![]() | Okinawa’s GI Brides: Their Lives in America Subjects: War brides -- United States; War brides -- Japan -- Okinawa Island; Japanese American women; Intercountry marriage -- Case studies; The American military started building its massive base complex in Okinawa at the end of World War II. During the decade that followed, US forces seized vast areas of privately owned land, evicting and impoverishing thousands of farmers. US military occupation rule, imposed during the Battle of Okinawa in 1945, lasted until 1972, twenty years longer than the Allied occupation of mainland Japan. Besides land seizures, Okinawans were subjected to numerous human rights violations, including oxymoronic "occupation law" that consistently favored the US military in cases of serious crimes against civilians, denial of the freedom to choose candidates for elected office, and strict limits on travel outside Okinawa, even to mainland Japan. The commanding military presence has persistently stymied economic development in Okinawa, which remains Japan's poorest prefecture. Etsuko Takushi Crissey (Author) Etsuko Takushi Crissey was reporter and editor at the Okinawa Times newspaper from 1975 to 1994. She holds a BA from the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa and an MA from New York University. She was curator at the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum from 1998 to 2000 and news anchor at the Okinawa Cable Network from 2000 to 2002.Steve Rabson (Translator) Steve Rabson is professor emeritus of East Asian studies at Brown University. |
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