Conversion of the Closed Military Bases Led by ‘Kyoyukai as Association’ in Okinawa:

The Concept and Reality of Kyoyukai

Abstract

This paper discusses Kyoyukai as a community and Kyoyukai as an association, a topic that few researchers have focused on, through considering the process of conversion of the U.S. military-base closure in Okinawa. One of the largest shopping malls in Okinawa located in Kita-nakagusuku Village is the most recent case of conversion. This paper focuses on Kyoyukai as an association, which most landowners of U.S. military-base sites in this area have joined, and which has played an important role in the redevelopment of this area. Most studies of Kyoyukai in Okinawa have been community studies of urban migrants. Kyoyukai are the communities formed by relationships of “Shima,” which are spiritual hometowns of people in Okinawa. On the other hand, Kyoyukai as “association” refers to associations that have been organized to manage and operate the properties of Shima lands, such as the land rental fee of the U.S. military-base sites. These have also been founded by expellees who were expelled from their Shima by construction of the U.S. military bases in the 1970s. Kyoyukai as association were supposed to be created by the will of these expellees to rebuild their own homes, but the reality is far different. By analyzing the path that Kyoyukai as association has chosen to rebuild, gaps between the original philosophy and the behavior of members of Kyoyukai (as association) are identified. The following three issues are set after this analysis: first, the whereabouts of Kyoyukai as associations, second, the crisis of disappearance of ancient Shima cultures, and third, the unshakable continuation of the Shima relationship in Okinawa.