Japan: Proud to be Okinawan

Superyuko at Nachikasanu Koiuta ^[1] describes the first time she became aware of her Okinawan identity. 10 years ago, in Tokyo, where she came to live and to attend university, she was asked: “Are you Japanese? Because you don't look very Japanese”, and innocently answered: “I think I am Japanese”. She was asked the same questions many times, and this brought her to wonder: “what does being Japanese really mean?”. It was after meeting many other people from minority groups during a period of study abroad that she came to her answer; she learned that, by freeing herself from the need to define herself as belonging to somewhere in particular, she was able to accept Okinawa ^[2] [en] and take it on as a part of herself.