Writing Okinawa: Narrative Acts of Identity and ResistanceSteve Rabson The Journal of Japanese Studies, Volume 35, Number 2, Summer 2009, pp. 389-394 (Review) Published by Society for Japanese Studies DOI: 10.1353/jjs.0.0099 For additional information about this article http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/jjs/summary/v035/35.2.rabson.html Access Provided by University of Hawaii @ Manoa at 10/27/11 5:31PM GMT a move we can see throughout his work. rewarding. In limiting the analysis to the realm of the literary world. This is both a weakness and a strength of the work. $170. 2008. 2000) from which she draws stories for analysis. At times the reader is so deeply engrossed in the text that the argument gets lost. and the world outside. Critic and translator Davinder L. 234 pages.Review Section 389 connection to the type of intellectual engagement that was possible after the collapse of the AMPO era and the lost promise of the 1960s? Similar questions can be asked about Nakagami’s experiments with the shishosetsu. Routledge. Zimmerman’s close textual analyses are insightful. this study is the first critical overview in English of modern prose fiction by Okinawan writers from pioneering stories in the 1900s to works that have attracted a steadily growing readership in the 1990s and 2000s. Bhowmik.” but this third point is not as fully explored as the other two (p. an author. Writing Okinawa: Narrative Acts of Identity and Resistance. but sometimes her immersion in the text keeps her from reaching the powerful conclusions hinted at in her chapters. xiv. Prewar writers were criticized for shirking their responsibilities as public intellectuals when they turned inward to the interior realms of the private self.00. and extremely welcome. Zimmerman also puts limitations on her ethnographic approach. London. her translations are moving and powerful. Her book usefully complements previously published English translations. Reviewed by Steve Rabson Brown University Organized chronologically by author. I appreciate her reluctance to use a postmodernist analytical framework as it risks severing the text from its historical grounding. ¯ Zimmerman argues that Nakagami desired to rid his characters of their interiority. What did it mean to rid oneself of internal life in the postwar era? How does such elimination of personal depth allow one to challenge the codes of literature and history? Zimmerman sets out to address the “triangular relationship between a body of texts. This should not detract from the value of the work. providing translations of key passages. By Davinder L. It inspires the reader to want to read more Nakagami. Bhowmik makes judicious use of theory to locate works in a wider . 11). Out of the Alleyway is an important contribution to Nakagami studies. including the anthology Southern Exposure: Modern Japanese Literature from Okinawa (University of Hawai‘i Press. Bhowmik analyzes selected works. thereby ensuring his legacy. and the links she makes to Nakagami’s criticism are illuminating. “This language consisted of standard Japanese and. “Turtleback Tombs. The local language he uses is mostly understandable by readers elsewhere in Japan. Yogi Seisho. Ryukyuan dialect” (p. and military bases as they are represented in Okinawan literature. the use of dialect. .e. created works ¯ in which there existed a dual structure of language.390 Journal of Japanese Studies 35:2 (2009) literary context and of biographical information to supply historical and cultural context. writers such as Kushi Fusako. they abandoned even these modest efforts.I. As Bhowmik notes. 99). Many of the characters in Medoruma Shun’s fiction. 67). but he includes glosses more . . ¯ Oshiro Tatsuhiro appended the subtitle “Jikken ho gen o motsu aru ¯ fudoki” (A gazetteer with practical dialect) to his 1966 story “Kame no ko ¯ ¯ baka” (1966. which were usually close enough to standard Japanese to be understood by mainland readers. “With increasingly strict national and local enforcement of standard Japanese. She explores issues of language. . glimpses of local landscape appear” (p. and Ikemiyagi Seiho. also speak in Ryukyuan.. culture. remained absent” (p. published in the 1990s and 2000s. for traditional sentiment and conceptions. “The mixture of language in Okinawan fiction attests both to its authors’ creativity and to their complicity with market forces” (p. 12). who produced fiction late in the Meiji ¯ period. identity. During this period. however. war.s. writers infused their stories with occasional Ryukyuan expressions. prolific during the Taisho era. 99) in his 1971 story “Okinawa no shonen” (1971. “Higashi treads further in his use of dialect ¯ by employing it more fluidly than did Oshiro” (p. Oshiro uses standard Japanese for descriptive passages but “creates an artificial language [for dialogue passages] that has local flavor but is still comprehensible to readers of standard Japanese” (p. The first authors of modern Okinawan fiction were educated early in a campaign to promote the use of “standard” (i. which portrays the confused sexual awakening of a teenage boy growing up in the family’s home where his parents run a bar/brothel for American G. and expressions unfamiliar to them are accompanied by kanji glosses. even to provide realistic dialogue.” 2000). She and other critics have praised Higashi Mineo’s “more natural use of dialect” (p.” Bhowmik explains. “Yamagusuku Seichu. In the 1930s and early 1940s. . and Miyagi So turned to natural description ¯ ¯ for conveying Okinawan perspectives. a locus of Okinawa’s indigenous religious practice based on ¯ ancestor worship. 126). “In places where standard Japanese will not fully express an emotion.” 1989). This work depicts the efforts of a family to survive the Battle of Okinawa by taking refuge in their large ancestral tomb. occupation. often to evoke local color. Tokyo) Japanese in the nation’s newest prefecture where the local language was mostly incomprehensible elsewhere in Japan. 68). In the 1910s and 1920s. . Okinawan writers launched their careers with the support of prominent writers in Tokyo and wrote in standard Japanese out of necessity. ¯ “Child of Okinawa. . 63). 1911) “a histori¯ cally accurate tragicomedy” depicting the fractures in Okinawan society at the time of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894–95 (p. especially the nation’s power elite in Tokyo. Entrepreneurs successfully marketed local products on the mainland. deemed these customs cultur¯ ally. and disagreements among Okinawans themselves as to what this relationship should be. the Akutagawa Prize. which is comprised of pro-Japanese Okinawans. opinions in Okinawa at the end of the nineteenth century were divided over its future political direction. administrators appointed from the mainland often showed disdain for the very people they were entrusted to govern. seems aware that her project will. . 172).Review Section 391 often in his later works. and ¯ . the last Ryukyu king. and the tattooing by women of their hands to signify passage into adulthood. She writes that the “fiercely radical prose” (p.” 2000) won Japan’s most prestigious literary award. . 158) Sakiyama Tami has published from the late 1980s to the present seeks “to tear her writing away from the grips of Japanese” (p. The Meiji ¯ government’s subsequent campaign to promote the use of standard Japanese was part of a more wide-ranging and repressive assimilation policy in Okinawa that included efforts to ban local customs such as the consulting of shamans. Portrayed vividly are two opposing factions: the first. . 173). undoubtedly. limit her readership” (p. who received higher education on the mainland and. in 1997. even in the face of such policies and attitudes. Yet. including writers. 34). Bhowmik calls Yamagusuku Seichu’s landmark work “Kunenbo” (Mandarin oranges. . providing few glosses or Chinese characters to aid the reader” (p. . Bhowmik attributes this change to the growth of Medoruma’s readership on the mainland after his story “Suiteki” (1997. was forcibly exiled to Tokyo. “[She] extends her use of dialect to descriptive passages. the wearing by men of topknots. ¯ ¯ Sho Tai. the Meiji government “disposed of” (shobun) what had been the quasi-independent Ryukyu Kingdom and annexed it as Okinawa Prefecture. the “enlightenment party” (kaikato). incompatible with their conception of a unified and “modernized” nation. established reputations there. in many cases. “Droplets. “Sakiyama . having previously reduced it to a fiefdom (Ryu kyu -han) in 1872. In 1879. Japanese officials. As Japan’s central government appropriated more and more authority. and growing numbers of youth found employment there that helped support their families in impoverished farming villages back home. Refusing to bow to market forces. and therefore politically. Assimilation brought significant benefits to the small but influential intelligentsia. who also mandated the worship of State Shinto. All of these varying applications of Ryukyuan and standard Japanese in modern Okinawan fiction reflect what is perhaps the central focus of Bhowmik’s study: the often-troubled relationship between Uchina (Okinawa) and ¯ Yamato (the rest of Japan). 158). Okinawans view the Japanese government’s decisions to sacrifice the prefecture as a “throwaway stone” in the worst battle of the Pacific War. he is still not accepted by his mainland colleagues. Like Ikemiyagi. As Bhowmik explains. resulted in confusions of identity and feelings of alienation. to agree to prolonged U. “in spite of the cruelty Hyaku inflicts on his family and neighbors. military occupation after the war. 49).” 2000). 34) Japan’s victory in the Sino-Japanese War persuaded many Okinawans that identification with the nation rising in wealth and status promised a better future. this dilemma that Okinawan writers explore in depth is shared by minorities in many countries. “If people found out that I was Ryukyuan. Kushi Fusako describes the desperate poverty in Okinawa that compels many to migrate to the mainland and then to conceal their Okinawan identity for social and economic survival in the face of severe discrimination. revealing the disdain he has come to feel for them. Now alienated from his community.” 2000). “Of¯ ¯ ¯ ficer Ukuma. to elicit the reader’s sympathies for the young policeman as he struggles in vain to establish an identity for himself” (p. (p. as he associates increasingly with his fellow officers who are from Kyushu. the protagonist of Ikemiyagi Sekiho’s Ukuma junsa (1922. but. and to permit . a successful businessman who hides his origins not only from the employees he supervises in his company but even from his wife and daughter. which is made up of pro¯ Chinese Ryukyuans. Yet.392 Journal of Japanese Studies 35:2 (2009) the “stubbornly conservative party” (gankoto). teachers and students alike decreed the use of standard Japanese while students were punished and humiliated for speaking Ryukyuan. passes an entry examination to become the first policeman from his village. In “Horobiyuku Ryu kyu onna no shuki” (1932.” he explains. “Memoirs of a Declining Ryukyuan ¯ ¯ Woman. During this period a man from Kagoshima named Yamajo Ichi. who regard him as a foreigner (ikokujin). “You have to understand. he becomes irritated with the untidy conditions and relaxed lifestyles in the village. The villagers initially celebrate his achievement with pride. even for specific career goals. through concise and well-crafted descriptions of Hyaku’s ¯ ¯ mental state. Bhowmik notes how. the nar¯ ¯ rator manages. Kushi evokes sympathy for her protagonist. even inadvertently. a ¯ Chinese politician. and newspaper editorials advocated thoroughgoing assimilation with Japan in areas ranging from education to styles of dress and grooming. Some people changed their distinctive Okinawan family names to common mainland alternatives. pretending to be a secret envoy sent by Li Hung-chang. embezzled large amounts of money from Okinawans loyal to China. the embracing of assimilation. One day he assembles the villagers for an imperious harangue.S. In the more prestigious schools. Hyaku. 73). it would cause me all kinds of trouble” (p. The pro-China faction rapidly declined. in the words of the main female character in “Suiteki. whose arrest and detention are complicated nowadays by the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA).S. but also the unexpected reluctance of three people he counted among his closest friends—a refugee attorney from China. 105).” ¯ 1989). he also portrays an Okinawan school principal “burdened with enormous guilt” for his complicity in conveying this indoctrination to his students and for reacting with “animal-like obedience (dobutsu-teki chuseishin)” when the soldiers ¯ ¯ ordered civilians to kill themselves rather than be captured by U. He describes atrocities committed against them by Japanese soldiers from the mainland and criticizes exhortative. frustrated with the ineffectiveness .S.S. military presence in all of Japan and. emperor-centered education in prewar Japan. forces.” which makes this virtually impossible.Review Section 393 the continuing imposition of the vast U. still occur with chronic frequency. “Hope.” are “tryin’ to profit off people’s sufferin’ in the war” (p. who were most of its victims.” 1999).S. military men. bases there comprise 75 per cent of the U. 144). It is a minor disappointment that she does not give us her reading of Medoruma’s short fictional piece “Kibo” (1999.S. Its protagonist seeks to press charges against the American soldier who raped his daughter and confronts not only the oxymoronic hypocrisy of “military occupation law. as Bhowmik points out. U. as Bhowmik notes. remain largely in place almost four decades after the Japanese government broke its promise that they would be scaled back to “mainland levels” after reversion. forces (p.S. Bhowmik identifies “the overarching theme of this work: namely the protagonist’s growing awareness of his Okinawan identity” (p. It is the firstperson narrative of a protagonist who. ¯ Oshiro and Medoruma are two of the writers Bhowmik discusses whose work depicts the prolonged U. Medoruma Shun is critical of those Okinawan survivors who.S. However. 92). “Cocktail Party. set shortly after the 1995 ¯ rape of an Okinawan schoolgirl by three U. military presence as ultimate ¯ manifestations of mainland discrimination. a reporter from mainland Japan. Sexual assaults on Okinawan girls and women by U. Bhowmik’s author-focused methodology is well suited for her critical overview. and a U. occupation and continuing military presence.S. Oshiro Tatsuhiro writes about the Battle of Okinawa from the viewpoint of local civilians. A decade later. and her analyses of individual works are persuasive. Poetry and prose critical of U. Oshiro was the first writer from Okinawa to win the Akutagawa Prize for his story “Kakuteru patei” (1966. Bhowmik writes that Medoruma’s stories on the battle raise “the question of who owns memory [and] show clearly tensions between and among local and national forces as they vie to narrate the past” (p. In his writing about the battle in retrospect. 100). civilian employee—to support his quest for justice.S. 152). policies published by Arakawa Akira and other literature students at Ryukyu University in the magazine Ryudai ¯ bungaku led to its suspension by occupation authorities in the mid-1950s ¯ (p. Asakura Kyoji. kidnaps and murders the child of a U. By Christine L. xxv. scientific discourse on sexology and psychoanalysis. Their tales were widely published over the ensuing decade. and Abe Sada into the same narrative may seem a stretch at first glance. including serializations. Reviewed by John Mertz North Carolina State University The term “poison woman” (dokufu) was applied generically to several Japanese women in the late 1870s who had poisoned or otherwise dispatched their husbands and lovers.50. University of Minnesota Press.S. executed in 1879 for murder. The inclusion of women as diverse as Shimazu Omasa. forces from Okinawa.S. plays. Perhaps she will deal with it in a future publication. Poison Woman: Figuring Female Transgression in Modern Japanese Culture. Previous scholars (Maeda Ai. and military establishments. Such needs were rarely met straight on. 2007. but Christine Marran is the first to devote an entire volume in English to their cultural implications. Two in particular acquired canonical status: reprints of Kubota Hikosaku’s Torioi Omatsu kaijo shinwa (1878) and Ka¯ nagaki Robun’s Takahashi Oden yasha monogatari (1879) remain widely available in collections of Meiji literature. and even kanbun editions. believing that only such an act can lead to the withdrawal of U. $67. cloth. Although it provides rare insight into the mind of a terrorist. and Takahashi Oden. but Marran clearly demonstrates how their stories fit into an evolving symbolic realm. medical. often serving the ideological needs of the political. $22. and especially how a consistent focus on the deviance of the criminal . elaborately illustrated reprints. how attempts to undermine authority were often accompanied by even stronger affirmations. and Mark Silver. Marran. Matthew ¯ Strecher. remains a cultural icon. Kanno Suga. Bhowmik might agree with critics who read this piece more as an essay of rhetorical warning than a story. taking into consideration confessionals produced by female ex-convicts. serviceman. Marran’s book extends well beyond the usual boundaries of the dokufu genre.50.394 Journal of Japanese Studies 35:2 (2009) of “polite” protest demonstrations. To be sure. Fukuda Hideko. 220 pages. Hirata Yumi. and a selection of postwar films. to name a few) have recognized the importance of these stories. accounts of women implicated in political terrorism. Minneapolis. Marran shows how meanings shifted with unintended consequences. paper.