Haisai JET is the Okinawa JET monthly newsletter produced by the International Exchange Division of the Okinawa Prefectural Government. If you would like to subscribe (Japan only) please contact the Editor via email below. Submissions for each issue of Haisai JET close on the 20th of each month.
It's that time of year again and 'Whale Fever' has hit@the Keramas. The whales just couldnft wait to arrive, and whereas the first whales of the season arrived on January 3rd last year, this time humpbacks were spotted off the north-west coast of Zamami Island, Okinawa as early as Sunday, December 23rd.
The protected waters near Geruma, Aka and Zamami Islands in the Kerama island chain provide a warm and safe haven for humpback whales to breed. Though they were once hunted there, during the last ten years the whales have begun to return and are now welcomed as part of Zamami's Ecotourism program.
Humpbacks fall into the 'baleen' classification of whales, so called because they eat plankton and small fish, which are strained through the whales' baleen plates. Communicating by sound, much like humans, the singing of the humpbacks is often heard underwater up to a distance of 30km while their low moans are
audible from as far as 180km. Humpback whales mate from January to April, after which they leave the waters of Zamami, giving birth the following winter. Once the newborn calves become strong enough, they will journey north with their mothers, following the currents for food and often accompanied by a male escort who is waiting for an opportunity to mate.
The activities obvservable near Zamami relate to mating, the most spectacular of which are the breaches, when the humpbacks leap high above the water and back-flop. Groups of male whales known as 'mating pods' approach the females and individual males will compete for attention, sometimes battling so fiercely that injuries result. The whales sing at this time, perhaps love songs, and the songs may continue for hours. Typical behaviours also include slapping of the pec, tail and head on top of the water, the much-photographed fluke-up and fluke-down dives with tail raised high, and 'spouting'. A 'spout' or 'blow' is when the whale breathes out water, and it is this water spray that is first detected by staff with binoculars in the observation decks.
Once the whales have been observed, whale-watching boats are contacted by radio transmittor. This year, weather permitting, boats will be running from January
to April once or twice daily for two hour viewing sessions which cost \5000 per person. In February and March, the large Amami Maru ferry is expected to be available once a week for whale watching tours. In addition, there are ten observation decks dotted
around the three islands forming Zamami-son. The lookouts provide spectacular views and picnic facilities.
Sakura Zensen (÷‘Oüj
Kyotsuke, rei, suwatte kudasai.
eToday class, we will be continuing our exploration of Japanese Culture and festivals. Wefll start the lesson by watching a video on Cherry Blossom viewing which is known as, Hanami.f
Essays on Okinawa Problems
(Masahide Ota
Published by Yui Shuppan Co. July 2000
ISBN 946539-10-7
Cost \1,600
Available at most retail stores)
If you are interested in understanding Okinawafs current political, economic and to some degree social situation then this book will give you a good grounding.
Essentially a collection of papers written by Masahide Ota, who is very well qualified to talk about the topic of the Battle of Okinawa and the post war difficulties and experiences of Okinawa. While a student, he was drafted by the Japanese Imperial Army into the eBlood and Iron Student Corpsf and mobilized in the defence of Okinawa in April of 1945, and went on to write a number of books on the Battle. During his two terms as Governor of Okinawa Prefecture he openly campaigned for a reduction in the size of US military bases in Okinawa, even to the point of refusing to sign the renewal leases for the bases, which lead to the Japanese National Government suing him in 1996. Included in the book is his testimony before the Supreme Court of Japan addressing Okinawan landownersf concerns about the forcible acquisition of their land. By reading this collection of papers, which have been accumulated over a number of years, one comes to understand the difficult situation that confronts Okinawa in regards to the bases, and the likelihood of little changing in the future.
Some of the more interesting aspects outlined in the book are the historical attitudes of mainland Japanese towards Okinawans, which is used to explain the efour betrayalsf commited by Japan to the people of Okinawa. The first betrayal goes back to the Meiji Era, in 1879, the central government decided to severe all ties between China and the Ryukyu kingdom, by structuring and renaming the archiapelago Okinawa Prefecture. During this time there was a plan to give the Yaeyama islands to China as a gift in return for favourable trading relations, which offended many Okinawans. The second betrayal was the sacrifice of Okinawa during World War Two. While the military government in Japan knew they had already lost the war by early 1945, they persisted in their resistance in the hope of getting better Peace terms should they resist fiercely in Okinawa. The third betrayal was at the San Francisco Peace Treaty signed on September of 1951 in which Japan gave Okinawa to the United States as a peace offering. The final betrayal was after 1972 when there was no real attempt at resolving the size of the military bases on Okinawa; many argue that very little has changed since reversion to Japan. It is as if Japan and America have co-conspired to maintain US military presence in Okinawa.
I have heard that the Japanese Government pays for 70-80% of the maintenance cost of the US military bases in Okinawa. Reflecting on current events in the news this seems to rings true; such as the discovery of 130 drums of waste petroleum effluent dumped on vacant land in Chatan. The origins of the drums have been traced back to the US bases, but the Japanese Government is paying for the clean up.
This book is written honestly and without anger, and looks closely at the character of the Okinawan people without any notions of romanticism or ascendancy. Ota considers the origins of Okinawan docility and pessimism, tracing it back to historical discrimination from mainland Japanese, and the great gulf that existed between the wealthy minority and the very poor majority in the Ryukyu kingdom. He also talks about the early civil rights movement in Okinawa and some of its main leaders, the obstacles they faced as well as their achievements.
The issue of US military bases forms the predominate theme of the essays; from how the US first perceived the Ryukyu islands from Commodore Perryfs visit in 1853 (en route to Yokohama, Japan), to the well planned strategies of how to occupy Okinawa and use it as base to launch further incursions into mainland Japan, and the establishment of Okinawa as the eKeystone of the Pacificf during the Cold War.
If I had to choose a quote from the book that would perhaps summarise the whole attitude of the US military to Okinawa, it would be from the section quoted from Jon Halliday and Gavan McCormackfs research;
geOkinawansf official experience of the United States began in 1945, when the island was ruled as, in effect, a US colony, governed by an American General, based on the dollar, occupied by legions of troops: The best land was confiscated and turned into bases and the traditional livelihood of the people destroyed, so that the economy has become a typically colonial one-crop one- and the crop is war. 44% of arable land on the main island has been converted into bases; one 6th of the entire workforce is employed by the military. The base complex, occupied by some 45,000 US troops, has been to the USA gthe Keystone of the Pacifich: source of bombing raids against Indochina; location of major depots for nuclear, gas and chemical and bacteriological weapons supply, and of guerrilla warfare schools in realistic Asian conditions; convenient surveillance and spying post against China and North Korea, and important staging post for dry run exercises in counter-revolutionary warfare in Korea and elsewhere in Asia. Precisely because it has been a colony, not subject to ginterferenceh, Okinawa has been a prize possession of the American military. The million gindigenous personnelh have provided a useful supply of cheap labour, both directly on the bases and indirectly as servants and prostitutes and the like, to be engaged as such in the grand design, but that usefulness has weighed progressively less heavily in the balance against the difficulties of keeping them sufficiently repressed and downtrodden as to be amenableh.
When reading about the economic history of post-war Okinawa one finds that most of the boom periods within the Okinawan economy coincide with the periods of major wars engaged in by the USA. For example the first boom period was during the early 1950fs during the Korean war, and then the late sixties and early seventies during the Vietnam war; the quote of a one-crop economy rings true. For more information on the post-war Okinawan economy go to
Post-War Okinawan Economic History
The US bases contribute about 4.5% to the total Prefectural revenue, employ about 1% of the population, yet occupy 19% of the total land area of the main island. There are 29 sea zones and 20 areas of airspace around Okinawa which are designated US military training areas. Furthermore, Kadena airbase controls air traffic in a 80 km radius around the base up to an altitude of 6,096m. Within this the Ministry of Transport controls an 8km radius around Naha airport to an altitude of 0.6kms.
Even the Prefectural Emergency Services, when carrying out their annual disaster drills are required to report, aircraft types, the altitude they will be flying, times and destinations to the US military well before any drills can take place. (figures based on the fiscal year 2000. Taken from gUS military bases in Okinawah produced by the Military Base Affairs Office, Okinawan Prefectural Government).
The book in one sense chronicles Otafs continuing struggle to free Okinawa from US military bases. In this David versus Goliath struggle one cannot but have admiration for Otafs efforts and his refusal to give in. Many commentators argue that Otafs defiant attitude reflects one that is currently evolving in the Okinawan psyche - having started with the forced removal of Okinawans from their land by the US military, and today is developing into a considerable force of protest.
Paul Saeki
Freshmen Orientation 2002
How would you like to take some time off from your usual schedule and have some fun without taking any nenkyu?
Hi, my name is Mary Yeung, at Naha Nishi Koko. My school runs an annual freshman English orientation, to be held on April 23rd and 24th (Tuesday and Wednesday), at the Itoman Youth Center (itfs an overnight thing). We are looking for four volunteers to basically have fun with 4 small classes of 20 cute newbies for a day. You can teach anything you want, play any game you want, talk about anything you want – the class is yours and yours alone. Food and lodging would be provided, as would a small travel fee.
As this is volunteer, anyone is free to apply, whether you be a JET CIR or ALT, a private ALT, an exchange student, etc. so if you know anyone who would be interested, that would be excellent too. Teaching experience is not required, however it may be convenient. For all those CIRs and ALTs, Ifm sure we could swing it as an official business trip if you speak to your supervisors, as this would also be a great learning opportunity for you. Once you get the ok, Naha-Nishi will send your host institution the official letter and make it all official.
If you have any questions or comments, please get in touch with me, Mary Yeung, at Naha Nishi Koko. My email address is mymary@hotmail.com, and my phone & fax numbers at school are: (098) 858-8274 & (098) 858-2938 (respectively).
Naha-Nishi Senior High School
Freshmen Orientation 2002
Every year, Naha-Nishi Senior High School organizes a freshman orientation for our new incoming students in our International Humanities Course (‘Ûl•¶‰È). This is a unique course where students focus on English language learning, so there will be certain expectations they need to meet. In order to prepare and motivate our students, we want to start off right and create an encouraging environment – semi-intensive seminars with native English speakers. There will be about 80 students and we require 4 native English speakers to give one lesson to 4 classes of 20 students, making for smaller classes, as well as better class management and class attention. Moreover, since itfs two-day event held at Itoman Youth Center (April 23-24, Tuesday and Wednesday), itfs also a chance for them develop relationships with English teachers and to experience daily life conversations with English teachers
General Outline/Schedule at Itoman Youth Center
April 23
Morning
Opening Ceremony
- International Humanities Course (IHS) Orientation
Ø About Naha-Nishi and IHS
Ø Introduction of English teachers (volunteers included)
- an English activity
Evening
- Cultural Exchange Performance by students and teachers
April 24
Morning
- All day English Seminars
- Closing Ceremony
- Photograph
If your supervisors have questions or would like verification, please have them call Chie Miyagi, the chief of IHS. Phone & fax numbers at school are:
(098) 858-8274 &
(098) 858-2938 (respectively).
DEADLINE: March 15, 2002
CONTACT:
Mary or Chie
Naha-Nishi Senior High School
Kanegusuku, Naha
Phone: (098) 858-8274
Fax: (098) 858-2938
The Japanese Mind
