#{ef The Ryukyuaniist A Newsletteron f,y.rtyuuVOkjnawanStudies No.55 Spring2002 In this issue: ProfessorDr. JosefKreiner of the Universityof Bonmreports on the progrilm,proceedings, andachievements of'the FourthInt,ernational ')6-27,2002 Cbnferenceon Okina** St ii.r heid in Borri,' Germanyon March (p.3) Democracyis apparentlya perennialmyth in Okinawa:two views.Professor Steve Rabson 9n the Nago mayoralelection (p,4), andProfessor Kensei Yoshida on the U.S. administrationof Okinawaunder High CommissionerPaul Caraway (pp. 5-6). Amami Oshimasteps into the lime light again-Pioferssor Larura Miller narratesher fond memoriesof a uniquremini-odysse'y among islands in thLeseas r;outh of Satsuma(pp. 7-8). ProfessorSusan Siered responds to_critics' Declaration of concern(pp.9-10). Publications(XLXpp. patrict<b?iileualie II-L}) andCommunication frornbr. fu. 12) A new image of Jarpanand Okinawa: Cultural Federalism Japat+true to its reputationas a ( ^ , "verticalsociety," where :inequality is taken for grantedand equality is a heresy,has been managing diversities ofcultures, groups, and iegions by hierarclicalclassification and differentialvaluation. People are placed on a totempole and rralued in descendingorder: high-low, noble- base,superior-inferior, mjgnry-wgt, big-small, light-dark, front-back, and so otm,itfr manishades of moreor lessin between.Unclassified strangers are valued lowest first. One of thehistoricaily well-known examplesis theJapanese perception of Europeans.They werer nanban (southern barbarians) when they first cameto Japanvia thesouthem seas in thel6th and17th centuries. In the19th century. thev were re- classifiedas people superior to theJapanese. At thesame timr:, the Japanese put their Asian neighbors belowthemselves. Simply put, the Meiiji Japanese looked up to Europeansald lookeddown on Asians. Ashamedof theirAsianroots, the Meijii Japanese wanted to fleeAsia and join Europe.A nadonalslogan wasborn - datsutanyf,tA. The Ryukyu Kingdom was the first Asian countrythat the Meiji Ji4an forcibly annexed.Natlrally the Ryulgruans,newly enrolledin the Japanesestate, were placed at the b,ottomof Japan,ssocio-cultural hierarchy.Japan's imperialist experience in Ryrulqnryielded a modelfbr latercon estand control of otherareas: Taiwan, Kore4 Micronesia,and lv{anchuria. By tlhebeginning of the SecondWorld War,a multi-national/ethnic/culhral empfreo:f Japan had beena fact of life for sometime, organizedby the hierarchicalprinciples of a verticalsociety with the imperiatclan at the apexfrom whJre,it wasthought, heavenlyglory radiatedto the four comersof tlheworld. The emperor'sloyal Japanesesubjects assumed the I'burdenof the yellow man,"as advocated by TokutomiSoh6 who importxubstitutedKipling, for civilizing inferior peoplesof conquereclareas. l3ut the atavisticcelesti;al anpire of Japancotiapsed spectacularlyin a few yearsafter goinglto wa|with Americaamd BritaLin. \..I .^ "F,mbracingdefeat," Japan has sinc,e learned a few lessonsin the theoryand practice of social organizationbased on equality,The nerwConstitution declares that people sha[ 6e respectedas individrllls with the riglhtto life, liberty andpursuit of happinessand ttrat they are equal under the law and shallsuffer no discriminationin political,economic or socialrelations on accountof racc,creecl, sex, socialstatus or family origin,,Institutiornslike poeragethat prop up socialhierarchy arc abolished. vanhge point of fifty yearsafter tlhe new Constitutionwernt into effeit, oneblind -From.the_ 'Ihe spot endemicin the emphasison tlte individualhas become rather glaring. Constitutionis consti'tutionally tncapableof dealingwilh certainkinds of "collective,"as comparedwith "individual,"rights. As the law stands,a collectivityor groupingof two or moreindividuals d,erives its legitimacyfrom dte ',freedomof assemblyand association"of individuals,which is guaranteedby the Conititution.Two kinds of groups, however,claim their legitimacyfrom their own collectivepolitical will supposedly-Cbnstitutionself-justified for historicaland cultural reasons and therefore autonomous of tlte state.llhe doesnot provide for this type of autonomLy.These autonomy-seeking groups aro the regionsimbued with regionafismthat valuesthe regional interesthigher than the national interestand the etftmicgroups with an iientity commandingindividuals'allegiance anrl loyalty distinctfrom, or in co:nfliciwittr ttredemands of the nationalidentity. Suchregions and etlrric goups openlyor silentlyaspire to "theright of self-determination"that is by definitionarathema to any stateand therrefore rarely mentionerd, let aloneguaranteed, by its constitution. What "theright of self-dletermination"implies is statedin the lnternatircnalCovenant on Civil and PoliticalRights. "A1[peoples have the right of self-determrnation.By virtue of that right theyfreely determinetheir political statusand freely puLrsuetheir econLomic,social and cultural divelopment (Article 1-l)." Understandably,a duly constitutedsovereign state abhors tle possibilitythat the 'beoplesu artille may encouragesome of the underits jlirisdiction to chooseindependent statehood as theirfrlely self-determinedpolitical stah-rs.In fac! conr;ertedefforts of goverrrmentslave considerablyweakened the meaningof this articleby self-servinginterpretations of "all peoples"that this articledesignates as owners of "tie right of seH<letermination."Accord:ing to a dominaniintbqpretatiorl "peoples" arJnot ethnic groups.Therefore ethnic groups caxmot derive their "right of self-dletermination"from this article. A specificmentircn of ethnicgroups is madein Article 2'7'."Inthose Statesin wfuch etlnic, religious- or linguisticminoritries exist person.sbelonging to suchminorities shall not be deniedthe right, in communitywith the othermembers of their group,to enjo,ytheir own cultwe, to professand practise their own religiotl or to usetlteir own language."nt appearstlr,at in dem,ocraticstates, where ,'persons,' enjoy the basicfreedoms suclt as ofconscience,thoughg expression, religio4 associationetc., this articteaAOs nothingnew. Holcl'er, evell itt suchstates, democratic vallues and principles may not be fully honoredin practiceas indrcatedby incidentsof discriminationagainsl. ethnic culhrei. T'hisarticle implies that ethnic culturesantedate the stateald aresellf-goverrning. Discriminationagainst persons because of their ethnicbackgrounds originates in the society'sdenial of respectfor the ethLniccultrues. Cerlain societies aspiring;to high degreesof polidcal integrationand culturalhomogenization tend to assiLgnexlremely low valueto etluriccultures, so low in somecountries thatthe statesactivelly strive to wiperout all tracesof suchrlultures. In the exfeme, policiesof integration andhomogenization may developinto the physicalextermination of personsbelonging to ethnic minorities.Genocide results. If therr:is anyfear tlnt the denigrationof etlrnicgoups putsa societyon a slipperyslope toward the abyssof genocide,it is clearlya wisestate policy to ensureat the outsetthe highestdegrees of respectand tolennce for ethnicand culturaldiv,ersities. The Empueof JeLpaaunder the ltrleiji Constitutionshovi,ed signs of headingtoward the mosttragic pathologicaVcriminaldenouement as indicaledby the Rapeof Nanking,slave labor of foreignnationals andPOWs, and tle like. Underthe circumslances,Ryukyuan culture had no chancefor survivalexcept in well-guardedclosets. Ryulqruans, thLough not physicallyexterminated, were culturally denuded and made over as subjectsof the empire.Today, 55 yearsafter its polstwarConstitutional revolution, Japan is a differentcountry, far moretoleralt lbr culturaldiversity than before. At a far endof extrapolationof changesin Japan,Japan might be on its way to a "culhral:flederalir;m"in which differentcultures peacefullycoexist as mutuallyrespected civil foundationsof the state.Cultural federalism misht then stimr-rlateethnic and regional autonomies. For someyears, J?rofessor Josef Kreiner has been an advocateof an astonishingperspective on the culturalconfiguration of Japanin which Okinawais assigneda viuil role. Accordingto him, As a prefecture,Okirnwa is one of 47 self-governingadmirristrative bodies of Japan.Nevertheless, it mustnot berunderstood as a "minority" in an ethnicat,cultural or any othersense: Ryulqm and its culhre -- aswell as its language-- form oneof fwo main equalpillars of support,standing side by side,which hold up the Japaneser:ulture. Only the realizationof this fact makesit possibGto appreciatethr: immensely rich diversityof Japaneseculture. " (JosefKreiner, ed.,Rytkyff in World History, Bonn,200 l') This is clearlya far moreambitir:us vievr of Ryulq,uanculture jm relation to Japanesethan most obseryersof Japanu'ould acceptand even the Okinawanslhemselrres might dareto dream.The rescueof Ryulq,uanculftre from near extinction hasbeen a hard enoughstruggle. A suddenelevation of its status to "equality" with [mainland] Japanesecultrre is too dramaticfor the ordrnarynerye to withstand.Many Japanesestudies experts who havelong accr:ptedthe culturzlhomogeneity of Japanmight alsoobject to havingto adrnittlnt they havebeen studying only onehalf'of Japan,not the whole.Be thatas it may,the vision of a culhrrallydiverse Japan with equalrespect for clifferentcultures would amountto a "sreative destruction"for the advancementof Japaneseand Ryulqruzm/okinawanstudies. ProfessorKreiner hasjust pulledloff a largeinternational conference on Ryulqnran/Okinawanshrdies at the Universityof l3onn.In additionto the usualscholarly activitjLes, the participantsapproved