19
The U.S. military occupation of the island continued for 21 years after mainland Japan
achieved sovereignty under the peace treaty. As with the Battle of Okinawa, Okinawans
perceive that Tokyo exploited the island, this time as a bargaining chip to secure Tokyo’s
independence from U.S. occupation. Even after the island reverted to being a Japanese
prefecture in 1972, the U.S. military presence—with its rowdy soldiers, military exercises
and training accidents, and environmental and noise pollution—contributed to the
radicalization of many of the island’s social institutions. Both the educational sector and
the media remain vehemently opposed to the continued U.S. presence on the island. The
island’s two major local newspapers – Ryuku Shimpo and the Okinawa Times – are anti-
base in their editorial stance and coverage of U.S.-Okinawan community relations; each
commands 200,000 readers, out of a total circulation of 460,000 newspaper subscribers
on the island, giving the anti-base view great continuing prominence.
36
In sum, the arguments that constructivists make about the importance of antimilitarist
norms in Japan should be even more applicable to Okinawan prefecture, given its
traditional pacifistic culture, its experience of the bloody Battle of Okinawa, and its
prolonged occupation and administration by the United States military. In
methodological terms, Okinawan political culture should constitute a relatively “easy
case” for the constructivist approach. That is, if collective norms actually do have an
observable effect on political outcomes, then we should see evidence of their causal
influence in Okinawan politics, particularly on matters related to military affairs.
36
Authors’ interview with a high-ranking official from the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA),
May 2003.
Convention