Ryūkyū independence movement

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Ryukyu Independence Party flag

The Ryūkyū independence movement (Japanese: 琉球独立運動) is a movement for the independence of Okinawa and the surrounding islands (Ryukyu islands), from Japan. The movement merged in 1945, after the end of the Pacific War. Many Ryukyuan people felt, as the American Occupation began, that the Ryukyus (Okinawa) should eventually become an independent state, instead of being returned to Japan.

1 Historical context
2 Motives & Ideology
3 Recent events
4 Notes and references
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Historical context

The Ryūkyū Kingdom was conquered by the Japanese feudal domain of Satsuma in 1609, and held as a semi-independent state until it was formally annexed and transformed into Okinawa Prefecture in 1879. It is likely that there were various proponents of independence from Satsuma/Japan during this period, and from China as well, to which Ryūkyū was a tributary state. However, no significant popular movement arose during this time.

Similarly, there may have been significant movements for Okinawan independence following its annexation, in the period prior to and during World War II. Following the war, the United States Occupation government took over control of Okinawa, retaining control until 1972, twenty years after the formal occupation of the rest of Japan had ended. There was pressure in 1945, immediately following the war, for the creation of a fully independent Ryūkyūan state, while later in the Occupation period there arose a strong movement not for independence but for a return to Japanese sovereignty.

Since 1972, and the return of Okinawa to Japanese control, the loudest voice turned once again towards the aim of a fully independent Ryūkyūan state.

[edit] Motives & Ideology

Much as the goals of popular and intellectual movements within Okinawa have had contradicting goals, according to their political situation at the time, so the ideological basis for each position opposes that of the other.

Among those who sought a return to Japanese sovereignty, the basic belief is that of belonging to the Japanese people, whether ethnically, culturally, or purely politically. During the Meiji period, when Okinawa was formally annexed and made a prefecture, there was a strong push for assimilation; the Meiji government, and other cultural and intellectual agents, sought to see all the people of Japan as "Japanese." Not only were Okinawans made into Japanese citizens, given Japanese names, passports, and other official representations of their status as fellow citizens, but they were also incorporated into the newly-founded national public education system. Through this education system, as well as through newspapers and many other methods, both governmental and independent, Okinawans, and Japanese from all parts of the country, were gradually turned more homogeneous through unified education, language, access to foods and other goods, and other methods. In particular in the case of Okinawa and Hokkaidō, which was also annexed at the same time, there was to a significant degree a reimagining of history, and an insistence that the Ainu of Hokkaidō and the Ryūkyūan people were truly Japanese, ethnically and culturally, going back many centuries.

While many people likely subscribed to beliefs derived from this process of assimilation, many others likely sought to be united with Japan purely as a result of their own personal experiences. They were born in Okinawa Prefecture, as Japanese citizens, and saw themselves as belonging there. This is likely not too different from the thoughts of national identity anyone might have anywhere in the world where territories change hands and people are forced to reconsider their identity.

On the other hand, those who sought full independence for Ryūkyū in the Occupation period or afterwards, and those who continue to push for it today, largely subscribe to the opposite belief. Many Ryukyuan people see themselves as a separate Ryukyuan race, or as a collateral family line of the Japanese race, ethnically different, and with a unique and separate cultural heritage. They see a great difference between themselves and the "mainland" Japanese, and many feel a strong connection to Ryukyuan traditional culture and the pre-1609 history of independence. There is also strong criticism of the Meiji government's assimilation policies and ideological agenda.

[edit] Recent events

Though there are pressures in the US and Japan, as well as in Okinawa, for the removal of US troops and military bases from Okinawa, there have thus far been only partial and gradual movements in that direction.

In 1995, a decision to remove troops from Okinawa was reversed, and there was a renewed surge in the Ryukyu Independence Movement. In 2005, Lim John Chuan-tiong (林泉忠), a University of Ryukyu associate professor executed a telephone poll of Okinawans over 18. He obtained useful replies from 1029 people. Of these, 40.6% answered that they considered themselves ethnically Okinawan (沖縄人), distinct from the ethnic Japanese. 21% replied that they consider themselves Japanese, and 36% replied that they consider themselves both Japanese and Okinawan. 24.9% replied in support of Okinawan independence.^[1] ^[2] ^[3]