deeply indebted to my dissertation advisor, Professor Lois Yamauchi, and committee members, Professors Joyce Chinen, Julie Kaomea, Katherine Ratliffe, and Tasha Wyatt. I appreciate my advisor’s patience, feedback, and guidance to complete this research. Her academic, as well as personal support, made me persevere and be consistent to accomplish my goal. My committee members’ expertise inspired me to develop and conduct this research. Their insights served as driving forces in me to explore my interests and keep working on this research. Lastly, I would like to thank my mother, Kyoko Taira. She gave me an opportunity to come to Hawaiʻi to learn and experience, while she was struggling. She allowed me to pursue my interests, while she was shouldering burdens that I could have alleviated.
    [Show full text]