Okinawans flirt with idea of independence
In a windowless room in a corner of a bustling market where stalls displayed severed pigs' heads and bolts of kimono silk, Okinawans gathered to learn about a political idea that until recently few had dared to take seriously: declaring their island chain's political independence from Japan.
In a windowless room in a corner of a bustling market where stalls displayed severed pigs' heads and bolts of kimono silk, Okinawans gathered to learn about a political idea that until recently few had dared to take seriously: declaring their island chain's political independence from Japan.
About two dozen people of all ages listened as speakers challenged the official view of Okinawa as inherently part of homogeneous Japan, arguing instead that Okinawans are a different ethnic group whose once-independent tropical islands were forcibly seized by Japan in 1879.
Then, to lighten the mood, the organisers showed , a comedy about a fictional Okinawan island that becomes its own little republic.
"Until now, you were mocked if you spoke of independence," said one speaker, Kobun Higa, 71, a retired journalist whose book on the history of the tiny independence movement has become a hot seller online. "But independence may be the only real way to free ourselves from the American bases."
Higa and other advocates admit that few islanders would actually seek independence for Okinawa, the southernmost Japanese island chain, which is home to 1.4 million residents and more than half of the 50,000 US troops and sailors based in Japan.
But discontent with the heavy US presence and a growing perception that the central government is ignoring Okinawans' pleas to reduce it have made an increasing number of islanders willing at least to flirt publicly with the idea of breaking apart in a way that local politicians and scholars say they have not seen in decades.
In May, a newly formed group led by Okinawan university professors held a symposium on independence that drew 250 people. A tiny political party that advocates separation from Japan through peaceful means has been revived after decades of dormancy, though its candidates have fared poorly in elections.
And on his blog, a member of parliament from Okinawa recently went so far as to post an entry titled "Okinawa, It's Finally Time for Independence from Yamato", using the Okinawan word for the rest of Japan.
"Before, independence was just something we philosophised about over drinks," said Masahide Ota, a former governor of Okinawa, who is not a member of the movement. "Now, it is being taken much more seriously."
The independence movement remains nascent, with a few hundred active adherents at most. But Ota and others say it still has the potential to complicate Japan's contest with China for influence in the region.
That struggle expanded recently to include what appears to be a semi-official campaign in China to question Japanese rule of Okinawa.
Some analysts see the campaign as a ploy to strengthen China's hand in a dispute over a smaller group of islands.
Some Chinese scholars have called for exploiting the independence movement to say there are splits even in Japan over the legitimate ownership of the islands.
"There is a growing feeling that Okinawans just exchanged one colonial master in Washington for another one in Tokyo," said Shinako Oyakawa, 32, a doctoral student at the University of the Ryukyus and a co-founder of Okinawan Studies 107, a group promoting research into Ryukyuan ethnic identity.
