Okinawa: Cold War Island [Paperback]

Chalmers Johnson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 15, 1999 | ISBN-10: 0967364205 | ISBN-13: 978-0967364209

On September 4, 1995, three American servicemen abducted and raped a twelve-year-old schoolgirl in Okinawa. The reaction to that rape throughout Japan and around the world mobilized otherwise inattentive people to the persistence of Cold War-type relationships in East Asia-- particularly to the presence of 100,000 American troops-- and started to end the artificial distinction between economics and security in relations between the United States and its trading partners in East Asia. It also caused some observers to begin to see Okinawa not simply as Japan's poorest prefecture but also as an American colony located on Japanese soil.

Okinawa and its role in the Cold War is hidden history for most Americans and Japanese. It was the scene of the last and bloodiest battle of World War II and was occupied by the American military until 1972. Since then it has remained the site of some 39 American military bases located in close proximity to the 1.29 million people of Okinawa.

This book offers a pioneering selection of essays on the Battle of Okinawa, forced emigration of Okinawans to Bolivia, Okinawan identity, the rape incident and the rekindling of Okinawan protest against the bases, the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty, economic development in Okinawa, the environmental degradation of Okinawa, and the Clinton administration's deceptive promises to the Okinawans. Authors include former governor of Okinawa prefecture Masahide Ota, the editor of The Ryukyuanist Koji Taira, the pioneer writer on Okinawans in Bolivia Kozy K. Amemiya, one of the founders of Okinawa Women Act Against Military Violence Carolyn Bowen Francis, the leading American scholar of Okinawan literature Steve Rabson, journalists Mike Millard, Shunji Taoka, and Patrick Smith, and professors Gavan McCormack, Masayuki Sasaki, and Chalmers Johnson.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Chalmers JOHNSON was born in 1931 in Phoenix and raised in Buckeye, Arizona. After World War II, in which his father served in the Navy in the Pacific, his family moved to Alameda, California, where he finished high school and earned a B.A. in economics at the University of California, Berkeley. He first saw Japan and Korea in 1953, when he served in the Navy during the Korean War.

Returning to Berkeley, he switched fields and earned both his M.A. and Ph.D. in political science. In 1962, he began teaching political science at Berkeley, and did so until 1988, when he moved to the San Diego campus of the University of California. He retired in 1992. At Berkeley he served as chairman of the Center for Chinese Studies from 1967 until 1972. He was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1976.

Johnson has written numerous articles and reviews and some twelve books on Asian subjects, including "Peasant Nationalism and Communist Power on the Chinese revolution", "An Instance of Treason" on Japan's most famous spy, "Revolutionary Change" on the theory of violent protest movements, and "MITI and the Japanese Miracle" on Japanese economic development. This last-named book laid the foundation for the "revisionist" school of writers on Japan, and because of it the Japanese press dubbed him the "Godfather of revisionism."

He was chairman of the academic advisory committee for the PBS television series "The Pacific Century," and he played a prominent role in the PBS "Frontline" documentary "Losing the War with Japan." Both won Emmy awards. His latest book is "Japan: Who Governs? The Rise of the Developmental State", published during 1995 by W. W. Norton in New York.

In 1994, together with Steven Clemons, Johnson founded the Japan Policy Research Institute to promote greater public awareness and understanding of Japan's role in world affairs, and of Asian area studies.

Product Details

• Paperback: 312 pages
• Publisher: Japan Policy Research Inst (December 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0967364205
• ISBN-13: 978-0967364209
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,933,053 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Chalmers Johnson, president of the Japan Policy Research Institute, is the author of the bestselling Blowback and The Sorrows of Empire. A frequent contributor to the Los Angeles Times, the London Review of Books, and The Nation, he appeared in the 2005 prizewinning documentary film Why We Fight. He lives near San Diego.