Myth, Protest and Struggle in Okinawa

The anti-war landowners 115
been engaged in their solitary and painful struggle against the Japanese government
and unsympathetic family members, relatives, and other community members
(Interview, April 1999). In February 1987, however, the Land Expropriation
Committee approved the Bureau’s application for land expropriation for a period
of ten years instead of twenty years.
For the next period of compulsory lease from 1987, the Bureau applied for the
occupation for another twenty years. Arasaki argues that this was a counter-measure
against the increased non-contract landowners because of the One-tsubo movement,
which had expanded its members to more than two thousand. The Anti-War
Landowners’ Organization, the One-Tsubo Anti-War Landowners’ Organization,
Iken Kyōtō, and two attorney groups have been the main players of the anti-war
landowners’ legal struggle. Over the years, the One-tsubo landowners supported
the anti-war landowners by observing the public legal hearings, organizing rallies
after the court cases, with funding, or simply by contributing to the numbers of
anti-war landowners.
In 1990, the number of anti-war landowners increased. Of those who originally
leased land to the military from 1972 with consent, 70 landowners decided not to
renew their contracts. 14 An additional five hundred became One-tsubo anti-war
landowners, buying a property in the Futenma Air Station, and there were three
landowners who owned properties in the Naha Military Port. 15 For their properties,
the Bureau applied for an additional ten years’ compulsory use on 27 November. 16
After only two public hearings, the Committee approved the compulsory use of
the objectors’ properties, for a period of five years from May 1992 (Arasaki 1995:
197–9, 212). The anti-war landowners and One-tsubo anti-war landowners took
the Committee’s decision to court. Anti-war landowners had also initiated several
similar court cases against the US military’s use of properties without the landowners’
consent in 1985, 1990, 1992, and 1994. Furthermore, in October 1998,
seven anti-war landowners filed a case against the US Military Special Measures
Law, claiming it was unconstitutional (Ryūkyū Shimpō 27 October 1998). Most of
these court cases took more than a decade each to settle, exhausting the energy
and resources for anti-base protest (Hitotsubo Hansen 1995: 7–10).
On a daily basis, many anti-base movements and protests were routinely
conducted by a specialist peace sector, formed by ideological like-minded and
organizationally closely affiliated unions and organizations. The Okinawa Peace
Movement Centre (Heiwa Undō senta) is one such organization. It is the biggest
coalition of any kind in Okinawa, specializing in peace movement activities specific
to Okinawa, including opposition to the US military bases. It is a coalition of 35
Okinawan unions and parties, including the OSMP, the JSP (since January 1996,
the Japan Social Democratic Party, JSDP) Okinawa Branch, the Zenchurō Okinawa
Branch and the Okinawa Teachers Union. After the reversion these unions had
mostly become affiliated with the mainland Japanese coalition of workers’ unions,
Rengō (Japanese Trade Union Confederation). 17 The Okinawa Peace Movement
Centre is affiliated to the Peace Movement Centres that exist in other prefectures
in mainland Japan. The Okinawa Peace Movement Centre members are linked with
other Japanese Peace Movement Centre members, for example through ‘Okinawa