Myth, Protest and Struggle in Okinawa

The third wave and beyond 173
the referendum campaign. One member, who also joined the referendum campaign
as an ‘ordinary, inexperienced activist’ and a mother, says, ‘These days, when I
hear the word “mother” in relation to the base issue, I feel instantly exhausted; I
feel my ‘motherhood’ is being used’ (Interview, February 2002). The internal
gendered power relations and the role of women in subordinate positions within
anti-base organisations had not become a major, public issue.
Nevertheless, during the anti-heliport struggle, the anti-base women stepped into
a new realm of collective action, which is to change, or be aware of, the gender
dynamics within the community of protest, often expressed in humorous, casual
comments such as: ‘We cannot leave this to the men any more’. Forming femaleonly
groups separately was an act of ‘saying sayonara’ to a male and senioritydominated
anti-base organization, without explicitly engaging in confrontation with
specific individuals, namely, experienced male activists in their forties and fifties
who were sometimes perceived to be limiting the expansion and improvement of
the protest movement. Organizing female-only collective action separately from
male counterparts was itself a political statement. It questioned the subject of
‘citizens’ movements’, and the lack of recognition and tolerance towards diversity
in the community of protest in Okinawa.
Immediately before the referendum, women’s groups from all over Okinawa
engaged in a joint activity. As the pro-base group’s campaign was becoming
increasingly aggressive, the Kamadu, Jannukai, and the Jukkuno Kai members
planned a rejuvenating demonstration called michi-junay, which looked like a
traditional Okinawan eisah performance on the street. They were first worried
how many people would turn up. However, to their deep encouragement, women’s
groups including Yarukies, OWAAMV and groups from elsewhere, such as Onna
village, came to join this michi-junay in Nago. This occasion was very special. This
is when the ‘Reach to the Heart Women’s Voice (Kokoro ni Todoke Onna-tachi
no Koe) Network’, an Okinawa-wide women’s network, was formed. Takaesu
Ayano, a female coffee shop manager from southern Okinawa, says, ‘I could not
just watch these women. They really sounded like they were personally addressing
me, “Let’s do this together”‘ (Interview, May 1999). She contacted her female
friends in Okinawa and in mainland Japan, and raised funds for a newspaper
advertisement of women’s opposition to the heliport construction. The Network
further engaged in humorous and inspiring collective action in Naha and Tokyo. 41
The unai method of these women showed that it was all right to have no experience
in political activism or not to belong to an established organization. As individuals
with passion and ideas, it was also possible to bond and work together with people
in different places, backgrounds, and opinions. It was the unai method that helped
bind women from different locations within Okinawa.
The referendum was held on 21 December 1997. The majority – 53.8 per cent
– of Nago residents voted against the heliport construction. 42 Nevertheless, Nago
Mayor Higa officially approved the heliport construction in Henoko on the condition
that the state provide special assistance for the local economy, and then resigned
on 24 December. The referendum result, earned by hard work and democratic
procedures, was squashed by the state power. This event was traumatic, to put it