Colonial Modernity in Okinawa

Colonial Modernity in Okinawa: The Imperialistic Careers of Those Who Went to Taiwan
Hiroko Matsuda

210 mm x 148 mm
272 pages
JPY 3,800
ISBN 9784790717546
Pub date: March 2021

What did it mean for Okinawa to be a “colony”? How did the Okinawan people, who suffered under Japanese discrimination and prejudice since Ryukyu’s annexation, live in Taiwan under colonial rule? What did they go to Taiwan in search of? This book presents a reconsideration of modernity and Japanese imperialism in Okinawa through the experiences of those moving back and forth between domination and subjugation.

Reviews
“It is tempting to put one’s hand on one’s heart and ask, ‘What is it about the privilege of those who moved between domination and subjugation at the boundary of Okinawa, Taiwan, and Japan that makes the past so perilous?’ ‘Is the dismal light of privilege that “those who moved between domination and subjugation” at the border between “Okinawa,” “Taiwan,” and “Japan” really a thing of the past?’ ” —Yuju Wen, novelist

“This book shows us how the identity of Okinawa is not self-evident, but is constructed and shaken by the experience of emigration and repatriation, as we follow the lives of each individual.” —Taisho Nakayama

“The book traces the lives of each of them, showing how they were “colonial and imperial in the empire. This book approaches the structural anguish of those who had no choice but to bear the two.” —Hisahiko Kamizuru, anthropologist

Table of Contents
Preface: Reconsidering Okinawa’s modernity

Chapter 1: What drove the Okinawan people overseas?
Chapter 2: Imperial expansion and Yaeyama modernity
Chapter 3: Imperialistic career development of “migrants”
Chapter 4: Colonial medicine and Imperial career formation
Chapter 5: Creole in Imperial Japan
Chapter 6: “Return” to Okinawa under US military rule

Conclusion
Afterword
Life-history survey informants
A chronology of Okinawa and Taiwan
Works cited
Subject index
Personal name index

Keywords
Modernity, Ethnicity, Repatriates, Okinawan immigrants, Immigrant community, Yaeyama, Typist, Symbolic status, Zaitai, Colonial medicine, Ryukyuans in Taiwan

Media Coverage
Asahi Shimbun, Okinawa Times, Weekly Dokusho-jin