Mixed-race Okinawans begin to find voice amid tensions over U.S. bases

The soon-to-be mother said she hopes her child will grow up free from discrimination.

she should read about third generation Koreans.

And the second China or S or N Korea decide they want part or all of Okinawa. They will complain that the response was to slow as the USA military has to be sent from Kyushu or Guam.

They should learn to read Chinese they will need it and it will help as they can look at what territory China is now claiming, if I remember correctly now they are claiming all the way to just 2 kilometers off the main island in Okinawa.

The second the USA leave that will be taken and the line will be moved to claim Okinawa as a whole

She remembers a black classmate telling her, "You are not black."

People retelling their stories from 20 and 30+ years ago as if they happened today.

She would not have been considered “black” in a school of African American kids with 2 black parents back then.

Trying to apply social norms of today to what happened in probably 2002 and 1990.

all the “racism” I hear in this story is from Black kids and Japanese. Towards a BLM supporter and a base protester. Quite odd.

I was glad to see the last part of the story have a more positive and much more current perspective. Progress is good

Local residents have repeatedly asked for the government to alleviate the island's burden of hosting the bases. 

Only a few.

Are the offsprings of a mixed White v Asian (and vice-versa):

White?

Asian?

NO! They are MIXED.

Then WHY is the offspring of a Black v White, Black v Asian regarded as Black ONLY!

Because the One-dop rule says so?!

That's an arbitrary, unsubstantiated, and unscientific "rule" not backed up by any genetically serious research.

Also not backed by DNA analysis.

Moreover, the One-drop thing is not universally accepted;.

Just because Anglophonic Nations recognise it almost as a matter of course, this is not the case throughout the World/

It's about time society stops pretending mixed people don't exist"

Japanese people with one black parent are MIXED in my book.

And I couldn't care less about those who will disagree.

Wobot,I see mixed race people everyday,,I see parents of different races,with their children spoiling the hell out them,it do not bother, Japanese decriminate against others Asian that look like them,I have a White Korean friend

These stories make me glad I'm raising my son in the US (my wife is Japanese, I'm an evil 'straight white male').

The idea that 'hafu' kids are cute and something to be desired seems to stop with the hollow talking points of the young Japanese women who express it.

I was a JET in Akita, and of the 4 schools I worked at, not a single child was of mixed race. I should imagine that had we stuck around to raise our kid there, he'd have been bullied.

But Tokyo has largely turned a deaf ear to the demands

Do people really believe this?

Agreement Between the United States of America and Japan Concerning the Ryukyu Islands and the Daito Islands

https://ryukyu-okinawa.net/pages/archive/rev71.html

ARTICLE III

I. Japan will grant the United States of America on the date of entry into force of this Agreement the use of facilities and areas in the Ryukyu Islands and the Daito Islands in accordance with the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States of America and Japan signed at Washington on January 19, 1960 and its related arrangements.

Treaty of mutual cooperation and security between the United States of America and Japan

https://worldjpn.grips.ac.jp/documents/texts/docs/19600119.T5E.html

Article 2

2 . At the request of either Government, the Governments of Japan and the United States shall review such arrangements and may agree that such facilities and areas shall be returned to Japan or that additional facilities and areas may be provided.

3 . The facilities and areas used by the United States armed forces shall be returned to Japan whenever they are no longer needed for purposes of this Agreement, and the United States agrees to keep the needs for facilities and areas under continual observation with a view toward such return.

This basically says that Japan grants the rights to use the facilities and if USA doesn't agree to return them then they don't return them.

many believe the level of prejudice is often more blatant than in the rest of Japan.

Very Correct statement. I’m just glad we are able to send my son to international schools in Okinawa.

Mixed children...

One needs to wonder if you are half, a quarter, a fifth, any portion from any race...

It becomes ludicrous.

Stay away from all the same places if you don't want to be bullied indeed.

In Okinawa, I bet a good size of local citizens are no longer pure race, if that was ever existing.

It has never been like a culture changer to get some half in Japan.

I was a JET in Akita, and of the 4 schools I worked at, not a single child was of mixed race. I should imagine that had we stuck around to raise our kid there, he'd have been bullied.

Wow, you pulled that race card on the imaginary situation right quick! Faster than people pull race cards on real situations.

Meanwhile, my kids have never been bullied for being half. They've had the opposite, where other kids were fascinated by the fact that they're half.

All I hear from mixed-raced children is anguish over their own existence, makes me think people from different cultures shouldn't have children if it's that bad

Weird. That's definitely not the norm.

With close to 100,000 civilians having lost their lives in the fighting on Okinawa -- about half the total death toll there -- resentment toward the concentrated U.S. military presence on the island, which hosts the bulk of U.S. military facilities in Japan, runs deep.

Which is why the Okinawans protest visits from the emperor?

Meanwhile, my kids have never been bullied for being half. They've had the opposite, where other kids were fascinated by the fact that they're half.

Well argued.

Mixed kids in Japan are treated incredibly well. They are elevated by full-blooded Japanese kids to a higher status than native kids. They have an advantage in schools, sports and society.

Compared to most nations, multicultural citizens in Japan are held in massive esteem across the board. I am puzzled by anyone who disagrees.

Mixed kids in Japan are treated incredibly well. They are elevated by full-blooded Japanese kids to a higher status than native kids. They have an advantage in schools, sports and society.

Well, your absolutist statement agreeing with me, is as absolutist as the statement I was countering. The idea that no half kids ever face bullying flies in the experience of the many who have.

Once again, I'm the voice of nuance in a sea of extreme opinions.

My haafu kids were raised on Okinawa and went to local schools their entire lives. They both had lots of friends and were quite popular. I don't recall a single instance of them being bullied about their heritage, although to be fair, they are half-white, not African American...

If people are predisposed to think society is one giant swamp of discrimination for mixed race children, then why would they have mixed race children?

As a fashion statement?

If people are not predisposed to it, then everyone can lead happy lives.

To provide education tailored to such children, five mothers established AmerAsian School in Okinawa in 1998.

So in effect this article is just a hidden plug for the school, which on the surface seems like an ideal environment for the education of the children, yet it itself has dark beginnings that played on the racial differences of the children to gain sympathy, and money to survive!

You can't choose what parents you should be born from. So, it's not the children's fault how they were born. If there were any problem, it must be the system or the state of affairs Okinawa is put under.

I hear the U.S. military authorities in Okinawa are encouraging young service members to meet local girls and get married. Sooner or later the newly-wed couple returns home to the husband's country, the U.S.A., after his retirement from military service. Soon the young couple get divorced and the girl returns to Okinawa with a child, discouraged and exhausted.

 Such cases must be many in number.