47 replies to this topic

[phoenix_bladen]

I've been hearing some news about Okinawans want independence....

does anyone have more sources on this? Okinawans have their own distinctive culture and their language is related to Japanese but they are not the same language....

[hansioux]

I've been hearing some news about Okinawans want independence....

does anyone have more sources on this?  Okinawans have their own distinctive culture and their language is related to Japanese but they are not the same language....

The flag still looks like an Christmas tree to me.

[lobster]

The flag still looks like an Christmas tree to me.

Nah, nothing like this one.

[hansioux]

Nah, nothing like this one.

ok... but we need the star on top of it.

[Gubook Janggoon]

I thought this is the flag of Lebanon quite similar!!

It is the flag of Lebanon.

[Hang Li Po]

Okinawan Flag

[wuTao]

Okinawan Flag

This looks like a billard ball.

[Gubook Janggoon]

This looks like a billard ball.

Or the Target sign.

[Jugu]

Okinawans call themselves "uchinann-chuu" and call people from Japan "Yamatonn-chuu." I think many Okinawan youths are more inclined to call themselves Japanese, but many elderly Okinawans who have suffered the Japanese government's discriminatory (and assimilationist) policies and the brunt of civilian casualties in world war two probably think otherwise.

I have a hunch that many Okinawan youths don't have a full grasp of their own indigenous language...

perhaps due to the popularity of TV broadcasts from the mainland. I have heard that there are a few fledgling radio stations that are in the Okinawan language.

The Japanese presence.. for better or for worse has... (arguably) raised the quality of life in Okinawa.. especially after the second world war. The American military presence... however, has contributed to the high crime rate in Okinawa.

Okinawa continues to suffer from the Japanese government's reluctance to relocate American bases to the mainland... and this has caused much of the disillusionment among the Okinawan populace towards the Japanese government.

Personally, I'd like to see an independent Okinawa with its own national language, but it is hard to imagine that considering the current state of things. Okinawa is the poorest prefecture in Japan... It is a base (military colony) for American power projection in East Asia... and it (in my opinion) illustrates the failure of Japanese government to live up to its democratic ideals.

[DaMo]

I've been hearing some news about Okinawans want independence....

does anyone have more sources on this?  Okinawans have their own distinctive culture and their language is related to Japanese but they are not the same language....

Ain't gonna happen, and there's no reason why it should.
Simply having a different regional language or culture is not a justification for secession. There are many such regions all over the world (some with far more significant differences), and they would have to be "liberated" as well.

[Kulong]

Simply having a different regional language or culture is not a justification for secession. There are many such regions all over the world (some with far more significant differences), and they would have to be "liberated" as well.

THANK YOU!

People who falsely think that every single ethnic group should have their own country is simply absurd. If that were the case, this world would be divided into hundreds of thousands of tiny nation states and be plagued with wars over disputed borders and such.

[Hang Li Po]

okinawan people similiar like South East Asia people..???? Like Brown Skin

[Jugu]

the new generation has also been "white washed" by the authority, there's no bases for a declaration of such. before an ideal of "referendum" being sprouted out, i think it'll be crushed by ultra nationalist or right wings militarist!! Good luck.

-Thanks for the comment USC.

I certainly do agree that the youth of Japan are are not as 'political' or 'conscientized' as say- the students mass student protestsof the 1960s and 1970s that erupted in opposition to the Japan-US Security Treaty of 1960 (日米安保条約).

-Yet I do have some hope- considering that the ultranationalists are a small group- although they are very very... very - -; vocal, and they have strong political backing.

Is Japan a democracy? I think it is a nominal democracy-
Japan does tolerate a multi-party system, and Japan is democratic to the extent that it does even tolerates a communist party.

One might ask if Japan is so democratic how did the right-wing conservative Liberal Democratic Party maintain the majority in Japan's parliament in the prolonged period between 1955-1993? The LDP received millions of dollars from the American Central Intelligence Agency between the 1950s through the 1970s, and this is said to have influenced elections in Japan in favor of the LDP against more leftist, less pro-American parties, such as the Socialists and the Communists.

Many right wing conservatives were rehabilitated in the post-war period with the advent of the red-threat following the Chinese Communist Party's victory in 1949 and the Korean War (1950-'53). In the process, many left-leaning scholars, writers, and teachers who were critical of Japanese military's atrocious activities in China and South-East Asia were thrown into prison and and censored. In my opinion, this reverse-course in America's occupation policy is an underlying cause of todays- what USC has called "white-washing" of Japan's youths.

Japan's democratic system is still suffering from the effects of the Cold-War, and I feel that so are many other Democracies such as Taiwan and Korea (both of which I feel have come a long way, and I am really proud of ).

As for whether Okinawans should gain independence from Japan... I think it would suffice for Okinawan's to have their plight recognized by the people in the main islands of Japan, by having the number of bases reduced, or having some of them move to the main islands. Currently, the prefecture of Okinawa houses 75% of the American military installations in Japan, with approximately 20% of the island of Okinawa being leased to the Americans by... not the Okinawans, but by the government of Japan... I guess here is where many of the tensions between the Okinawan's and the Japanese government exists.

Okinawa's strategic location between the Mainland, Taiwan, and Japan makes it a geopolitically valuable location for both the Japanese and the Americans. The current US government seems to feel that it is necessary to protect Taiwan from China, and the current Japanese government seems to back the US government on this. I don't know what to say-
Seems as if the current US and Japanese government prefer to maintain the Cold War policy of containing China... and it seems like Okinawa is just a small pawn in this tiresome strategic game.

- I am sleepy, please correct me if I am wrong with any facts.
Jugu

[Yun]

Ryukyu (Okinawa) was an independent kingdom that enjoyed a brief period of prominence as a trading partner of the Ming dynasty under the private trade ban, serving as a middleman for other countries like Japan and Ayudhya (Siam) that had a harder time carrying on trading relations with the Ming court. As I wrote in my essay on Ming maritime history:

The unfavourable conditions of the tribute trade, and the growing profits from commerce on both sides, led to the development of substantial smuggling networks between the Chinese coast and Japan, in which Chinese silk and counterfeit coins could be traded for Japanese products to be sold on the Chinese market. While official ports for the tribute trade like Ningbo and Fuzhou suffered from strict supervision and policing, private ‘outlaw entrepots’ like Yuegang (later Haicheng) in Fujian ran a brisk business trading with Japan, Ryukyu, Malacca and the Spice Islands. Indeed, Ryukyu and Malacca, formerly insignificant entities in the East Asian trading world, now rose to prominence as intermediaries for other states (including Japan) that did not fit so well into the tribute system. Ryukyu’s tribute missions to China included products from Japan, Siam and Korea, and received in return Chinese goods (such as copper coins) that fetched high prices in those countries. Malacca, too, filled the gap left by the ending of direct voyages between China and the Indian Ocean and became “the major focal point of international trade in Southeast Asia” and a key player in the tribute trade by supplying Indian Ocean products to the Chinese court. Just as significant as tribute missions were the large overseas Chinese communities that had sprung up from migration (with official sanction in the case of Ryukyu) to these ports while maintaining trading contacts with China’s coastal regions, and indeed often supplied personnel for tribute embassies to China.

Ryukyu declined after the Ming lifted its ban on private trade with Southeast Asian countries in 1567, allowing Japanese merchants to conduct their trade directly with Chinese private merchants in Southeast Asia. Ryukyu was thereafter dominated by Japanese daimyo from Kyushu, and incorporated into the territory of the Tokugawa bakufu.

Okinawa is now a key military base for the US in East Asia, and many Okinawans want the US troops out, so the US would certainly not allow the Okinawans to have any chance of independence.

[phoenix_bladen]

i'm just really curious to see what the ryukyan language sounds like.... does any one have any audio recordings? And does it sonud like japanese?

thanks!