Search

This paper investigates regimented language choices at Naha Airport in Okinawa Prefecture in order to study how these language choices relate to language ideology on one hand and to creating a self-supporting language ecology of maximum diversity on the other. Issues of power and ideology underlie the language choice and the language ecology which evolve from them, as well as ideologically erased language choices. Despite its multilingual heritage and the presence of a large English-speaking community of US military personnel on the island, Naha Airport reproduces ideas of individual and societal monolingualism with regard to Japan as well as to neighbouring countries. Owing to entrenched nationalist ideology and language attitudes, a change in such language regimentation cannot be envisaged in the near future, despite several shortcomings in the present linguistic organization of Naha Airport. Officially regulated public spaces accessible to all, such as Naha Airport, can play a key role in readjusting and re-evaluating specific behaviours and values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper documents six anti-military base citizens' groups on Okinawa, Japan to demonstrate the existence of an anti-military base social movement on Okinawa. The author contends that three 'incidents' involving the US military on Okinawa--the 1995 Kin Town rape, the 1997 Nago City Heliport transfer proposal, and the 2001 Chatan Town rape--have solidified the groups into a social movement. This has occurred with the incorporation of broader perspectives into the anti-military base campaign including environmentalism, feminism, and anti-militarism. The author concludes that comparison of the Okinawan anti-base social movement with other social movements and the application of social movement theory to the Okinawan example will facilitate theorising about the future direction of the Okinawan anti-military base social movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]