Southern Exposure: Modern Japanese Literature from Okinawa

Modern Okinawa has been forged by a history of conquest and occupation by mainland Japan and the United States. Its sense of dual subjugation and the propensity of its writers to confront their own complicity with Japanese militarism imbues Okinawa's literary tradition with insightful perspectives on a wide range of issues, including the ongoing discrimination against ethnic minorities in both Japan and the United States and the conflicting desires for Okinawa's assimilation to, and autonomy from, mainland Japan.

But Okinawa's literary tradition is as deeply rooted in the region's lush semi-tropical landscapes as in the forces of history. In the hands of skillful writers, the brilliant flora and dense forests, the pastel waters and coral reefs, are revealed as sites of not only breathtaking beauty but of horror and depredation. Okinawans' quest to recover their region's ancient cultural heritage is invariably haunted by the phantoms of war and occupation, phantoms that have been all but effaced from the mainstream literature of contemporary Japan. Yet as this anthology demonstrates, Okinawan writers often suffuse their works with a lyricism and humor that disarms readers while bringing them face to face with the region's richly ambiguous legacy.

Author Biography: Michael Molasky is professor of Japanese at Connecticut College in New London. Steve Rabson is associate professor of Japanese at Brown University.