Disclaimer: The following blog post is not a reflection of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s opinion on the below topics.
TW: Sexual violence, rape
By Sam McQueen
Okinawa, Japan’s southernmost island, bears a deep history intertwined with militarism through imperial conquest, American occupation, and fierce battles held on its shores. Despite this tumultuous past, Okinawa remains a beacon of peace, where residents of the prefecture, especially women, work toward demilitarization for the safety of their families and the future of the Pacific.
At the end of World War II (1939-1945), with the August atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Okinawa was assumed by U.S. occupation. Within the same year, the Futenma Airbase was constructed, a herald of American influence. Coupled with the Korean War shortly after (1950 to the 1953 armistice) and the islands’ strategic location, mass expansion of military bases on the islands progressed and eventually culminated in 32 facilities in Okinawa alone – 70.6% of all U.S. military facilities in Japan, while only making up 0.6% of Japanese land mass.[1]
According to the Washington D.C. office of the Okinawan Prefectural Government, over 26,000 U.S. service members and civilian components are stationed in Okinawa, making up 6% of the population. With the American presence comes various controversies, as U.S. occupations have a dark history of military dominance, sexual violence, and disregard for local communities. The Japanese and American governments have consistently failed to produce safer outcomes for Okinawan residents – especially women and girls. Yet, Okinawan women have stood at the forefront, leading movements that spark international solidarity and raise awareness toward these ongoing issues.
In response to the continued violence, the International Women’s Network Against Militarism (IWNAM) was born. An embodiment of women’s courage and determination, women throughout the world work to mobilize and spread awareness of the various acts of violence toward women. IWNAM is just one branch of a larger organization of activists, policy-makers, teachers, and students; who support local campaigns and work across borders against US militarism.[2] The group does not run on a membership basis, but as a collaboration of women across borders against militarism.
The Network was founded as a resource for women – who are disproportionately the victims of American militaristic acts of violence – to connect and support each other across nations in their fight against American imperial efforts. From 1945 onward, IWNAM’s partner organization, Okinawa Women Act Against Military Violence, has kept a list of cases filed against U.S. components. From 1972 to 2011, 144 arrests were made for 127 cases of rape or attempted rape, but the actual tally is estimated to be far greater. Their mission seeks to end U.S. militarism and targeted sexual violence by actively expanding their network to other areas of American military presence, including Guahan (Guam), Puerto Rico, Hawai’i, Korea, Japan, and the Philippines.[3]
IWNAM’s formation was catalyzed by a horrific case. In November of 1995, three U.S. servicemen pleaded guilty under Japanese law to the abduction and rape of a 12-year-old Okinawan girl. In the girl’s statement to the court, she said “she is now scared whenever she sees a foreigner,”[4] symbolic of the start of a longstanding fear of U.S. presence. This sparked outrage across Japan and the world as an echo of militaristic sexual violence and off the curtails of the United Nations’ Fourth World Conference on Women held two months prior in Beijing. During the Beijing Conference, attendees declared that violence against women is a human rights violation.[5]
Okinawan women translated that pain into power, and what followed was a powerful call to action. This brought a new sense of responsibility to the women of IWNAM as they united for their first international conference in 1997 to discuss the ongoing effects of U.S. presence in Okinawa. Here, 40 women from five countries outlined five areas of focus: U.S. military violence on women, environmental and health effects of U.S. operations, Amerasian children, base conversion and redevelopment, and treaties and legal agreements between the U.S. and local governments. One of the main conclusions of this conference was a “clear conviction that the U.S. military presence is a threat to our security, not a protection.”[6]
Within the next few years, the women of IWNAM worked tirelessly, publishing many articles featured in the Asian Journal of Women’s Studies. These women also organized further protests against the Futenma air base relocation, worked to update the Status of Forces Agreements, which prevents US troops from being tried under Japanese law unless handed over, and began research on the forgotten history of the deeply embedded tradition of using Okinawan women for US prostitution.
In 2016, another high-profile injustice would befall Okinawa, this time on Rina Shimabukuro by an American contractor and former U.S. servicemen. Soon after, on May 20, 2016, a letter of demand was sent to President Obama, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and other decisive members of their respective cabinets in protest of this assault that ended in the death of the victim. In it, it states, “We cannot calm our raging hearts as we try to imagine how much fear and suffering she must have been in. Those of us who live in Okinawa are shocked beyond words as we recognize that this could have happened to us. So we stand together in pain and suffering.”[7]
In June 2017, IWNAM held a conference, returning to Okinawa for its 20th anniversary since its founding. During this, they reflected on other violent events at the hands of US servicemen. Joy Lehuanani Enomoto, one of three activists from Hawai’i, stated her reinvigoration to peace movements during her time in Okinawa, after seeing the strength and energy of peaceful protests: “There was this constant balance between pain and death, on the one hand, but also constant resilience.”[9]
In the following years, IWNAM would organize women and community members for marches and enlist their policy makers and academics to write letters of demands and amendments.
This resilience was carried forth in May 2023, when IWNAM convened once again to update its international demands in the Philippines. The demands of IWNAM are not just about ending military occupation, but about creating a future where women and children are no longer forced to live in fear. They call for the defunding of U.S. military operations, retraining those who work toward genuine security, U.S. accountability for the tacit support of violence against women and girls, and justice for victims of femicide for “women in combat zones, those who live and work near military bases, the wives and girlfriends of U.S. military men, and women enlisted in the U.S. military.”[11]
Today, Okinawa grapples with the ongoing expansion of U.S. military bases. As of August 20th, 2024, work has begun in Henoko in Nago, Okinawa, to relocate the Futenma Air Base, striking concern for civilians, residents, and climate activists.[12] In 2019, 72.2% of residents opposed the relocation, and in 2023, the prefectural government filed a lawsuit against the harmful design – ultimately losing to the Supreme Court, allowing for the commencement of construction.[13] To combat the militaristic sexual aggression, construction of the Henoko base and future military bases must end.
Dr. Margo Okazawa-Rey, Professor at San Francisco State University and one of the 40 cofounders of IWNAM, wrote in her final statement of the 2023 conference, “As a feminist Network, we have witnessed and documented repeatedly the fact that women and girls bear the heaviest burdens of militarism, military bases and operations, armed conflicts, and wars, with the burden distributed unevenly based on race, ethnicity, class, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality and citizenship status, and geography. Similar documentation by feminists beyond our region is evidence that this burden on women and girls is a global phenomenon.”
Okinawa’s journey is not just a struggle for the island itself. It is a lighthouse for all those seeking a world free from militaristic violence, where communities can thrive in peace, dignity, and safety. It is IWNAM’s goal to draw attention to the violence and provide a space for women and victims to talk about their experiences, and imagine a path forward. Currently, IWNAM leads the campaigns against the construction of new runways at Henoko, works to change the Status of Forces Agreement so US servicemen can be tried and prosecuted under local laws, and continues to provide support for women who fall victim to U.S. violence.
[1]“U.S. Military Base Issues in Okinawa,” Okinawa Prefectural Government: Washington D.C. Office, https://dc-office.org/basedata.
[2]“Militarism” is defined as maintaining a strong military to use aggressively toward national interests and values. Often, militarism feeds off of local lands, communities, and economies to strengthen the power of foreign nations.
[3]“What we do,” The International Women’s Network Against Militarism, posted March 25, 2015, http://iwnam.org/what-we-do/.
[4]Andrew Pollack, “One Pleads Guilty to Okinawa Rape; 2 Others Admit Role,” New York Times, November 8, 1995.
[5]Conferences | Women and gender equality: Fourth World Conference on Women, 4-15 September 1995, Beijing, China, accessed January 12, 2025, https://www.un.org/en/conferences/women/beijing1995.
[6]Final Statement of IWNAM from 1997 Conference.
[7]Letter of Demand to Mourn the Victim of the Murder Incident linked to the Former U.S. Marine, to Fully Investigate the Truth, and to Immediately Withdraw U.S. Military Forces in Okinawa, posted May 27, 2016, http://iwnam.org/2016/05/27/letter-of-demand-to-mourn-the-victim-of-the-murder-incident-linked-to-the-former-u-s-marine-to-fully-investigate-the-truth-and-to-immediately-withdraw-u-s-military-forces-in-okinawa/.
[8]“VOX POPULI: Deja vu: U.S. military sexual assaults a grim mirror of 1995,” The Asahi Shimbun, July 2, 2024. https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15328628
[9]Enomoto, “From Hawai’i to Okinawa,” 213.
[10]Kim Compoc, Joy Lehuanani Enomoto, and Kasha Ho’okoli Ho, “From Hawai’i to Okinawa,” 221.
[11]“Final Statement from Philippines Gathering, May 2023.” The International Women’s Network Against Militarism, posted October 23, 2023 by Margo Okazawa-Rey, http://iwnam.org/2023/10/23/final-statement-from-philippines-gathering-may-2023/.
[12]Satsuki Tanahashi, “Full-scale land reclamation in Henoko for U.S. base begins,” The Asahi Shimbun, August 20, 2024. https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15394612.
[13]Eric Johnston, “More than 70% in Okinawa vote no to relocation of U.S. Futenma base to Henoko,” The Japan Times, February 24, 2019. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/06/11/lifestyle/the-peacemakers-of-okinawa/.