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Tag Archives: Satoko Norimatsu

Resistant Islands: Okinawa Confronts Japan and the United States by Gavan McCormack & Satoko Oka Norimatsu

May 17, 2012 by CTB Team
Resistant Islands: Okinawa Confronts Japan and the United States by Gavan McCormack and Satoko Oka Norimatsu will be released by Rowman & Littlefield in July 2012. Resistant Islands offers a comprehensive overview of Okinawan history over half a millennium from the Ryukyu Kingdom to the present, focusing especially on the colonization by Japan, the islands' disastrous fate during World War II, and their subsequent and continuing subordination to US military purpose.

New Year 2011, Okinawa and the Future of East Asia

January 17, 2011 by CTB Team
Satoko Norimatsu, Gavan McCormack, and Mark Selden report on the December 19, 2010 "Where is Okinawa going?" forum cosponsored by The Asia-Pacific Journal (APJ) and Okinawa University. Speakers addressed environmental, geopolitical, and economic issues and engaged in discussion with nearly 200 participants on goals and ideals while addressing contemporary challenges to Okinawa and the region. Their article charts the Okinawan challenge to last year's failure of leadership in Japan. The authors assert that Okinawan commitment to democracy and peace brought sense to a region spellbound by fear and at risk of falling into a downward spiral of militarization. Those who frame the Okinawan struggle for democracy as simply "local" are mistaken. Instead, the authors argue Okinawan resistance to military hegemony is national, regional, and global in nature, with the future of "Japanese democracy and US strategic planning for its empire of bases across the Pacific in the balance." They conclude: "In 2011 the best hope for peace and democracy in Japan and throughout the region is the continuing success of the Okinawan struggle in stalemating US-Japan plans for base reorganization and expansion."

Mr. Toyama Sakae, “mayor” of Henoko Tent Village, died on December 5

December 7, 2010 by CTB Team
Mr. Toyama Sakae, "mayor" of Henoko Tent Village, died on December 5. The members of the Network for Okinawa extend their heartfelt condolences to all Okinawans, especially the residents of Henoko. Yumiko Kikuno's essay, "Henoko, Okinawa: Inside the Sit-In," published at The Asia-Pacific Journal on Feb. 22, 2010, describing her visit to the small coastal village in northern Okinawa with Satoko Norimatsu, pays tribute to Mr. Toyama and his legacy.