Orientalism And Us Administration In Okinawa

Orientalism, Mass Culture and the US Administration in Okinawa

Pedro Iacobelli*

Introduction
In this article I examine the historical, political and cultural phenomena related to the United
States military occupation of Okinawa after World War II. I argue that the US authorities
encouraged an ‘Orientalist’ discourse about Okinawa in order to justify their own position in the
islands.This discourse can be found in the post-war mass culture products which called for an
American intervention in the Ryukyu Islands. In order to interpret this discursive process, I have
found useful to borrow concepts from different theorists. In particular, Edward Said’s work on
Orientalism, Michel Foucault’s theory on the creation of discourse and Frederic Jameson’s
theory on mass culture haveinspired this essay.
This essay is divided in three sections. First, I set the context for the American position in
Okinawa in the early 1950s. I argue that the wartime US role and structure of governance in
Okinawa had to be redefined in order to combine the post-war US military objectives in the
region and the welfare of the local population. Second, I scrutinise the formation of a newhistorical narrative on Okinawa during the post-war years. Indeed, the US authorities developed
a new cultural discourse about Okinawa which emphasised the uniqueness of the Okinawan
* PhD Candidate, School of Culture, Language & History, Australian National University
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people. Here I argue that the Americans depicted the Ryukyuans as the ‘Other’, in a fashion that
benefited their owninterests there. This representation was partly based on the stories and travel
diaries written by sailors and explorers in the nineteenth century, but it was also a product
of the cultural and historical contingencies of the Cold War years. Third, I analyse in
sociological terms the story of the singular US 1956 film ‘The Teahouse of the August Moon’.
This story, oriented to an American audience,describes an Okinawan village and reproduces the
above-mentioned new discourse on Okinawa. I argue that this story, as a mass culture product,
tells us more about the Americans and the American objectives in the region than about the
social and political situation in post-war Okinawa.
The post-war US military position in Okinawa can shed light on contemporary issues and
problems in Okinawa.Although the American administration of Okinawa ended in 1972,
Okinawa has kept its military nature due to the ongoing presence of American military and
Japanese Self Defence bases. Thus, this essay analyse the early stage of a process which has not
concluded.

Historical Context and Redefinition of the US military role and structure of
governance in Okinawa
The United States defeated theJapanese forces and attained control of Okinawa prefecture in
June 1945. In August 1945, Japan surrendered to the allies, and like the rest of the country,
Okinawa became an ‘occupied enemy territory’ until the treaty of San Francisco went into effect
in 1952.1 The United States government, while preparing the end of the occupation in mainland
Japan, organised a dual system of government in theRyukyu Islands. On the one hand, the
United States Civil Administration of the Ryukyu (USCAR), established in 1950, could exercise
all the rights of sovereignty over the Ryukyu Islands. On the other hand, the local Government of
the Ryukyu Islands (GRI), created in 1952 to ‘further the economic, governmental and social
well-being of the Ryukyuan people’, could exercise ‘all powers of governmentwithin the
Ryukyu Islands’.2 In sum, the San Francisco system gave birth to a new hybrid state.
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The American position in Okinawa needs to be analysed within the framework of the first
years of the Cold War. The triumph of the People’s Army in China and the outbreak of the
Korean War hastened the negotiations between Washington and the Japanese government to
conclude a peace treaty...