Women of Okinawa: Nine Voices from a Garrison Island [Paperback]

Ruth Ann Keyso (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 5, 2000 | ISBN-10: 0801486653 | ISBN-13: 978-0801486654

Since World War II, Okinawa has been the stage where the United States and Japan act out dramatic changes in their relationship. Women from three generations, each with a different account of the ways that international affairs have transformed Okinawa, here tell the story of that tiny island and its interactions with an enormous U.S. military presence. Three of the women were born before the Pacific War, and their first memories of Americans are of troops coming ashore with bayonets fixed. A second group, now middle-aged, grew up in the 1950s and 1960s, when massive American bases were a fixture of the landscape. The youngest women, for whom the bases are a historical accident, are in their twenties and thirties, raised in a country increasingly confident of its status as a world power. In conversations with Ruth Ann Keyso, these nine Okinawan women reflect on life on a garrison island: on relations with mainland Japan; on their dreams and ambitions; on Japanese treatment of ethnic minorities; on the changing role of women in Japanese and in Okinawan society; and on the drawbacks and pleasures of living side-by-side with U.S. military personnel and their families. Ruth Ann Keyso's compelling account sheds light on contemporary Okinawa, United States-Japan relations, and the small truths revealed by life stories clearly told and well reported.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Since the last major World War II battle between the United States and Japan was fought on Okinawa, the island has been the staging area for U.S. military operations in Asia. In conversation with Keyso, three generations of Okinawan women here reflect on Okinawa's history and how their lives have been affected by U.S. military presence, which continued after the island reverted to Japanese control in 1972. The older women, whose families perished or were displaced during the conflict, recall the hardships of life before, during, and immediately after the war. Women who grew up during the American occupation discuss living and working on the U.S. bases and the differences in women's roles in Japan, Okinawa, and the United States. The younger women reflect on their identity as Okinawans, an ethnic minority group within Japanese society. A glossary and explanatory notes are provided, but readers wanting more details of Okinawa's geography (including a map of the island) and culture will need to search elsewhere. For larger public and academic libraries.DLucille M. Boone, San Jose P.L., CA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Even Americans who know there is a movement in Okinawa seeking to reduce the U.S. military presence there probably don't know much about the background of that movement. Keyso, who has taught in Japan and trained at the Center for Japanese Studies of the University of Michigan, provides that background in interviews with nine women with very different experiences and attitudes. Three of Keyso's subjects, now senior citizens, lived through the Battle of Okinawa in 1945. Three, now in their 50s, were too young to remember the war but vividly recall the U.S. occupation and the campaign, successful in 1972, for "reversion" of control from the U.S. to Japan. The remaining interviewees, 35 or younger, experience the continuing American military presence and the struggle for equality with "mainland" Japanese from yet another perspective. Although Keyso's subjects may not be typical of Okinawa's women, their revealing conversations provide valuable insights into a culture most Americans know little about. Most appropriate for libraries with active Asian studies, women's studies, and cultural anthropology collections. Mary Carroll
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Cornell University Press (October 5, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801486653
• ISBN-13: 978-0801486654
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #642,215 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An accurate, detailed, emotional view of Okinawa, December 28, 2002

By 

Vaughan (Beppu-Shi, Oita-Ken Japan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Women of Okinawa: Nine Voices from a Garrison Island (Paperback)

Okinawa does not seem at all like Japan, but more like America with the amount of US Marines there. "If you arent with the military, what are you doing on Okinawa?" would be the constant question that would be asked to the White people who visit the island. When the conflict ended on June 22, 1945, more than 12,000 American troops, 90,000 Japanese troups, and 125,000 Okinawan civilians were dead. Memories from this three-month battle continue to haunt war survivors today, more than half a century after. The reason why Ruth Ann Keyso concentrated on the memories of women is simple; 1. Women had had the most direct contact with Americans over the proceeding half-century. 2. Women were the ones who worked for the Americans in the postwar years �Ein clubs as waitresses, in stores as cashiers, and in private homes as maids. 3. Women were the ones who married some Americans �Esome for love, others for money �Eand bore their children. 4. Women were the ones who were the primary victims of sexual and other forms of physical violence committed by military personnel on the island. 5. As many of the island's men died in battle, women were responsible for rebuilding Okinawa in the postwar years and restoring a sense of normalcy to people's lives.

This book focused on three different types of women, and I would like to summarize them for you with a few examples...

1. Those born before the war began
This group focused on the horrifying days of WW2, and maelstrom of the immediate postwar years, a time during which they struggled to rebuild their lives in an environment characterized by physical destruction and psychological malaise. They were faced not only with the humiliation of living alongside their former enemy, but also with the knowledge that they needed the Americans�Eeconomic assistance to survive. Their feelings are complicated �Ebecause they remember the peace of their home before the war, and they also remember the horrifying days at war.

Two Examples -

Junko Isa, 67, nearly lost her entire family during the Battle of Okinawa. She was only 14 years old and lost 5 out of the 8 in her family �Ein her family. She has been working as a maid of an American military family ever since the war ended.

Fumiko Nakamura, 84, remembers Okinawa as a peaceful place, an island of beauty. But the war has changed that. Now her homeland is crowded with US military bases, and the roar of planes, now breaks the former silence.

2. Those born during wartime
Unlike their elder sisters, they have little or no recollection of their past. Instead, their stories center on life in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. These decades defined by rapid social and political changes. These people express their dissatisfaction with conditions on the island, namely, the continued existence of the US military bases. As this has been ignored over years by the mainland Japanese, these women are eager to make a difference.

Two Examples -

Tatsuko Yamada, 57, remembers the discrimination she experienced as a university student in Tokyo during the 1960s when, as in the past, mainland Japanese looked down on Okinawans as racial and cultural inferiors.

Masayo Hirata, 58, recalls another consequence of the large US military presence on the island in those years: an increase in pregnancies. As a social worker, Hirata-san provided support for unwed Okinawan mothers with biracial children. The most complicated time, involved women who got pregnant by the US people they barely knew, then tried to get assistance in tracking the men down.

3. Those born well after the war ended
Revoked memories that were primarily pleasant, cheerful recollections of high school romances. Even though they are completely ignorant to their own history, they still complain somewhat about the American culture like of Okinawa, and also the military. However, they accept the bases with a sense of inevitably.

Two Examples -

Miako Sunabe, 21, said she cant imagine life without the Americans. She cant understand why the older generation want the military to leave the place. These people did nothing wrong, it wasnt their choice.

Mayumi Tengan, 30, said that she loved being an Okinawan because of all the American men who looked like movie stars on the streets. "I'm much more lucky to live in Okinawa than any other place. It is very romantic and exciting. They are just ordinary people."

Therefore we can clearly conclude that there are three clear types of women in Okinawa. These three types of women all have different views on the war and their position in society today.

I am studying in Japan at Ritsumeikan APU, International Management, and I will be heading off to Okinawa at the end of February 2003, so I look forward to learning more about it all.

Cheers,
Vaughan Allison

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Full of insight and meaning, March 5, 2001

By 

Catherine E. Toth (Honolulu, HI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Women of Okinawa: Nine Voices from a Garrison Island (Paperback)

A great read from cover to cover. Ruth Ann Keyso accurately and poetically told the stories of nine Okinawan women, weaving in the island's history, culture, insight and perspective through carefully chosen words, ancedotes and descriptions. Being Japanese American, I am always searching for ways to develop my perspective on my culture, and this book has opened my eyes to the lives, dreams, tragedies and hopes of the Okinawan people. I highly recommend this book to anyone with an enthusiam to learn about the world and an eagerness to grow as a person.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Informative, August 26, 2001

By 

Joseph D. Seckelman "Joe" (Encinitas, California USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Women of Okinawa: Nine Voices from a Garrison Island (Paperback)

From June of 1945 until 1972 the Japanese island of Okinawa was under the direct control and direction of the U.S. Unlike, the main islands of Japan whose American occupation ended in 1952 Japan's southern most island, Okinawa continued to see lots and lots of American military bases. In fact the same number are still there today. Well, one would think that after 1972 the number of American military bases and military men would have ended or been severly curtailed. Nope. Due to the cold war the U.S. has kept a huge military presence on Okinawa. Inasmuch as it is a fairly small island, the American military presence has had an enormous impact opon the lives of the ordinary Okinawan Japanese living there. From the time of the Second World War when the largest battle of the Pacific theater was fought in May and June of 1945 until today. Ruth Ann Keyso, details the lives of 9 Okinawan women whose lives have been impacted in one way or another from the American presence. The interviews included the old who experienced the extreme hardship and brutality of war to the young bride married to American servicemen. In reading this, one really gets the impression America is really an empire. Even though the cold war with the Soviet Union is over, America's military presence is not. Why is America still in Okinawa, what military purpose does it serve? Could the Okinawans survive without the dollar contribution to the Okinawan economy? Ms. Keyso's well written book informs the ignorant reader like myself, through the lives of these women, what the American military presence means and has meant to Okinawans. It is informative and keeps the uninformed current on the state of affairs as it applys to our (America's) unintended impact on foreign cultures and peoples due to the economic fallout of many American military bases (bars, strip places, prostitution, crime, etc.). The book is an easy read, informative, and enjoyable. Joe Seckelman