TitleReturning from US Study Abroad: Cold War Representationand Construction of Beiryu : Gumi's Identity in the US MilitaryOccupation of Okinawa

Author(s)

Citation 琉球大学欧米文化論集 ＝ Ryudai Review of Euro-AmericanStudies(63): 19-39

Issue Date 2019-03-31

URL http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12000/44226

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Ryudai Review of EuroAmerican Studies No. 63, 2019

Returning from US Study Abroad: Cold War Representation and Construction of Beiryu-Gumi’s Identity in the US Military Occupation of Okinawa

Kinuko Maehara Yamazato

This is not a burden of responsibility that I am placing on you. It is one that you must

assume voluntarily as Ryukyuans, and as leaders and future leaders of these islands. The

people are turning to you among others, for advice, guidance and leadership. They want

to hear your voice. They want to share your education. They want to benefit from your

views of the wider world and, most of all, they want to learn the truth.

―Paul Caraway, High Commissioner of Ryukyu Islands, in “Facing Reality,”

a speech given at the Golden Gate Club on June 12, 1962. 1

1. Introduction

On March 5, 1963, General Paul Caraway, High Commissioner of the Ryukyu Islands,

gave a speech at the monthly meeting of the Golden Gate Club. The Golden Gate Club was

an alumni association established in 1952 by Okinawans who had received US government

scholarships and studied in the US during the Occupation of Okinawa (1945–1972). In his

speech entitled “Autonomy,” Caraway referred to the autonomy of the “Ryukyus” under

the US military occupation as a myth, and further referred to Okinawans who worked

for the Government of Ryukyu Islands as lacking of efficiency.2 He contrasted them with

his audience at the meeting, the members of the Golden Gate Club, which consisted of

Okinawans who had returned from their study abroad in the US, who he deemed highly

sophisticated and praiseworthy for their contribution to developing mutual understanding

between people in Okinawa and the US. The following day, the local newspapers strongly

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criticized the speech and quoted responses from representatives of each political party in

Okinawa, all of whom criticized Caraway’s speech, especially his references to Okinawa’s

autonomy and the Ryukyu Government.

Caraway’s sensational address received substantial coverage from local newspapers for

almost one month. Prior to this speech, he gave his speech “Facing Reality,” at the Golden

Gate Club meeting on June 12, 1962. Both of his speeches not only revealed his disinterest

in fostering Okinawa’s autonomy but also publicized his view that US-educated Okinawans

were the leaders of Okinawa. In the context of the Occupation and the political tension in

Okinawa at the time, such remarks added to the public’s negative perception of US-educated

Okinawans. While Caraway’s speech fueled the social movement demanding that Okinawa

be returned to Japanese administrative control, the general public’s view of those who had

studied in the US as “pro-American” or the “bodyguards of the US military” became more

salient as well (GARIOA Fulbright Okinawa Chapter 16).

In 1945, Okinawa became the last battleground of the Asia-Pacific War and came

under US military control. Although the San Francisco Peace Treaty of 1951 ended the US

occupation of mainland Japan in 1952, Okinawa remained under US military control until

the reversion to Japanese administrative control in 1972. In 1949, four years after the end

of the Battle of Okinawa, the US study abroad program began under the Government and

Relief in Occupied Areas (GARIOA) fund. The GARIOA fund was first approved by the

US Congress in 1946, allocated mainly for the rehabilitation of the war-devasted islands

and the development of the economy. It also included projects to support higher education

in the islands (Fisch 77). Through the US study abroad program, more than one thousand

Okinawans were given the opportunity to study at higher educational institutions in the US.

On their return to occupied Okinawa, many of the study abroad participants worked in the

fields of higher education, business, and politics; they generally had status and privileges that

distinguished them from others in Okinawa, and they came to be known collectively as the

beiryu-gumi, or the “study in the US group.”

This article focuses on the US study abroad program established during the US

Occupation of Okinawa and the experiences and identity formation of those Okinawans who

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studied at American colleges and universities through the program. While I have focused

in other publications on their experiences prior to their departure for the US (Yamazato

“Studying in the US was the Only Hope” 26–33) and during their study abroad in the US

(Yamazato “Encountering Gendered and National Selves” 49–55), in this article I focus on

their experiences and their identity formation after they completed their programs in the US.

By focusing on these beiryu-gumi life experiences and their distinctive identity formation,

this article shows how the US Occupation shaped post-war Okinawan society and created

complicated and multilayered senses of belonging for Okinawan people. While most studies

on the US Occupation and the continuing relationship between Okinawa and the US focus on

Okinawa’s relations with Japan and the US at the macro-level, this article’s examination of

beiryu-gumi’s life stories contributes to better understanding of relations between Okinawa

and the US at a micro-level.

As I have argued elsewhere, the establishment of the program was not only a part of the

US project to democratize Okinawa along with Japan in the postwar period but also a part

of the US attempt to develop leaders who could understand and support its policies in the

conduct of its administration in occupied Okinawa (Yamazato “Encountering Gendered

and National Selves” 46–48). The US study abroad program for Okinawans also played

a role in justifying the military occupation of the islands, which secured the territory as a

base for its military presence in Cold War Asia. As noted in previous studies (Choy 2003;

Shibusawa 2006; Alvah 2007), the initiation of cultural and educational exchange programs

was a significant Cold War strategy to restore the image of the US as the nation of freedom

and democracy and to engender public support for American policies toward Asia. These

programs worked to create what Christina Klein (23) has called a “global imaginary of

integration” among allied societies. The US study abroad program in Okinawa was one such

Cold War strategy. The US represented the educated Okinawans as “leaders for tomorrow”

and highlighted their contributions to the development of postwar Okinawan society with

the US’s assistance. Such representations worked to sell the US as a benevolent ruler and to

depict the US Occupation of Okinawa as a model of the US military’s interventions in foreign

lands.

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This article first provides a brief review of studies on US perceptions of Okinawa as reflected

in popular and military media. I argue that the representations of beiryu-gumi as “leaders for

tomorrow” in the US military media supported the US Occupation of Okinawa as a strategy

in the Cold War battle for “hearts and minds.” Second, I explore the experiences and identity

formation of the Okinawans who studied in the US after they returned to postwar Okinawa.

Focusing on their agency, I examine their social interactions as sites of identity construction

and negotiation. In this examination, I take Cornell and Hartmann’s (199) view that “identities

are signified, underlined, asserted, and reinforced through the informal interactions that

compose so much of the fabric of daily living.” This article examines how the realm of

everyday life under the US military occupation mediated the identity formation of beiryu-

gumi.

Following other scholars of identity formation and negotiation, I look at identity as a

process of identification rather than as a fixed state – in other words, identity as fluid, not

fixed, and as a product of social construction. Stuart Hall, emphasizing both the fictive

nature of identity and the social process of identity formation, sees identity not as “already

accomplished fact” (222) but as “a ‘production’ which is never complete, always in process,

and always constituted within, not outside, representation” (392). My perspective is also

informed by interactionist and dramaturgical approaches to identity, which treat it as a

product of interactions with others and emphasize that individual identity is shaped through

experiences of interaction that affect the ways in which individuals or groups see themselves3

Identity is continually being made and remade in different contexts and situations of

interaction among individuals. In this study, I examine how their interactions with others

influenced the ways in which they saw themselves in relation to other local Okinawans and

US officials in Okinawa, and how they negotiated the meaning of being beiryu-gumi.

My analysis is mainly based on primary sources such as US government archival

documents, US military media related to the study abroad program, and my open-ended and

in-depth interviews with 38 former study abroad participants, including 10 women and 28

men. Between 2010 and 2012, I interviewed 27 Okinawans who studied on the US mainland

and another 11 who studied in Hawai‘i. The participants’ ages ranged between 66 and 86

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years old at the time of the interviews; they were born between 1929 and 1946. They stayed

in the US from two to six years between 1952 and 1973, and their ages at that time ranged

from 19 to 34. I located interviewees through the snowball sampling method. Snowball

sampling was the most appropriate method for this study because an introduction from a

previous interviewee allowed me to develop rapport with the interviewees more easily. I

tried to ensure that my interviewees included diversity in age, jobs, degrees pursued in the

US, length of stay in the US, and the locations and the times of their study abroad. To do

this, I used a list of the study abroad program participants compiled by the Golden Gate Club

alumni association in 1992. To ensure anonymity and confidentiality, their names are not used

in this article.

I conducted the interviews in both public and private places, such as hotel lounges and

coffee shops and the interviewees’ houses. The interviews were conducted in Japanese.

During the interviews, I asked about their reasons for studying in the US, experiences in the

US, and experiences after they returned to Okinawa. In this article, I present stories depicting

their experiences after they completed their programs in the US. I examine their perceptions

of how their participation in the US study abroad program affected their later careers, their

relationships with other Okinawans, and their sense of self. I asked about their experiences

with people such as other beiryu-gumi, local Okinawans, and US officials in Okinawa, and I

also asked how political changes in Okinawa, particularly the reversion of Okinawa to Japan

in 1972, impacted their lives and the ways in which they were seen and valued by others in

Okinawa.

2. “Leaders for Tomorrow”: Cold War Representation of Beiryu-Gumi

As Donna Alvah has pointed out, an American view of Okinawans as children was

prevalent in popular and military media during the US Occupation (172-77). Americans

treated Okinawans as unable to make decisions and as primitive “islanders” who had not yet

attained a civilized status. Such orientalist discourses, to use Edward Said’s term, are evident,

for example, in a popular 1954 movie, The Teahouse of the August Moon, which portrayed

Okinawans as uncivilized “natives.” This view of Okinawans as incapable of taking

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responsibility for themselves appears in US military policies, where it was used to articulate

the US’s paternal role and justify US control over the islands. Such representations were

prevalent; however, different representations were created for the US educated Okinawans

in particular. The US Occupation authorities strategically used the US educated students

as idealized leaders to promote the American way of life, and to convince the people of

Okinawa that both the program and the US military presence were positive for them and for

the future of Okinawa.

During the Occupation, the study abroad participants received widespread attention in

media produced by the US for consumption in Okinawa. The Department of Education

and Information (DEI) of the United States Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands

(USCAR) went to great efforts to promote the program. Experiences of the students were

often presented in US propaganda magazines, such as Shurei no Hikari (“Light of the Land

of Courtesy)” and Konnichi no Ryukyu (“Ryukyu Today”). Both magazines were distributed

throughout Okinawa and had the expressed aim of deepening understanding between

Okinawans and Americans. In these magazines, there were sections called “letters from

the US study abroad students” where beiryu-gumi wrote of their experiences studying and

learning about American culture and society.

Another DEI product was a documentary film entitled “Leaders for Tomorrow.” The

documentary depicts the trajectories of four male study abroad participants in the 1952

program. It shows the students beginning to understand the importance of American

democracy and learning about American generosity and freedom. According to Tsuchiya

(77), the documentary was broadcast not only in Okinawa but in other developing countries

in the Middle East, South America, and Asia, spreading the depiction of an ideal case of

youth contributing to their country’s postwar rehabilitation and receiving support to do so

from the American government. Tsuchiya called the film “America’s reconstruction assistant

documentary for the Third World” (98) and found it listed in documentary catalogs for Iraq

(1964), Peru (1961), and Pakistan (1957). As Tsuchiya concluded, while the documentary

worked as a strategy of the US Occupation of Okinawa, it was also used to build the US’s

image as a great supporter of the reconstruction of the Third World.

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3. Profiles of US Study Abroad Program Participants

According to Ryukyuan Scholarship Program, a report prepared by USCAR in 1970, most

of the students on US scholarships studied in fields in the social sciences, the humanities, or

education. The top three majors were business administration, teaching English as a second

language, and economics. Program participants earned 28 doctorates, 262 master’s degrees,

and 155 bachelor’s degrees (GARIOA Fulbright Okinawa Chapter 15). When I asked my

interviewees how they thought their experience of studying in the US had helped their careers

upon returning to Okinawa, they first modestly downplayed their career achievements, but

most of my interviewees said that studying in the US helped them to get decent positions in

Okinawa under the US Occupation.

Table 1 shows the distribution of the returned students’ employment places. A document

produced in 1963 by the Education Department Office of the High Commissioner of the

USCAR has information on a total of 431 Okinawan students who studied in the United

States from 1949 to 1961. According to the document, a quarter (24.4% or 105) of the

returned students worked for educational institutions, including 60 at the University of the

Ryukyus, 13 at other universities, 29 at high schools, and 3 at libraries and museums. The

University of the Ryukyus was newly established in 1952, and many of the earlier returnees

with MA degrees obtained teaching positions there. One-fifth (20%) of the returnees worked

for private companies, including 58 for Japanese companies, 27 for American-affiliated

companies, and 2 for local companies. Thirty (7.0%) worked for banks, including 27 at the

Bank of the Ryukyus and 3 at the Bank of America. A substantial number (75 or 17.4%)

worked for government agencies, including 29 for the USCAR and 15 for the Government of

the Ryukyu Islands. Ten returnees worked on US military bases in Okinawa.

The earlier returnees were often offered jobs that the USCAR needed filled. Even when

it was not mandatory to accept these positions, many did take them because they were better

than other jobs available in Okinawa at that time. In some cases, returnees were expected to

work for the USCAR for the same number of years that they had spent in the US. Mr. A, who

studied in the US from 1950 to 1954, wanted to teach at the University of the Ryukyus when

he returned to Okinawa. It was possible for graduates with BA degrees such as Mr. A to teach

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as assistants at the newly opened university. However, he was told by people in the USCAR

that he needed to work at least four years as an interpreter for them because he spent four

years in the US.4

Table 1: Distributions of Returned Students’ Employment Places as of 1963

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Table 1 also indicates that one-fifth (84 or 19.5%) lived outside Okinawa after completing

their study abroad. This includes 55 who lived in mainland Japan. There are two main

reasons why substantial numbers of the former study abroad students went to mainland

Japan. First, the return of Amami Oshima Island to Japan in 1953 led to a change in status for

residents, meaning students from there were now considered national subjects who lived in

mainland Japan. Second, many went to Japan for employment. Some also went due to other

circumstances such as marriage.

4. Experiences at Workplaces and Status of Returnees

The extent to which the returnees used their English skills and how much their skills

were recognized by others depended on where they worked upon returning. According to my

interviewees, for the returnees who worked at American-affiliated companies and government

agencies, such as the Bank of the Ryukyus, Ryukyu Seimei, and Ryukyu Development Loan

Corporation, the qualifications of their American degrees and their study abroad experiences

provided them with advantages and helped to improve their employment status. Those who

worked for these workplaces said they were able to use their English skills, and their study

abroad experiences were highly valued at their workplaces.

During the US Occupation, the United States Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands

(USCAR) possessed 51 percent of the stock of the Bank of the Ryukyus, and therefore,

all Bank business needed approval by the USCAR. The Bank had a Translation Division,

and many of the returned students were assigned to work there. Translators were highly

valued, which meant that their English skills provided them with better salaries. The Bank’s

recognition of their English skills made its employees see themselves as privileged workers.

Mr. B began working for the Bank of the Ryukyus in 1958. Working for the bank made him

feel that he needed to study English; therefore, he decided to apply for the study abroad

scholarship.5 He remembers the three years prior to leaving for the US as follows:

At the bank, we had special windows for Americans. I was assigned to work there once.

Every time an American customer came to my window, I got so nervous. It was before I

studied in the United States, so I couldn’t speak English. Because my oral English was so

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bad, I needed to write what I wanted to say on a piece of paper. Then, the customer wrote

back to me on the paper. One day, a tall American lady who was, I think, around 50,

came to my window and told me that she could give me private English lessons. She was

very kind. I wanted to improve my English, so I took her kind offer. She took me to the

movies, and I learned English from her. But it was very embarrassing because she always

picked me up at my workplace with her Cadillac. (Interviewee B 2011)

Mr. B took the scholarship exam three times, and finally passed the exam and left Okinawa

for the US in 1961. After studying in the US, he returned to the bank and worked there until

he retired.

Those who worked for the Ryukyu Development Loan Corporation were also able to use

English, as it was the main language of that workplace. Many of the returnees, regardless

of their majors, worked for the Corporation because it was a place where they could use

their English skills. Those who could use English received a bonus that was 20 percent of

their usual monthly salary. Mr. C, who studied in the US for one year beginning in 1961,

worked for Ryukyu Seimei, an insurance company, which also had its stock controlled by the

USCAR. Mr. C shared an episode about using his English skills when he was working for

the company.6 Once, the president of the company came to Okinawa from mainland Japan.

The president became very sick and he needed to have a blood transfusion; however, he had

an unusual blood type, and it was difficult to find a person who could give him blood. Mr. C

knew that he could find people with that blood type among the Americans, so he contacted

one of the US military bases and asked for help. Fortunately, many volunteers came and

donated blood for the president, and he fully recovered before leaving Okinawa. Mr. C felt

very fortunate that he could use his English skills to help with this situation. The president

appreciated his help, and the news spread to the company’s Tokyo branch. Mr. C thinks that it

was because of this incident that he received promotion very quickly compared with others.

When I asked the returnees about their experiences upon returning to Okinawa, many

interviewees said that they became aware of seeing themselves in new ways after returning

and being given privileges because of their study abroad experiences. Specifically, it

influenced how they viewed themselves in terms of being different from individuals who

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had not studied in the US. Awareness of such differences often came through other people’s

perceptions of them.7 Mr. D, who studied abroad from 1961 to 1963, said “I am not sure

exactly what they meant but my friends who did not study abroad often told me they could

recognize the beiryu-gumi from the way we walked and talked” (Interviewee D 2011).

Mr. E, who studied abroad from 1961 to 1963, provided more detailed explanation.8 He

said that whenever he had a photo taken, he consciously leaned his head 45 degrees to the

right, as he had seen Americans do, as a way of performing being “cool.” He also liked to

wear hats, which were not common among Okinawans in those days. During the interviews,

Mr. D shared a similar experience. He followed American popular fashion at that time,

adopting the Ivy League look. He emphasized that dressing well at all times was a learned

habit he developed through living in the US and observing the American students during his

time there. Some of the returnees also stated that they learned how to treat women in more

respectful ways. In the US, they witnessed how American men treated women; for example,

taking them out for movies and dinner, opening doors for them, and so on. When they

returned to Okinawa, some of them consciously practiced such gender roles. They sometimes

purposefully acted this way to further differentiate themselves. Mrs. F, the wife of one former

study abroad participant, mentioned that beiryu-gumi looked more “handsome” because to

her, the beiryu-gumi seemed to act more confidently.9

Those women who studied in the US also felt similar impacts. Mrs. G said that spending

more than two years in the US changed her food preferences and how she handled her

housework.10 She accompanied her husband to the US, and later received a scholarship and

pursued her own studies while her husband was working on his PhD. Because she spent her

first years of married life in the US, she was influenced by the American way of cooking and

managing her housework, and especially by ways of raising and taking care of children. In

the case of Okinawan women who studied in the US, as I have argued in another publication,

they often needed to negotiate and perform traditional gender roles upon returning (Yamazato

“Encountering Gendered and National Selves” 54).

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5. Golden Gate Club: Collective Identification as Beiryu-Gumi

The Golden Gate Club, the alumni association established in 1952 by the earlier returnees,

provided a place for them to construct their distinctive identity as beiryu-gumi at a collective

level. Through joining the club, the returnees could develop networks among themselves as

well as with American officers stationed in Okinawa. The Golden Gate Club was established

by four or five returnees who had left for the US together in 1950. They named it the “Golden

Gate Club” because the returnees, especially those who studied abroad in the earlier years,

saw the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco as a symbol of their experience. Those who

went to the US from 1949 to 1960 travelled by US military ship for at least 20 days to get to

California. The Golden Gate Bridge was the first thing they saw and their first impression of

the US; Mr. H, one of the early participants, reminisced that he would never forget the feeling

he had when he saw the bridge for the first time, and many of my other interviewees echoed

this sentiment.11 The official purpose of the club, as stated in its 1963 report, was attaining

deep friendship among its membership on the one hand, and greater understanding between

the US and the Ryukyu Islands on the other. The organization directed its efforts to contribute

to the Ryukyu Islands’ political, economic, educational, and cultural progress through various

activities and programs (Golden Gate Club 1).

The club also became a place where the beiryu-gumi’s study abroad experiences and

degrees were valued by American officials. Guests including General Paul Caraway, General

Donald Booth, and General Albert Watson II came to give talks on current important topics

in postwar Okinawan society. Most of the time, especially when these High Commissioners

gave speeches, local newspaper reporters also came to the meeting and reported the content

of their talks the following day. The High Commissioners often made important remarks at

these meetings, which were attended by reporters and made front-page news the next day.

Those who gave speeches at the Golden Gate Club often emphasized that the club members,

who had studied in the US, were the leaders of Okinawa. Prior to Caraway’s speeches in

1962 and 1963, mentioned at the beginning of this article, High Commissioner General

Donald Booth gave a speech on “The Future of the Ryukyu Islands” on September 1, 1959, in

which he also referred to the US-educated Okinawans as “the future leaders” of the Ryukyu

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Islands.12 The gatherings of the club were held at the Harbor View officers’ club. Because

Harbor View belonged to the US military and access to it was normally limited to military

personnel, the club members felt a sense of privilege when they met there.13

In contrast, Mr. I, one of the study abroad returnees, had a very negative view towards

the Golden Gate Club and its activities, which he thinks supported policies for the US

Occupation of Okinawa.14 He noticed the negative perceptions of beiryu-gumi during

the reversion movement. He tried to distance himself from such stereotypes by actively

participating in the reversion movement. During the interview, he explained, “I wanted to

show that not all beiryu-gumi were useless. I wanted to prove that even those who were

educated in the United States could fight against the US Occupation” (Interviewee I 2012).

Figure 1: High Commissioner of Ryukyu Islands Albert Watson II gives a speech

at the monthly meeting at the Golden Gate Club, September 29, 1964 (Okinawa

Prefectural Archives).

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6. Okinawa’s Reversion to Japan in 1972: Negotiating What It Meant to Be Beiryu-Gumi

Some of the study abroad program participants recalled that the negative perception

of Okinawans who studied in the US became widespread as the reversion movement

grew stronger. The beiryu-gumi were often criticized as anti-reversion or US military

collaborators.15 Mr. J, who studied in the US in 1959, recalled that “these representations

suddenly became apparent around the reversion movement. Around the time when I studied

in the United States, such critiques did not exist” (Interviewee J 2011).

However, in contrast to such stereotypical images of the returnees, most of those who

studied in the US also supported Okinawa’s reversion to Japan. As Mr. J put it, “like other

Okinawans, those who studied in the United States also wanted to become citizens of an

independent country, not remain a stateless people under the military occupation” (Interviewee

J 2011). Having witnessed the increasing number of crimes committed by American military

personnel and injustice towards local Okinawans, the returnees naturally began to desire

Okinawa’s reversion to Japan.

Furthermore, the reversion caused a major change in terms of employment status among

those who worked for American-affiliated companies and government agencies. Many of

them said that they lost the opportunity to use English at their workplace after the reversion.

For example, Mr. K, who studied business administration in the US from 1958 to 1960,

worked for Northwest Airline Company as the first flight attendant from Okinawa. He

worked there for seven years until the company reduced the number of employees from 80 to

20 because of the reversion.16

Those who worked for the Ryukyu Development Loan Corporation, which was affiliated

with the USCAR and did most of its business in English, were also impacted. Once the

reversion happened, however, the Ryukyu Development Loan Corporation merged with the

Okinawa Development Public Finance Corporation. Mr. J, who studied in the US in 1959,

worked for the Ryukyu Development Loan Corporation shared his experience. According

to him, under the US Occupation of Okinawa, he was able to work there using his English

ability, however the main language became Japanese after the reversion. He recalled the time

of the reversion:

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There were some major changes after the merger. For example, when I was at the Ryukyu

Development Loan Corporation, everyone was given an individual space with divisions.

But after the reversion, with the merger with the Okinawa Development Public Finance

Corporation, we had to sit next to each other. (Interviewee J 2011)

Mr. J recalled that it was a tough time, and recounted an episode when he was criticized by

the employees of the Okinawa Development Public Finance Corporation who came from

mainland Japan. He also told me during the interview, “I received a high salary when I was at

the Ryukyu Development Loan Corporation, which made me full of conceit” (Interviewee J

2011).

Although the reversion caused changes in returnees’ lives, most of the study abroad

participants continued to use the competence and knowledge they had acquired through

studying in the US to contribute to Okinawan society. Many of them said they developed

a feeling of obligation to give back to Okinawa what they had learned in the US. Mr. L,

who once served as the president of the Golden Gate Club, recalled that he wanted to do

something for Okinawa after returning.17 He said that this feeling developed only after he

returned to Okinawa, and that he did not have such feelings prior to leaving for the US or

during his time there. Similarly, Mr. J reflected that “because we used scholarships supported

by the government, we became conscious that we should return what we had learned in

the United States to our community and society” (Interviewee J 2011). The returnees’

contributions to postwar Okinawa varied on the individual level.

Many returnees became university professors and contributed to the development of

their academic fields. Besides their academic contributions, many of them contributed to

Okinawan society by trying to improve the lives of people in Okinawa. Mr. M and Mr. N,

who studied in the early 1950s, became important figures and established a university in the

northern part of Okinawa that focused on promoting peace; both served as presidents of the

university.18 Mr. O, who studied in the US in 1952, became first a professor and later the

governor of Okinawa. He spoke out against the continued presence of Americans as military

occupiers of their homeland. He was the first governor to refuse to sign the renewal of the

lease of Okinawa’s land for use by the US military.19 Mr. P, who studied in the US from 1960

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to 1963, shared his feelings:

After my retirement, I felt free so I decided to express my opinion about the US military

base issues in Okinawa. When I was working, I was hindered from doing so. The

US military bases brought many negative impacts to Okinawa. As compensation, the

United States government provided funds for the fields of education and economy. Not

to mention, the US study abroad program was part of the fund. Only a few people can

receive such compensation. In my opinion, those who were fortunate to receive such

benefits need to return a benefit to society. (Interviewee P 2010)

Mr. P, regularly wrote to American newspapers criticizing the current situation of Okinawa

regarding the US military bases.20

During my interviews, the returnees reflected on how they used the skills that they had

acquired from their experiences and on the meaning these experiences had had in their lives.

Many of the interviewees told me that they continued to use English in their spare time.

For example, at an informal meeting to which I was invited by four former study abroad

participants, I observed how they enjoyed speaking English. They told me that whenever they

met each other, they tried to invite someone who spoke English as a guest speaker. When

I attended, there was an American journalist who came to Okinawa to make a short video

about societal issues. The participants spoke in both English and Japanese and seemed to

enjoy talking about the past and their experiences studying in the US.

7. Conclusion

The establishment of the US study abroad program during the US Occupation of Okinawa,

for the US, was a crucial strategy to develop the postwar Okinawa and also create leaders

who would support US policies in postwar Okinawa. The program was also significant in

representing these US educated Okinawans as model products of US Occupation cultural

programs. On the other hand, the US study abroad program, for the returnees, provided

the opportunity for upward social mobility and privilege in US-occupied Okinawa. The

life stories of beiryu-gumi indicate that their American academic accomplishments and

competence were valued in occupied Okinawa, especially for those who worked for

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American-affiliated companies and government agencies. The Golden Gate Club, their

alumni association, became a place where they could develop a shared sense of identity as

beiryu-gumi. The Club became a site where American officials stationed in Okinawa, who

were the center of power in Okinawa, highly valued the beiryu-gumi’s US study abroad

experiences and referred to them as the leaders of Okinawa. Their privileged status helped to

create a sense of difference from others at both individual and collective levels.

Although these beiryu-gumi experienced rewards in terms of their employment status,

after the reversion of Okinawa to Japan in 1972, many returnees said that they lost the

opportunity to use English at their workplace. Those who worked in American-affiliated

companies and government agencies at the time of the reversion were impacted greatly. Many

of the interviewees negotiated the meaning of what beiryu-gumi meant on an individual

level and developed a sense of responsibility as leaders for postwar Okinawa. Many felt a

sense of responsibility to contribute to Okinawa as scholarship recipients. In contrast to the

stereotypical representation of beiryu-gumi, some of the program participants stood up to

the continued presence of Americans as military occupiers of their homelands. The returnees

became neither “pro-Americans” nor “bodyguards of the US military” as some other

Okinawans imagined them to be; nor did they become leaders who simply supported the

policies of the US Occupation.

This study hopes to encourage more cross-regional and cross-historical comparisons of

the experiences of people educated in the US during that country’s military occupation of

their homelands, including individuals from other Asia Pacific islands and other locations that

are currently affected by the US military presence. The practice of educational and cultural

exchanges to produce positive images of America continues today, for example, with Iraq

since the US invasion in 2003. In 2005, the first student exchange with postwar Iraq was

initiated by Stanford University. The significance of bringing students from Iraq to the US

has been described in the following terms: “exposure to university culture will inculcate Iraqi

scholars with American ideals and ultimately contribute to the spread of democracy in Iraq”

(Bose and Lyons 7). The educational mission of the US has remained a crucial vehicle for

further ideological justification of US invasion practices and its dominance in the post-Cold

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War era, calling for new cross-regional and cross-historical comparisons of the impacts of

such programs and the students’ experiences.

Acknowledgements

This article is a modified version of a chapter of my doctoral dissertation, which was

completed at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa in 2013. I would like to thank the

interviewees who shared their valuable life stories for my project. I would also like to thank

Laurie Durand for reading this article and giving helpful editorial suggestions.

Notes

1 “Golden Gate Club Meeting, 12 June 1962, Harborview Club.” Series: News Media

Organization Articles and Release Files, 1959-1972, RG 260, USCAR. Okinawa Prefectural

Archives, 0000044937. 2 “HICOM General Caraway Speech to Golden Gate Club (March 5, 1963) Autonomy.”

Series: 1603-04 Chief Executive of GRI Internal Political Activity Files, 1955-1970, RG 260,

USCAR. Okinawa Prefectural Archives, U81100623B 3 See Goffman 243; Mead 191. 4 Interviewee A, Personal Interview. 21 July 2011. 5 Interviewee B, Personal Interview. 27 July 2011. 6 Interviewee C, Personal Interview. 16 June 2010. 7 Interviewee D, Personal Interview. 17 July 2011. 8 Interviewee E, Personal Interview. 11 July 2011. 9 Interviewee F, Personal Interview. 20 July 2010.10 Interviewee G, Personal Interview. 13 June 2011. 11 Interviewee H, Personal Interview. 29 July 2010.12 “Booth at Golden Gate Club,” Konnichi no Ryukyu, September 1959. Okinawa Prefectural

Archives, U00002423B.13 Interviewee L, Personal Interview. 6 August 2010.

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14 Interviewee I, Personal Interview. 21 January 2012.15 Interviewee J, Personal Interview. 13 July 2011. 16 Interviewee K, Personal Interview. 18 July 2011.17 Interviewee L, Personal Interview. 6 August 2010.18 Interviewee M, Personal Interview. 27 July 2010; Interviewee N, Personal Interview. 9

August 2010. 19 Interviewee O, Personal Interview. 28 July 2011.20 Interviewee P, Personal Interview. 11 August 2010.

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戦後沖縄における「米留組」への眼差し

―米国留学経験者の留学後のアイデンティティ形成と交渉過程―

山里絹子

　本論文では、第二次世界大戦後 27 年間、米国統治下に置かれた沖縄で陸軍

省が実施した「米国留学制度」に着目し、米国留学を経験した沖縄の人々の帰

郷後に焦点を当てる。米国は民主主義を推進する外交戦略として、冷戦期にア

ジアで様々な文化・教育交流を実施した。「米国留学制度」設立の背景には、

戦後沖縄の経済復興、民主主義の推進、親米的指導者の育成などの米国側の思

惑があった。本論文では、米国留学経験者のライフストーリーの分析を基に、

彼ら・彼女らが帰郷後、米軍関係者と地元の沖縄住民との間で、どのように自

らの立ち位置をつくり、主体性を形成し、交渉を行ったかを明らかにする。

− 39−