The Community of Nuchi Du Takara ("Life Is the Ultimate Treasure") in Postwar Okinawa: Local Subjectivity within and against Empire (9780472077144): Masamichi (Marro) Inoue

ABOUT THIS BOOK

Against the background of the prolonged US military presence in post–World War II Okinawa, The Community of Nuchi Du Takara (“Life Is the Ultimate Treasure”) in Postwar Okinawa explores the conflict between Okinawa and the US-Japan alliance. Developing the local notion of nuchi du takara into an analytical concept, Inoue examines how Okinawan activists, artists, writers, and other social actors have resisted US military presence, particularly the planned construction of a new military facility in northern Okinawa. The concept of nuchi du takara also helps Inoue explore complex negotiations Okinawa has had with Washington and Tokyo beyond resistance and protest, a process that involves developing a local communal capacity to embrace diverse and often contradictory attitudes toward the US military. Inoue’s grounded investigation underscores the possibility of small yet significant, incremental social changes from below, a possibility that ultimately points toward the World Republic—an international politics built upon peace, democracy, and shared affluence—against the sovereignty of global capitalism.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Masamichi (Marro) Inoue is Professor of Japan Studies in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages, Literatures and Cultures at the University of Kentucky.

REVIEWS

“An illuminating study that chronicles the tense politics of everyday life in Okinawa. Combining historical, anthropological, literary, and cultural studies analyses, Masamichi (Marro) Inoue deftly reveals the ‘multitude’ of social actors and their complex reactions to the extended presence of the US military across the Pacific.”— Hiroshi Kitamura, William & Mary

“In a project that ranges from deeply personal ethnographic encounters to rigorous political and philosophical critique, Masamichi (Marro) Inoue grapples with the question of how Okinawans have lived their lives in and against the enormity of the Empire. Creative and provocative, he rejects expected histories, questions conventional categories, and challenges anticipated analyses.”— Christopher Nelson, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill

This scholarly work does a good job of indicating the nuances and the conflict between Okinawa and the U.S.-Japan alliance. Recommended for graduate students and readers interested in modern East Asia.

— Joshua Wallace, Library Journal

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction
Part I. Anti-base Struggles in Henoko and the Formation of the Community of Nuchi Du Takara by the Okinawan Multitude
Introduction to Part I
Chapter 1: Anti-base Struggles in Henoko, 2004-2023
Chapter 2: Protest as a Life-Form of the Okinawan Multitude: Internal Workings of the Community of Nuchi Du Takara
Conclusion to Part 1
Part II . Money and Taboo: Okinawan Subjectivity as “a Changing Same” and the Construction of the Community of Nuchi Du Takara
Introduction to Part II
Chapter 3: Ambivalence toward the U.S. Military: Formation of the Androcentric Community by the Okinawan “People” (1945-1972)
Chapter 4: Money and the Development of Okinawan Citizenship in Post-Reversion Okinawa (1970s-1990s)
Conclusion to Part II
Part III. Empire in the Asia-Pacific Region: Between American/Global and Japanese/National
Introduction to Part III
Chapter 5: American/Global/Postmodern Tendencies of Empire: Five Historical Moments of Its Formation and Transformation
Chapter 6: Dojin and Okinawa: Official Nationalism v.1, v.2, and v.3
Conclusion to Part III
Part IV. A Paradigm beyond Self and Other: The Okinawan Multitude within and against Empire in the Asia-Pacific Region
Introduction to Part IV
Chapter 7: The Mimetic Production of the Okinawan Multitude in the Planetary Time-Space Chapter 8: Conclusion: Collective Security from an Okinawan Perspective
References

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