Okinawa is a Japanese Colony
Yasukatsu Matsushima
(translated by Erika Kaneko)
From: “KAN” Vol. 43, Autumn 2010
We are not treated as equals
My love for Okinawa is boundless. Okinawa is my mabui (spirit) and my body. I was born on the island of Ishigaki and grew up on the islands of South Daitô, Yonaguni and Okinawa, among the peoples, cultures and the seas of these islands.
It has become customary to use the name of the main island of the group, Okinawa, interchangeably and as representative of the whole Ryûkyû chain. In historical contexts, it stands for the independent Kingdom of Ryûkyû. We Ryûkyûans call ourselves Uchinanchū (we, us, ourselves) and the Japanese Yamatunchū (those from Yamato/ Japan). Even when I moved to Tôkyô to enter University and lived in a dormitory, I could not forget Okinawa. The contrary, my love grew even deeper. When the Yamatunchû asked, “Where do you come from? What is your nationality?” and I replied, “I am from Okinawa”, they gazed at my face with puzzled curiosity. I repeatedly faced this kind of encounter, I had never before experienced in Okinawa.
Throughout my primary, middle and high school years, I had a Japanese education and spoke Japanese, although I am Okinawan. In 1972, when the USA “returned” Okinawa to Japanese administration, I was a third grader. At the time, I had an unforgettable experience. A teacher identified one of the students who had said something in our language by placing a “dialect label” around his neck and punishing him, because the school authorities were enforcing the rule that all speak Japanese. This was also customary in pre-war, (Second World War) contexts. I experienced with my body what it meant to be under Japanese rule.
Although we are Japanese citizens, have a Japanese education and speak Japanese, the Japanese never acknowledge us as equals and treat us as foreigners. Among the Okinawans in the dormitory, some friends were so shocked by this treatment that they left school. It was the Japanese who made me conscious of my complexion, facial features and language. I read and discussed with my friends the books written by the fathers of Ryûkyûan studies Iha Fuyû, Higashiona Kanjun and Yanagita Kunio, who espoused a thesis, alleging the cultural and historical identity of Japan and Ryûkyû - the so-called “same ancestor theory”. If we were one people and one culture, how do we explain the historical fact that Japan did unspeakable things to us?
An irresistible quest from the core of my being to solve questions, asking things such as,“What is the Okinawa issue ?” and ”Why Okinawa? ”, made me decide to enter the path of scholarship. My primary subjects were comparative studies of the Ryûkyû archipelago and other Pacific islands and island economies. I confirmed my view that all islands are equal in their mutual relationships and learn from each other. I am Okinawa! When Okinawa or Okinawans are appreciated, I am happy, and when they are discriminated against and insulted, I feel sad and angry.
This is not a sign of a shallow local patriotism, but an expression of our determination to prevent yet another period of colonization. Ever since the US military occupied Okinawa 56 years ago and turned administrative power over to Japan 38 years ago, the Japanese government and the Japanese people have turned a blind eye to threats to the lives and livelihoods of the Okinawan people and ignore the stabilization of this dire colonial situation. It can be said the Okinawa issue is a discrimination issue and I want to find a way to liberate us.
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On March 3, 1922, influenced by the Taisho* Democracy movement and calls for self-determination that had accompanied the Russian Revolution and the establishment of the League of Nations, the National Levelers Association (Zenkoku Suiheisha) was founded. The
Levelers Declaration, adopted by the Founding Congress of the National Levelers Association, holds an esteemed position as Japan’s first “human rights declaration.” It states, “human beings are not to be pitied, but respected,” and calls for “light in all human beings.”
The Buraku Liberation League, as the organization’s successor, will celebrate the 90th anniversary of the National Levelers Association on March 3, 2012. To celebrate the 80th anniversary almost ten years ago, the Buraku Liberation and Human Rights Research Institute (BLHRRI) based in Osaka published a leaflet containing the full text of the Declaration in eight different languages, including contemporary Japanese, Chinese, English, French, Germany, Korean, Russian, Spanish and Ainu. The work took more than a year to complete, to carefully translate the text while preserving the spirit of the Declaration. The Declaration is inspiring for all who work for the elimination of discrimination and for the realization of human rights in the world today.
The Declaration begins with the statement, “Tokushu Burakumin throughout the Country Unite!” Tokushu means “special,” referring to the fact that the Buraku community was different from others. The Japanese government deliberately used this word in a discriminatory manner. The Declaration continues:
Long-suffering brothers! Over the past half-century, the movements on our behalf by so many people and in such varied ways have yielded no appreciable results. This failure is the punishment we have incurred for permitting ourselves as well as others to debase our own human dignity. Previous movements, though seemingly motivated by compassion, actually corrupted many of our brothers. Thus, it is imperative that we now organize a new collective movement to emancipate ourselves by promoting respect for human dignity.”
Brothers! Our ancestors pursued and practiced freedom and equality. They were the victims of base, contemptible class policies and they were the manly martyrs of industry. As a reward for skinning animals, they were stripped of their own living flesh; in return for tearing out the hearts of animals, their own warm human hearts were ripped apart. They were even spat upon with ridicule. Yet, all through these cursed nightmares, their human pride ran deep in their blood. Now, the time has come when we human beings, pulsing with this blood, are soon to regain our divine dignity. The time has come for the victims to thrown off their stigma. The time has come for the blessing of the martyrs’ crown of thorns.
The time has come when we can be proud of being Eta**.
We must never again shame our ancestors and profane humanity through servile words and cowardly deeds. We, who know just how cold human society can be, who know what it is to be pitied, do fervently seek and adore the warmth and light of human life from deep within our hearts.
Thus is the Suiheisha born.
Let there be warmth in human society, let there be light in all human beings.
March 3, 1922
The Suiheisha
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* Taisho is a name of the Japanese era from 1912 to 1926.
** Eta means “very filthy.” This derogatory term was given Buraku people during the Edo feudal era to place them outside the caste system. After the Meiji Restoration, the government issued an “Emancipation Edict” abolishing the outcaste status and the name “Eta.” The government gave them the name “new commoners” instead, and started to use the term “Tokushu Buraku” to refer to Buraku communities.
(Report by Megumi Komori, Under-Secretary-General, IMADR)]]>
(prepared by the Shimin Gaikou Centre (Citizens Diplomacy Centre))
For “comments” prepared by the Government, click here.]]>
Volunteers helping distribution of relief goods.
(Report by Akiyuki Kataoka
Central Executive Committee of Buraku Liberation League)
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(Reported by FEDO)
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