Shifting Boundaries of Okinawa: The Agricultural Crisis and Expulsion of Workers to the Colonies

The cognitive and geographical borders of the Japanese empire were constantly in flux since the establishment of the modern nation-state in 1868.  In much the same way, the borders of Okinawa, formally included inside of the state in 1879 as prefecture, shifted over time.  While it is possible to examine these fluctuations from a variety of approaches, this presentation focuses primarily on the reconfiguration of social relations after the First World War.  Specifically, the question of why Okinawa and its people were wholeheartedly included into the boundaries of Japan Proper after being relegated to an extremely precarious position within the national community for the first 30-odd years of its existence will be investigated.  The presentation argues that Okinawa’s inclusion into the national agrarian question – the target of relief by the state – must be considered in relation to the simultaneous expulsion of its surplus population from the prefecture and into the empire’s newly acquired colonies in the South Seas.