Okinawan Protest Music
Okinawa's musicians provide a focus for Japanese protest against US bases
With Barack Obama visiting Japan in April, resentment at plans for the US Futenma military base is finding a musical voice
If an island of 1.4m people can be summed up in a sound, it is that of the sanshin.
Where there are people on Okinawa, a Japanese island almost 1,000 miles
south of Tokyo, the distinctive tones of the three-stringed instrument
are never far away.
Music is deeply rooted in Okinawa's tragic place in Japan's history and the conduit for its modern grievances against the glut of US military bases on the island. As Barack Obama prepares to visit Tokyo to meet Japan's prime minister, Shinzo Abe, later in April, the anti-war message of sanshin players such as Shoukichi Kina and Misako Oshiro is back in vogue as the subtropical island confronts its biggest political challenge since it reverted from US to Japanese rule in the 1970s..
In his mid-60s, Kina cuts a controversial figure as spiritual leader of Okinawa's activist musicians. Since the release of their first single Haisai Ojisan (Hey, Man!) in the 1970s, Kina and his band Champloose have done more than any other artists to secure Okinawan music against competition from mass-market Japanese J-pop and the more innocent musical motifs of the mainland folk genres minyo and enka.
"Our job as musicians should be to celebrate the good and do something about fixing the bad," said Kina, who some have called Okinawa's answer to Bob Marley. "That's why I hate the military bases here, but I love Americans."
Though it accounts for less than 1% of Japan's total area, Okinawa is now home to about 75% of US bases in Japan and half its 50,000 troops. Military facilities take up a fifth of the island. Obama and Abe are expected to discuss the controversial relocation of Futenma, a sprawling US marine base, from a heavily populated part of Okinawa to an unspoiled location on the island's northeast coast, as the allies attempt to lessen the island's military burden. The move is opposed by most islanders, including the residents of Nago, whose city lies near the proposed site for the new base.
Music is deeply rooted in Okinawa's tragic place in Japan's history and the conduit for its modern grievances against the glut of US military bases on the island. As Barack Obama prepares to visit Tokyo to meet Japan's prime minister, Shinzo Abe, later in April, the anti-war message of sanshin players such as Shoukichi Kina and Misako Oshiro is back in vogue as the subtropical island confronts its biggest political challenge since it reverted from US to Japanese rule in the 1970s..
In his mid-60s, Kina cuts a controversial figure as spiritual leader of Okinawa's activist musicians. Since the release of their first single Haisai Ojisan (Hey, Man!) in the 1970s, Kina and his band Champloose have done more than any other artists to secure Okinawan music against competition from mass-market Japanese J-pop and the more innocent musical motifs of the mainland folk genres minyo and enka.
"Our job as musicians should be to celebrate the good and do something about fixing the bad," said Kina, who some have called Okinawa's answer to Bob Marley. "That's why I hate the military bases here, but I love Americans."
Though it accounts for less than 1% of Japan's total area, Okinawa is now home to about 75% of US bases in Japan and half its 50,000 troops. Military facilities take up a fifth of the island. Obama and Abe are expected to discuss the controversial relocation of Futenma, a sprawling US marine base, from a heavily populated part of Okinawa to an unspoiled location on the island's northeast coast, as the allies attempt to lessen the island's military burden. The move is opposed by most islanders, including the residents of Nago, whose city lies near the proposed site for the new base.
The spirit of resistance pioneered by Kina is to be found in the more eclectic music of Tatsumi Chibana,
a quietly spoken 33-year-old university graduate and perhaps the most
visible of Okinawa's new generation of rebel artists, fusing traditional
sounds with rock, reggae and hip-hop.
After a US military helicopter from the Futenma US marine base crashed into Okinawa International University in 2004, Chibana was moved to write his best-known song, Tami no Domino (People's Domino), a collaboration between his band Duty Free Shopp and local rapper Kakumakushaka.
The incendiary lyrics reflect the feeling of many residents towards the ever-present threat to safety posed by the island's 27,000 US troops and their hardware: "Surrounded by weapons in the land of disorder; what the hell can you tell me about peace in a place like this?"
Most of Chibana's music eschews the sanshin and other traditional instruments, but his background looms large, he said. "I'm always aware of my Okinawan identity when I make music. OK, so I wasn't brought up listening to folk songs, but the spirit of that old music is in mine. It doesn't matter whether I play reggae, hip-hop or rock, it's still Okinawan music."
Despite appearances at concerts organised to protest against the Futenma relocation, Chibana is reluctant to be pigeonholed. "The base issue is huge, but my protests songs aren't anti-base, so much as pro-community. I'm not interested in the ideological battles between left and right. The theme I really want to explore through my music is that no matter what happens, local people's way of life must be protected."
Like Kina, Chibana occasionally sings in the Okinawan language Uchinaguchi – an artistic choice that renders his lyrics unintelligible to many Japanese, but which exemplifies the island's historical and emotional sense of detachment from the mainland.
In the 16th century, where the sanshin's origins lie, Okinawa was part of the Ryukyu kingdom, which, while politically independent, had tributary relations with Ming dynasty China. Forced annexation by Japan came in the late 1800s, followed in the 1940s by the carnage of the Pacific war.
Less than a century after it was forcibly made part of Japan, Okinawa was the scene of one of the second world war's bloodiest battles. An estimated 240,000 Japanese and Americans died, including more than a quarter of Okinawa's civilian population, after US forces invaded in June 1945. Japanese troops distributed grenades to civilians, urging them to commit suicide or risk being raped and murdered by American soldiers.
"There are lots of songs about how terribly the Okinawans were treated in the war," said John Potter, the author of the only English-language book on Okinawan music and a prolific blogger on the subject.
Okinawa's return to Japan in 1972 – almost three decades after the war – fuelled the local sense of "otherness" from the mainland.
Not all Okinawan musicians draw inspiration from the island's bloody past, Potter said. "Many songs come back to what a fantastic place Okinawa is. Lots of artists sing about their culture and being island people, and their pride in being different."
Poverty – Okinawa is Japan's poorest prefecture – and the looming clouds of conflict sent many people in search of new lives overseas, creating a diaspora whose youngest members are making their presence felt on the island's contemporary music scene.
Lucy Nagamine, a Peruvian-born singer whose grandparents left Okinawa shortly before the war, learned classical Ryukyu music from her grandmother and picked up her deceased grandfather's sanshin at the age of 10.
Before settling in her ancestral homeland several years ago, Lucy often sang for Okinawan immigrants in Peru who were desperate to preserve the emotional ties with home. "Now I'm here in Okinawa, away from the country of my birth, I know how my grandparents and other immigrants felt," she said in between songs at her regular venue, a restaurant in Naha.
"In those days immigrants had nothing to do except sing and play the sanshin. It was a central part of their existence, and why music and the Okinawan lifestyle are closely intertwined, even today."
Less polemic are Nenes, a group of four whose lineup has gone through several reincarnations since they were formed by the legendary artist and producer Sadao China in 1990. Nenes perform classic Okinawan songs for groups of tourists from the mainland.
One rare departure from their otherwise "safe" repertoire is their stirring version of Keisuke Kuwata's Heiwa no Kyuka, which simmers with resentment over Okinawa's bloody wartime sacrifice. "Who decided this country was at peace," the song asks, "Even before the people's tears have dried?"
"Now that we're confronting the base issue again, this is a good time to sing about peace," said 24-year-old Mayuko Higa. "It's important that the people who come to see us perform know why it's an important subject here."
Nenes' tourist-friendly melodies can seem a world away from Kina's ceaseless quest for social and political change, an artist who implores the world's armies to swap their weapons for musical instruments. His decade-old feud with NHK, Japan's national broadcaster, proves that Japan's mainstream media and firebrand politics can be uncomfortable bedfellows.
"They demanded that I drop any references to peace from my performance," Kina said, his arms in motion again as he recalls his incredulity. "I refused, of course, and they haven't invited me back since. The message for Okinawan musicians has always been that if you want to get on in this industry, then keep your mouth shut. But I'll say what I like."
After a US military helicopter from the Futenma US marine base crashed into Okinawa International University in 2004, Chibana was moved to write his best-known song, Tami no Domino (People's Domino), a collaboration between his band Duty Free Shopp and local rapper Kakumakushaka.
The incendiary lyrics reflect the feeling of many residents towards the ever-present threat to safety posed by the island's 27,000 US troops and their hardware: "Surrounded by weapons in the land of disorder; what the hell can you tell me about peace in a place like this?"
Most of Chibana's music eschews the sanshin and other traditional instruments, but his background looms large, he said. "I'm always aware of my Okinawan identity when I make music. OK, so I wasn't brought up listening to folk songs, but the spirit of that old music is in mine. It doesn't matter whether I play reggae, hip-hop or rock, it's still Okinawan music."
Despite appearances at concerts organised to protest against the Futenma relocation, Chibana is reluctant to be pigeonholed. "The base issue is huge, but my protests songs aren't anti-base, so much as pro-community. I'm not interested in the ideological battles between left and right. The theme I really want to explore through my music is that no matter what happens, local people's way of life must be protected."
Like Kina, Chibana occasionally sings in the Okinawan language Uchinaguchi – an artistic choice that renders his lyrics unintelligible to many Japanese, but which exemplifies the island's historical and emotional sense of detachment from the mainland.
In the 16th century, where the sanshin's origins lie, Okinawa was part of the Ryukyu kingdom, which, while politically independent, had tributary relations with Ming dynasty China. Forced annexation by Japan came in the late 1800s, followed in the 1940s by the carnage of the Pacific war.
Less than a century after it was forcibly made part of Japan, Okinawa was the scene of one of the second world war's bloodiest battles. An estimated 240,000 Japanese and Americans died, including more than a quarter of Okinawa's civilian population, after US forces invaded in June 1945. Japanese troops distributed grenades to civilians, urging them to commit suicide or risk being raped and murdered by American soldiers.
"There are lots of songs about how terribly the Okinawans were treated in the war," said John Potter, the author of the only English-language book on Okinawan music and a prolific blogger on the subject.
Okinawa's return to Japan in 1972 – almost three decades after the war – fuelled the local sense of "otherness" from the mainland.
Not all Okinawan musicians draw inspiration from the island's bloody past, Potter said. "Many songs come back to what a fantastic place Okinawa is. Lots of artists sing about their culture and being island people, and their pride in being different."
Poverty – Okinawa is Japan's poorest prefecture – and the looming clouds of conflict sent many people in search of new lives overseas, creating a diaspora whose youngest members are making their presence felt on the island's contemporary music scene.
Lucy Nagamine, a Peruvian-born singer whose grandparents left Okinawa shortly before the war, learned classical Ryukyu music from her grandmother and picked up her deceased grandfather's sanshin at the age of 10.
Before settling in her ancestral homeland several years ago, Lucy often sang for Okinawan immigrants in Peru who were desperate to preserve the emotional ties with home. "Now I'm here in Okinawa, away from the country of my birth, I know how my grandparents and other immigrants felt," she said in between songs at her regular venue, a restaurant in Naha.
"In those days immigrants had nothing to do except sing and play the sanshin. It was a central part of their existence, and why music and the Okinawan lifestyle are closely intertwined, even today."
Less polemic are Nenes, a group of four whose lineup has gone through several reincarnations since they were formed by the legendary artist and producer Sadao China in 1990. Nenes perform classic Okinawan songs for groups of tourists from the mainland.
One rare departure from their otherwise "safe" repertoire is their stirring version of Keisuke Kuwata's Heiwa no Kyuka, which simmers with resentment over Okinawa's bloody wartime sacrifice. "Who decided this country was at peace," the song asks, "Even before the people's tears have dried?"
"Now that we're confronting the base issue again, this is a good time to sing about peace," said 24-year-old Mayuko Higa. "It's important that the people who come to see us perform know why it's an important subject here."
Nenes' tourist-friendly melodies can seem a world away from Kina's ceaseless quest for social and political change, an artist who implores the world's armies to swap their weapons for musical instruments. His decade-old feud with NHK, Japan's national broadcaster, proves that Japan's mainstream media and firebrand politics can be uncomfortable bedfellows.
"They demanded that I drop any references to peace from my performance," Kina said, his arms in motion again as he recalls his incredulity. "I refused, of course, and they haven't invited me back since. The message for Okinawan musicians has always been that if you want to get on in this industry, then keep your mouth shut. But I'll say what I like."
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