Laura Kina's Blue Hawai'i & Wesley Uenten's "Okinawan Diasporan Blues"

"Graves By the Sea" by Laura Kina

In this excerpt from "Okinawan Disaporan Blues," included in Laura Kina's Blue Hawaii exhibition catalogue, Wesley Uenten describes the Japanese colonial rule's erasure of traditional Okinawan culture and ongoing resistance by a group of grandmothers and grandfathers, child survivors of the Battle of Okinawa, to the US plan to turn the habitat of the Okinawan dugong, a sacred cultural icon, into another military base:

...At least on the level of cultural genocide, what happened to Okinawans was similar to what happened to Native Americans. It seems so familiar when I read about the...philosophy of the “Indian Schools” that prohibited Native American school children from speaking their own language or practicing their culture.... By the time that my grandmother was born in 1893, most Okinawan children were in schools, where they would be punished for speaking the Okinawan language and expected to worship the Japanese emperor. A large wooden tag with the words 方言札 (hōgen fuda), or “dialect tag,” was place around the neck of school children who spoke in the Okinawan “dialect.” The tag symbolically relegated the Okinawan language to the inferior status as a backward “dialect” of Japanese, while corporeally ingraining a sense of shame and fear in generations of Okinawans for speaking their own language and being their own selves...

Physical genocide did take place on Okinawa. Japan’s leaders knowingly caused about a fourth to a third of Okinawa’s population to perish in less than 3 months during the Battle of Okinawa when they used Okinawa as a buffer to hold off American troops heading toward Naichi (mainland Japan)...in 1945...

I stare at "Graves by the Sea." ...Departed souls encased in concrete tombs pushed up against each other. They are testament of the reverence for ancestors and tradition in Okinawa that contradicts the reality of the lack of space on Okinawa...There is a strong and powerful message that the ancestors and land is telling us through Laura’s work.

I end this essay at a time when I have just returned from a trip to Washington D.C. with an Okinawan delegation that was making a direct appeal against plans by the U.S. and Japanese governments to push ahead with construction of a new U.S. Marine Air Station on the clear blue waters of Henoko...At this time, both the Jp and U.S. governments are stepping up their attempts to push past unyielding local Okinawan opposition... Henoko is the site of a large thriving coral reef, turtle spawning grounds, seaweed beds, and an already endangered species of dugong. The blue ocean of Henoko will be no more if this plan goes through.

Most of the officials, politicians, and researchers we met in Washington D.C. [during the Jan. 2014 Okinawan Delegation] had made up their mind about new base construction at Henoko saying that it is the best plan... However, what the delegation was trying to get across to deaf ears was that Okinawans have stopped the construction for 18 years by placing their bodies in front of ships and equipment coming to start construction. Old people, as old and tiny as my Baban in my memories of her, have come to sit on the beach everyday in quiet but unrelenting resistance to American Manifest Destiny and Japanese fatalistic dependency on that destiny...

Wesley Ueunten is an associate professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University. A third generation Okinawan, he was born and raised in Hawaiʻi and received his Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies from UC Berkeley.

Still Praying for Tohoku: Little Change in Yamada, Iwate...

 Yamada in September 2013.  The small town in Iwate Prefecture 

was almost completely submerged by the 3/11 tsunami.  

(Photos: Scott Ree of Namida Project)

Map of Iwate Prefecture.  (Source: JNTO)

Map of Tohoku. (Source: Web-Japan)

---

Background:

"Bureaucrat suspended for calling Tohoku reconstruction 'unnecessary' in 2011 blog post" (Asahi, Sept. 26, 2013) 

Disaster victims expressed anger when they were informed of the industry ministry bureaucrat’s remarks.

“They were uttered by someone who does not know anything about the disaster area,” said a 59-year-old man who lives in temporary housing in Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture. “He may be smart, but he does not have the mind and heart of man.”

A 60-year-old woman who runs a restaurant in a temporary shopping area in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, said: “We are trying to restore what we built over the years (and lost). As long as there is someone like him, reconstruction is impossible.”

"Tokyo puts Tohoku on games map, but will it be enough?" (JT, Sept. 24, 2013) 

With so many survivors still living in cramped temporary housing units, Yamada said, a lot of people aren’t happy to see the government spending so much cash on Olympic-related events.

"Fearing exodus, disaster-hit towns compete to offer highest subsidies" (Asahi, Sept. 22, 2013)

But the problem of solitary deaths among survivors could be more widespread, as many moved into accommodations rented by municipal offices over a broader area, potentially severing community links, the survey suggested Wednesday.

Complaints are also being raised over the differences in assistance levels in the Tohoku region. Many survivors are stuck in temporary housing because they lack the funds to rebuild.

Onagawa, Miyagi Prefecture, which hosts a nuclear power plant operated by Tohoku Electric Power Co., subsidizes payments for mortgage interest and provides assistance of up to 3 million yen to keep residents in the town.

The town’s population has fallen from more than 10,000 to around 7,700.

“The reason why we offer better subsidies than other municipalities is that we are more attentive to the issue,” a town official said

"Nearly 290,000 people still living in shelters two and a half years after the Tohoku disaster" (Rocket News, Sept. 16, 2019)

"Tally of solitary deaths at 81 for 3/11 evacuees" (Kyodo via JT, Sept. 11, 2013)

At least 81 evacuees have died alone in temporary housing in Fukushima, Iwate and Miyagi prefectures since the 2011 quake and tsunami, a survey says.

"Disaster areas critically short of manpower" (Jiji via JT, Sept. 10, 2013)

"Tohoku still in dire need of medical support" (Jiji via JT, Sept. 11, 2013)

Thirty months after tsunami devastated the Tohoku coast, residents are still facing a lack of medical services because of delays in restarting damaged hospitals and clinics and the closures of others.

"7 disaster-area municipalities show biggest increase in elderly needing living assistance" (Mainichi, Sept. 2, 2013)

"Trillions for rebuilding Tohoku go unused" (Jiji via JT, July 13, 2013):

The Reconstruction Agency said Wednesday that ¥3.4 trillion — 35.2 percent — of the ¥9.74 trillion in the fiscal 2012 budget slated to rebuild areas hit by the March 2011 disasters went unused.

The year before, 39.4 percent of the reconstruction budget, or around ¥5.9 trillion, went unspent, indicating the recovery effort has suffered from poor planning...

Last year, ¥4.73 trillion was allocated to rebuild roads and embankments, as well as to relocate residential areas, but 43.9 percent in this category was unused.

Of the ¥655.6 billion earmarked for washing away contamination from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, 67.9 percent was unused, the agency said...

Unless rebuilding moves forward, devastated communities will keep shrinking, further slowing the process, observers said.

"Tohoku Has Been Rent Asunder for Future Generations" (引き裂かれた東北を後世に残す) (Roger Pulvers, The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, March 13, 2013)

Quake victims allowed to stay in temporary housing another year" (Asahi, Feb. 25, 2013)

Victims of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake will be allowed to stay in temporary government housing for an additional year as new public housing construction lags in the three hardest-hit prefectures, sources said.

The central government's decision to extend the temporary housing limit to four years came after it was found that only 55 percent of the new houses planned in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures are expected to be completed by the end of fiscal 2014.

The extension also means around 110,000 people still living in prefabricated temporary housing will have to continue to endure harsh living conditions.

About 300,000 people now live in temporary housing, including accommodations offered by the private sector and whose rent is subsidized by the government.

---

Today is the last day of Washi Candle Garden decorated with washi (Japanese paper) 

illuminating messages from Tohoku residents and Tokyoites.

 ("Candles to remember Tohoku" by Magdalena Osumi, JT, Sept. 19, 2013)

-JD

Rose Welsch: "You know you're in the middle of a Japanese revolution when..."

(Photo: Rose Welsch)

Via beautiful Rose Welsch of Peace Boat:

You know you're in the middle of a Japanese revolution when a "revolutionary" is an older woman who sweetly passes out very carefully handcrafted origami hydrangea flowers. Each petal has been neatly folded out of paper, tiny buds glued one by one into the middle of each flower, and a real hydrangea leaf has been laminated and cut.

Now, let's hope Japan's government will follow suit and very carefully and lovingly craft new energy policies instead of recklessly restarting its 54 nuclear reactors even though this is an EARTHQUAKE PRONE COUNTRY with reactors sitting on fault lines!!!!

The organizers say 150,000 attended tonight's rally in drizzly weather; the police: 21,000.

NHK, Japan's public television channel, gave the demonstration 20 seconds of coverage, 40 minutes into the nightly news.

Zen priest in Fukushima plants flowers that absorb radiation & accepts radioactive topsoil at temple grounds

"Invisible snow" by Reuters Tokyo Pictures, Aug. 19, 2011

In August, Mike Willacy of ABC (Australian Broadcasting) reported that communities near the plant are reporting radiation at Chernobyl levels.  He spotlights one of many examples of Fukushima residents  have necessarily engaged in their own disaster response: A Zen Buddhist priest is now accepting highly radioactive topsoil on temple property:

He is the chief monk of Fukushima's 400-year old Joenji Temple and this is a sutra for peace and rebirth, a prayer for the resurrection of an entire community choked in radiation.

KOYU ABE, BUDDHIST MONK (voiceover translation): This radiation is like an invisible snow. It's fallen and brought us a long winter. But eventually the snow will melt and spring will come.

MARK WILLACY: To help his community rid itself of this invisible snow, Monk Abe is allowing people to dump their radioactive topsoil on temple land.

Armed with his four Geiger counters, he shows me just how contaminated this earth is.

The Japanese-made Geiger counter quickly blasts off the scale. The others reveal radiation levels ten times beyond what's considered safe.

KOYU ABE, BUDDHIST MONK (voiceover translation): The radiation level here is so high that some of the Geiger counters can't measure it. But I still accept this contaminated soil.

---

Photojournalist Yuriko Nakao of Reuter has reported even more in-depth on Koyu Abe and his community at "Invisible Snow," a sensitive photo blog that includes the above video:  As well as engaging in radiation clean-up, residents  are planting flowers that absorb nuclear radiation:

Abe described the radiation particles as an “invisible snow”, “A snow you can’t see has covered the area, and has brought a long, long winter to Fukushima,” he said.

Abe’s organization called, “Make a wish upon flowers,” aimed to reduce the volume of radiation in Fukushima by using certain plants’ natural ability to reduce toxic materials in the ground. With his volunteer group, comprised of about 100 members, he planted sunflowers where radiation levels were high.

Abe hoped to lower the level of radiation and through that ease stress and anxiety experienced by the residents. He also strongly believed that his actions will tackle the prevalent sense of stagnation and help cultivate a sense of hope...

What moved me most was to see the residents not give up their hopes and strive to overcome their predicament. The three days that I spent with the monk’s family were very moving. They were like a blessing to me.

The monk also had his motives to tell me his story. He looked into my eyes and said: “Media outlets have the obligation to reveal and bring everything into the light, so that the people can make their decisions.” By making everything clear, the media can help stop the spread of bad rumors and lower the anxiety while speeding up the recovery process, he said.

---

UPDATE: On Feb. 10, 2012, Yuriko Nakao updated her coverage on Koyu Abe's radiation clean-up efforts: Japan priest fights invisible demon: radiation:

On the snowy fringes of Japan's Fukushima city, now notorious as a byword for nuclear crisis, Zen monk Koyu Abe offers prayers for the souls of thousands left dead or missing after the earthquake and tsunami nearly one year ago.

But away from the ceremonial drums and the incense swirling around the Joenji temple altar, Abe has undertaken another task, no less harrowing -- to search out radioactive "hot spots" and clean them up, storing irradiated earth on temple grounds...

"You can't see it. Nothing looks as if it's changed, but really, radiation is floating through the area. It's hard for those hit by the tsunami, but it's hard to live here too."

Last summer, Abe grew and distributed sunflowers and other plants, such as field mustard and amaranthus, in an effort to lighten the impact of the radiation and cheer local residents.

Now he is trading his ceremonial robes for a protective mask, working with volunteers to track down lingering pockets of radiation and cleaning them up...

Abe said he and the other monks are storing the soil on a hill behind the temple as neither the government nor the nuclear plant operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) are helping with the clean-up.

One week after earthquake, sick & elderly found dead & dying in fallout zone within 10 km. of Fukushima nuclear plant

The Sydney Morning Herald:" Sick and elderly abandoned in fallout zone"

In and around the 20-kilometre exclusion zone surrounding the stricken plant, those without means of escape are being left to suffer.

In one case, 128 people were found by Japanese Self-Defence Force troops, abandoned by medical staff in their hospital 10 kilometres from the plant. Most were comatose and 14 later died. The living were moved to a makeshift ward at a nearby school gym, but conditions are scarcely better.

A Fukushima government official said authorities had no better place to send people, and no way to move them to safety. "We feel very helpless," Chue Inamura said. "The condition at the gymnasium was horrible. No running water, no medicine and very, very little food."

Millions of people are living without running water or power in temperatures that fall below freezing overnight. It is estimated half a million homes are without power in Japan's north and 2.5 million have no access to water.

Wall Street Journal's March 19 article on shortages of food, water, and medicine for elderly refugees; as Tokyo "has held off asking for a wave of aid from international relief agencies."

Biodiversity and COP10: Spotlight on Brazil's Amazon Rainforest and the Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers

6th Festival Cinema Brasil official logo

With all eyes presently on the issue of biodiversity as the COP10 conference unfolds in Nagoya, one interesting and yet widely unknown angle to this issue is the connection between the endangered brazilwood tree in Brazil’s rainforest—and the future of classical music as we know it.

This critical problem is explored in depth in the beautifully made documentary film A Arvore da Musica (The Music Tree), which is currently screening in Japan at the 6th Festival Cinema Brasil. From the festival website:

Found only in the remnants of Brazil's devastated Atlantic Rainforest, Brazilwood (known abroad as “Pernambuco’s wood”) is vital in the manufacture of fine violin, cello and viola bows. Ever since the time Mozart was composing his masterpieces, 250 years ago, when it was first introduced, luthiers and musicians from all around the world haven’t discovered a wood of comparable quality that could replace the Brazilian one. From the search for the wood in the forests of Brazil, to their use by the world’s greatest symphony orchestras, the film explores a path to saving the trees and the music that depends on it.

The film festival finished in Tokyo on October 15th, and is presently screening in Osaka until October 22nd. It will run in Hamamatsu from October 23rd - 29th, and Kyoto from November 13th – 19th.

The festival also includes many other interesting films in its lineup, such as an excellent documentary on the history of music and the spoken word in Brazil, and another on the cultural relevance of the national passion for football. For full festival details, visit the trilingual official website. A 2009 interview with festival director Edison Mineki regarding cinematic history in Brazil in the context of the country’s turbulent political trends of recent decades may also be read at a previous blog post here.

For more on the Brazilian Amazon rainforest and all of its living brilliance, the collection of online articles from the Kyoto Journal Biodiversity issue includes this gorgeous piece written by shaman (and Amazon resident) Clara Shinobu Iura, a Nikkei Brazilian who is a member of the International Council of Thirten Indigenous Grandmothers. A synopsis of a talk that she gave earlier this year regarding the grandmother's project and their film, For the Next Seven Generations, during a peace and music event at Yoyogi Park may be read at this previous blog post.


The grandmothers are presently in Nagoya, where they are vocalizing their moving appeal for protecting the world’s biodiversity from their unique perspective as the stewards of indigenous wisdom and traditions. The grandmothers will then travel onward to Amami Oshima from October 22-25 for a weekend of prayer and creating bonds of solidarity with the indigenous peoples of the island, which will be followed by a journey to the atomic grounds of Nagasaki to conduct ceremonies of prayer and healing. Details about the grandmothers’ Japan tour are available here.

--Kimberly Hughes

Okinawan Prayer: "Do not destroy the sea"

When the Okinawa War was ended in 1945, 

mountains as well as villages were burned and pigs cows and horses were burned. Everything on the landwas completely burned out. Anything which we could eat was a blessed gift from the sea. Repay Mother Nature for her favor. Do not destroy the sea.

By Uminchu (fisherman in Okinawan language) Yoshikatsu Yamashiro, 

Via Save Life Society, for protection of all lives and livelihoods, Henoko, Okinawa

Thousands gather over weekend in Tokyo to support a military base-free Okinawa

Participants at Saturday's Hibiya Park rally wearing handmade hats symbolizing the kuina, a bird native of Yanbaru, a subtropical rainforest in northern Okinawa, presently threatened by U.S. military construction

Over 6,000 people attended a rally and march in Tokyo's Hibiya Park on Saturday to reject plans for construction of U.S. military facilities in the ecologically sensitive areas of Henoko near Oura Bay, and Takae village in the Yanbaru forest. Consisting primarily of labor groups, students, peace organizations, and a collection of other activists and citizens, the crowd also called for various additional anti-military initiatives including the closing down of nuclear power plants, revision of Japan's policy toward North Korea, and the dismantling of the Japan-US Security Treaty.



Left: "STOP genpatsu (nuclear power)"

National Public Radio in the United States ran a story about the event here.

At the pre-march gathering, an older woman shyly approached me and offered me a small folded origami box containing a collection of origami Totoro figures from the popular environmentally-themed manga "My Neighbor Totoro," which she explained that she folded to express her hopes for the preservation of nature to triumph over the use of land for military purposes.

Although I cannot be sure, I suspect that this gift---as well as the several smiles and thumbs-up that I received from other parade-goers---were given to me because I was one of only a handful of other obvious-looking foreigners who seemed to be in attendance at the rally.

Conscious of this need to show support among foreigners in Japan for Okinawa's self-determination regarding the military base issue, the recently established US for Okinawa Peace Action Network held its own peace action the next day across town in Yoyogi Park. ("US is pronounced "us", as in "you, me and everyone.")

Photo by Meri Joyce

Attended by people from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, the United Kingdom, the United States and elsewhere, the network's first-ever event included a photo exhibition and a FAQ sheet including information on social and environmental damage resulting from U.S. military bases in Okinawa, as well as countries such as Vietnam and Iraq where Okinawa-based soldiers have been sent; a live painting station accompanied by didgeridoo music; and a reading aloud of the following message to the assembled crowd:

All of us at the peace action network, US for OKINAWA, have assembled here in the park today to express our concern about the enormous burden that U.S. military bases are placing on Okinawa.

Already, U.S. military facilities occupy nearly 20% of Okinawa Island, and even the U.S. and Japanese governments agree that Futenma Air Base poses a great safety risk to nearby residents and agree it should be closed.

However, we are appalled that closing Futenma is contingent upon constructing new military facilities in Henoko, another part of Okinawa Island.

A majority of local residents in Henoko are strongly opposed to this new construction, and we can understand why. It would simply shift the problems of contamination, noise pollution, and safety hazards from one part of Okinawa to another, and would also destroy much of the fragile ecoystem of Oura Bay. This will likely lead to the extinction of the dugong from Japan, as well as yet again deny Okinawans access to part of their traditional land and water.

We want you all to take a moment to imagine Yoyogi Park being appropriated from the general public in order to construct a new military base here. Imagine this park being surrounded by barbed wire and soldiers who will threaten you if you enter it without permission of the U.S. government. Imagine all the beautiful trees being cut down to create runways, shooting ranges, and weapon stockpiles. This is just an imaginary scenario for us, but this is basically what the people of Okinawa have experienced and are being threatened with yet again.

It's time for the U.S. to engage with the rest of the world through more diplomatic, economic, and cultural ties rather than primarily military. It's time for the U.S. to stop adding to its collection of 1,000 military bases around the world. These bases simply provoke more militarization around the world and destroy our natural world. And it's time for the Japanese government to say loud and clear: “Shut down Futenma” and “No more new military construction in Okinawa.”

A petition was also circulated calling for the following:

For more than 60 years, military bases in Okinawa have threatened the safety of local residents, contaminated and destroyed the natural environment, and denied Okinawans access to much of their land, oceans and airways. Futenma, the most dangerous of these bases, should be closed and reverted back to use for civilian purposes. 

Closure of Futenma should not be contingent on the construction of yet another new U.S. military base in the Henoko District of Okinawa—nor anywhere else in Okinawa. We call upon the U.S. and Japanese governments to listen to the people of Okinawa who have long been protesting the burden of these bases on their island. No more Futenma, no more new bases in Okinawa, no more appropriation of land and water from island peoples for military use!

One of the two major Okinawan newspapers, the Ryuku Shimpo ran an article about Sunday's action here.

Upcoming network actions include sending a letter to President Obama making clear the network's position on the issue of U.S. military bases in Okinawa, and the organization of a study tour to Okinawa in the spring for Americans and other foreigners who wish to learn more about the issue of U.S. military bases and their impact upon local communities.

For further information and updates, visit the network's blog.

- Post and photos by Kimberly Hughes

Nov 28 (Osaka) 29 ( Kyoto): Kan Iltchul, a Halmoni (Korean for grandmother), shares her story

The Shogen Shukai (The Testimony Assocication) and the Kyoto division of the All-Japan organization to find a Proper Settlement for the Former Military Comfort Women invite "comfort women" from Asia to share their experiences with the people of Kansai every year. This year's guest will be survivor Ms. Kan Iltchul from Korea, who will bravely share her horrifying experience being coerced into becoming a war time "comfort woman" (ianfu) by the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II.

Ms. Kan Iltchul was born in 1928 and now lives in a small city near Seoul Korea in the "House of Nanumu (Sharing)." This house was founded in 1992 to be a safe place where former Korean "comfort women" could share their mutual experiences and support each other. Mr. Ippei Murayama, a young Japanese staff member working at the house will accompany her to Kansai. There will also be a movie screening at a different venue of My Heart Will Not Lose, a film about Sonshindo Halmoni, who was taken to China as a "comfort woman" She brought a lawsuit against the Japanese government for the atrocities committed against the "comfort women" during and around WWII.

The "comfort women" system was constructed during World War II as an explicit attempt to protect Japanese troops from venereal disease and shield women in conquered territories in Asia from rape by Japanese soldiers. The system would eventually enslave 50,000 to 200,000 women living in all parts of East Asia and Australasia to become victims of infectious disease and violence while not achieving any of the system's original objectives. Not all women sent overseas to serve the Japanese soldiers were abducted, however, once made a part of the forced prostitution system for the military, they were treated like indentured slaves based on a historical and institutional precedent marking women as second-class citizens. Towards the end of the war, "comfort women" were forced to provide free sex for kamikaze corps and to intercept telegraphs across enemy lines in the place of soldiers. Many "comfort women" were murdered because they were considered a liability or embarrassment if captured by the enemy. The Japanese government has yet to issue an official apology for the suffering that former "comfort women" faced and continue to deal with in their everyday lives.

Last year's events were haunted by the presence of extreme-right wing groups including Zaitokukai, intent on disrupting the event. Zaitokukai's membership is opposed to granting Zainichi Koreans and foreigners any "special" rights in terms of compensation, visas, et cetera. Next to their announcement of the event this year on their website, they have proclaiming "Let's pulverise the terrorists of the soul!"However distrubing their announcement be, their presence at the event shows the complexity surrounding the issue, and their desire to be involved in discussions. It is important to have meaningful dialogue with all parties involved in order to find the best solution- to discover the motivations for groups to resist a settlement in favor of the thousands of "comfort women." As Nelson Mandela has stated: "You make peace with your enemies not with your friends."

Nov 28th, Sat. (Osaka)
Listen to the voices of the former "Comfort Women" and Settle the Issue in Law Now!
Host: Shogen Shukai (The Evidence Association)
● 2:00(open 1:30)～4:30pm (Japanese)
●1000yen (general)/500yen (students)/Free(all JH students and younger)
★Osaka Kitaku Center- Large Hall
Access: Right in front of JR Tenma Station, Subway Ogimachi
★In addition to the talk there will be a mini Concert by a Zainichi Duet!♪
◇Contact: 080-6185-9995
http://www.jca.apc.org/ianfu_ketsugi/index.html

Kyoto
Nov 29th, Sun.
All-Japan organization to find a Proper Settlement for the Former Military Comfort Women　（Kyoto Division)
● 2:00(open 1:30)～5:00pm (Japanese) sign language interpretation available.
● Large Meeting Room, Hitomachi Kouryuukan.
http://www.hitomachi-kyoto.jp/access.html
●500yen (general)/300yen (students)/Free(18 or younger; all HS, JH students)
●5:30pm～ Friendship meeting, at the same venue.
◇Contact:090-9981-6608
http://shogenkyoto.blog70.fc2.com/
welcomeharumoni@hotmail.com

Nov 28th, Sat and Nov 29th, Sun (Osaka)
Movie Screening: My Heart will not Lose
●11/28-7:30pm
●11/29- 11:00am
●500 yen
(proceeds will go towards the construction of a Women and War Human Rights Museum
★Day Center- Heartful Momodani (Map)



-Jen Teeter

Save Life Society: Okinawan Elders Speak Out about Henoko

When the Okinawa War was ended in 1945, 

mountains as well as villages were burned
and pigs, cows and horses were burned.
Everything on the land
was completely burned out.
Anything which we could eat was
a blessed gift from the sea.
Repay Mother Nature for her favor.
Do not to destroy the sea.

By Uminchu (Fisherman in Okinawa) Yoshikatsu Yamashiro

We hope all elders of the Save Life Society––for protection of all lives and livelihoods, Henoko, Okinawa, Japan are genki. Here's part of the message they voiced when Japan and the US started the Henoko military base project:

"Save Life Society"was formed by the elders mostly in their 80's and 90's to prevent construction of the monstrous air base, which will be offered to the U.S. Marine Corps based on Japan U.S. Peace Treaty, in the coral reef of Henoko, Nago, Okinawa, Japan. The air base has allegedly been planned by the Japanese and US governments. We, therefore, set up a sit-in camp in front of the fishing port of Henoko in 1996 in order to be prepared for any future development of the controversial project.

On April 19, 2004, Naha Defense Facilities Administration Bureau tried to start a drilling survey of the construction site prior to the environmental assessment as required by the Japanese law. Nevertheless, 52.85% of the citizens of Nago said "no" to the plan in the referendum conducted in Dec. 1997. The survey itself is said to possibly threaten the lives of the endangered spices, particularly, Dugong as the intended construction site is the largest sea-grass bed in Okinawa where Dugong find sea grasses that they feed on.

At this present moment, Henoko is very alert as the government agency is looking for any chance to build or place platforms to start drilling as they have been prevented to proceed with the work since September 9th last year. Every day, we feel tomorrow would be a crucial moment. Thanks to Ojih and Obah (honorary terms for elders in Okinawa) who struggled for years, during which 6 elders passed away without seeing result of their resistance, from the prejudiced selection of the site for the air base, the activities to stop the construction of air base still continues involving far greater number of people who love peace and nature from all over Japan and many of them are even from abroad. In that effort, we have not allowed the government agency to drive even a single pile into the bottom of the sea at all.　But the officers still say they would proceed with the plan unless the government decides otherwise...

Since we have started sit-in, 6 members passed away without seeing result of the resistance. For those who left their hopes behind, I am ready to die to stop the construction," says Kinjyo Yuji (deceased in 2007), the representative. "I have been living with this sea for over 90 years. When the War (the battle of Okinawa) was over, there was nothing left to eat except the gifts of this sea. Thanks to this rich sea, I could feed and take care of my children. If you insist on building the base, kill me before you do so," says Shimabukuro Yoshi 92, the oldest member of the group.

We cannot live with a military base. Although we feel pains in our backs or legs, we will keep fighting for the future when we don't see any bases or any other causes of wars. We would like to restore peace as that is our concrete objective and determination. Whatever the difficulty is to occur, we would stop the construction of the base through our definite policy of non-violent and disobedience resistance. Thus please help us and gather your voice to the US government and the Congress to stop the construction of the base in Japan...

For more background: The Asia Pacific Journal's 2006 excerpt "US Dream Come True? The New Henoko Sea Base and Okinawan Resistance," from Okinawan architect Makishi Yoshikazu's book, Okinawa wa Kichi o Kyozetsu Suru (Okinawa Refuses Bases).

- JD