Week 6 Discussion

What do you think are some of the impacts of being labeled as spies, or national traitors by the state and military for internal relations within Okinawan society? How do you think this impacted Okinawans’ treatment/views toward Korean women who were brought to the islands as “comfort women” beginning in 1941?

State or military can largely enhance citizens’ loyalty to the authority and establish deterrence among the mass public by labeling citizens as spies or national traitors. Okinawa was not a natural territory of Japan. At the time, Japan implemented military law and violently forced people to obey. Tomiyama states in the article, “For Ifa, violence was not a means possessed by subjects with a purpose; for him, violence was something continuously felt and feared” (Tomiyama 2000). According to Ifa, fear of violence penetrates every aspect of people’s life. Okinawan citizens had to obey military laws, or else they would face serious results. Consolidating the supreme power of authority often outweighs the actual purpose of arresting spies. The accusations of spies or national traitors were not always valid, but people who faced accusations normally would end up with execution no matter it was true or not. People were feared of the authority and no one dared to speak up even when facing unfair and false treatment. In such a context, it is not hard to understand that there was little the Okinawan people could do to alleviate the situation of the comfort women.