Memory, Nostalgia and the Creation of “Home”: An Okinawan Woman's Journey

This study looks at how elderly Okinawan women return migrants created and re-created perceptions of “home” upon their return to Okinawa through the life story of an Okinawan woman presently living in Naha, Okinawa.  Married to Filipino base workers during the American Occupation of Okinawa, these so-called “war brides” spent a considerable number of years in their husbands’ country, assimilating into Filipino culture as well as negotiating their identities as Okinawan women amid wartime sentiments against the Japanese in post-war Philippines.  In recent years, many of these women have been returning to Okinawa, creating a significant community – albeit small in number – of Okinawan women return migrants.

For this paper, I seek to explore how migration, memory, and nostalgia came to define these women’s identities as return migrants in an Okinawa that saw the ravages of war (i.e. the Battle of Okinawa) and continues to negotiate its place vis-à-vis the Japanese mainland (i.e. the current base-related issues) by focusing primarily on one woman’s life history.  Along with this interview that was carried out in October 2012 (as well as subsequent conversations with her), data culled from fieldwork, interviews with other Okinawan returnees, and interviews with family members of these women are to be utilized as well.  The migration of Okinawan women to the Philippines during the immediate post-war years is a lesser known phenomenon in contrast to the migration of “war brides” to the United States.  While similarities present themselves in these two migration streams, circumstances widely differ, and thus it is hoped that this research would be a contribution to existing on Okinawan women’s international marriages and overseas migration during the post-war years.