The purpose of this article is to trace the evolution of sugar production in Okinawa under U.S. rule and to position the issues that emerge from this as key to the study of the contemporary history of Okinawa. The article first discusses the question of the significance of the island’s existence as a sugar-producing region. During the postwar period in which Japan lost control of Taiwan and the South Sea islands, it was likely that Okinawa would heighten its potential as a sugar-producing region. In fact, its sugar production expanded rapidly in the early 1960s due to policies to increase domestic sugar production. However, after the Japanese government took steps to liberalize sugar imports in 1963, the production of sugar in Okinawa began to decline, accelerating the withdrawal of labor force from agriculture. It is thus obvious that the same problem that modern Okinawa faced as a sugar-producing region continued until the 1960s, and this should be positioned as a key issue in the study of contemporary Okinawan history. The second point concerns the labor force that withdrew from agriculture during the periods of contraction of sugar production. Of particular importance here is the issue of the expansion of low-wage labor and underemployment in the Okinawan labor market in the late 1960s, as female laborers who had left agriculture remained without employment opportunities. By focusing on this issue, it becomes possible to analyze the relation between the agricultural problems during the period of U.S. occupation and the labor problems that ensued in the post-reversion eras.

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In the late 1950s, the United States administration of Okinawa faced great difficulties involving “the land problem”, which caused the mass protest movement called “Shimagurumi Tousou”. The United States Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands (USCAR) needed some means of appeasing Okinawan people. This paper focuses the typhoon “Emma”, which stroked the mainland of Okinawa in 1956 and brought severe damage to Okinawan housing, crops, commercial precises and utilities. This paper explores the development of the typhoon “Emma” relief and reconstruction program led by USCAR and examines the character of the program as an appeasing policy of the occupier. The results were as follows. First, typhoon “Emma” caused more severe damage to the rural area including local islands, in which some people forced out from their lives for the United States land acquisition program to the Ryukyu Islands had to resettled. Second, USCAR had researched for means of appeasing Okinawan people ahead of the typhoon “Emma”, so they could take immediate action for the disaster. Importantly, they had discussed the way of finance with the Department of State, the Department of Defense, the Department of Agriculture, and other agencies of the United States. Finally, the analysis of fund allocation showed the typhoon “Emma” relief and reconstruction program did not have only the aspect of social policy but also appeasing policy.

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After the end of the Pacific War, a program was initiated with the objective of dispatching young individuals from the US-occupied Okinawa to Hawaii under the title of “International Farm Youth Exchange Program”. Concurrently, the United States Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands (USCAR), the governing authority of Okinawa during that period, initiated many programs for sending Okinawans to various regions within the United States, as well as to Taiwan and Southeast Asia, for the purposes of training and education. The International Farm Youth Exchange Program distinguished itself from these programs in that the existence of the Okinawan immigrants’ community in Hawaii played an indispensable role in both its establishment and execution. This paper seeks to initially elucidate the process by which Farm Youths were dispatched from Okinawa to Hawaii during the period of US occupation. Furthermore, this paper will delve into the pivotal role played by an individual called Baron Goto in fostering the relationship with the Okinawan community in Hawaii, which was instrumental in realizing the objectives of the program. Baron Goto, a person Japanese American residing in Hawaii, had achieved significant acclaim in the field of agriculture and had held the position of Vice Chancellor at the East-West Center in Hawaii since 1962. Founded in 1960 in Hawaii, the East-West Center served as an educational institution bridging the “East and West” countries during the Cold War era. For the Farm Youths dispatched from Okinawa, this program not only provided them with an opportunity to acquire agricultural skills in Hawaii but also to learn the American way of life and values. Furthermore, through their collaboration in this program, the Okinawan community in Hawaii not only contributed to the postwar agricultural resurgence in Okinawa but also became an integral component of the United States’ Cold War cultural diplomacy.

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In Okinawa, the relationship between people and pigs has changed drastically in the process of establishing a mass production system of pigs and completing the shift to “animal factory.” Especially since the 1990s, while pork is preferred and consumed in large quantities by the majority of consumers, live pigs are disliked as “smelly and dirty,” and there is even a movement toward eliminating pig farms. This paper aims to clarify the drastic transformation of the relationship between people and pigs in Okinawa in the process of industrialization of pig farming within the framework of anthropology, which deals with the relationship between people and animals. First, we overview the history of pig farming and its pork-centered food culture in Okinawa. We then look back at the history of the revival and industrialization of pig farming after World War II, paying special attention to the environmental changes that occurred during the process of raising large numbers of pigs and the shift to full-time pig production. What is important here is the emergence of a new pig “bad odor” discourse parallel to the process of “separation” of pigs away from human habitation. By examining in detail, the changes in the physical distance between people and pigs that occurred during the process of industrialization, such as the remoteness of pigs and the birth of the new “odor” discourse, this paper describes the historical and environmental changes in which the anti-pig farm movement arose, in contradiction with the mass consumption of pork. Finally, we envision the form of the “ethics of meat eating” that should be fostered under a system of mass production and mass consumption.

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