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Paper short abstract:

This paper presents preliminary results of my analysis of the construction of cultural identity in Shimao Toshio’s Southern Island essays. This is an important step in assessing its role in the broader context of the discourse on Okinawan identity.

Paper long abstract:

Japanese writer Shimao Toshio is known for participating in the discourse on Okinawan cultural identity and its relationship to the Japanese mainland in his writings on the Southern Islands, having summarised his ideas and assumptions under the term “Yaponeshia”. This concept focuses on the heterogeneity of the Japanese culture, proposing a counter-concept to the prevalent notion of cultural homogeneity as advocated by the nihonjinron. With this idea, Shimao turns attention to the periphery, especially Okinawa and Amami, as an important element of Japanese culture.

Born in Yokohama, Shimao writes his essays on Okinawa from the perspective of an ‘outsider’. Nonetheless, his ideas have been utilised by proponents of political discourses such as Okinawan anti-reversionists at the end of the 1960s. On the other hand, Shimao’s depiction of the Ryūkyū Islands can also be interpreted as part of the nantōron (Southern Island discourse), strengthening Japan’s claim over the Southern Islands. While there are many works about Shimao’s writings, none have systematically analysed his ideas about culture in their entirety yet.

I explore Shimao’s attempt at creating a new cultural identity (namely Yaponeshia) for the Ryūkyū Islands and mainland Japan. I am focusing on the distinction between the ‘self’ and the ‘other’ in his texts as an important part of (cultural) identity formation. In this talk I will present preliminary results of this research, particularly focusing on Shimao’s construction of Okinawan culture through his gaze of an ‘outsider’ as part of the construction of Yaponeshia as a cultural identity. To assess his writings on a macro and micro level, I am using quantitative and qualitative methods, combining a computerised analysis with an in-depth textual analysis. The results will be discussed against the historical and cultural backdrop of that time, drawing on theories of Othering. This presents an important step in assessing Shimao’s entire Southern Island discourse and its role in the broader context of the discourse on Okinawan identity and how it is perceived.