Dietz: State Making and Legitimization of Foreign Military Presence

The part I found most interest was not just about the US presence on Okinawa but all the different mechanisms the US used both before and after the Second World War to maintain their presence there. The United States manipulated the perception of Okinawa as part of Japan and then not, and so forth ever since the time of Matthew Perry. The US also unilaterally severed the islands from Japan after the World War Two. The aspect I found most intriguing however was how the US used post-colonial institutions such as the UN to further its hold on the islands. Kelly points out that the US established themselves as trustee of Okinawa in a UN resolution. I like the language she points out “the trust territory shall play its part in the maintenance of international peace and security”(p9). The US was really able in this case to exploit post-colonial institutions to further their semi-colonial ambitions.

I also never realized the complexity of the history of Okinawa. So often they are simply represented as part of Japan that I never realized how separate they are from mainland Japan. I found it interest that their geographical location was so much closer to so many other Asian powers, than Japan. Also that they are culturally/religiously similar to China, rather than Buddhists like Japan.