The Kin Bay and Kisenbaru Struggles in Okinawa during the 1970s

Abstract

In Okinawa, after the 1972 reversion to Japan, two movements existed concurrently: the Kin Bay Struggle and the Kisenbaru Struggle. The former opposed the landfill of Kin Bay on the eastern coast of Okinawa and the construction of oil storage tanks. The latter protested the U.S. military live-fire exercises in the mountains of northern-central Okinawa. Both struggles began in 1973 and highlighted the Japanese government’s newfound power as an administrator of the newly incorporated prefecture, as the latter was strengthening its Self-Defense Forces, with structural dependence on U.S. military “deterrence,” and increasing the national oil reserves in response to two global oil crises. While the Kin Bay Struggle emerged as a local people’s movement and the Kisenbaru Struggle originated as a labor movement, they both expanded with popular support, addressing broader island-wide issues and questioning national policies on economic development and military defense. However, in the end, these struggles that stood up to protect local livelihood faced police and legal repression and lost their momentum. As Okinawan people’s lives were threatened by state power, these two movements attempted to establish a foothold to continue their activities. The Kin Bay struggle constructed the people’s commons that would protect the sea from pollution and destruction even in such a moment of defeat, connecting with analogous struggles across the Pacific, while the Kisenbaru struggle helped build support and solidarity for the defendants prosecuted for committing direct action in violation of the Special Criminal Law.