#okinawan american

[bimdraws]

Queer Polyglot/Language Learning Community

Do you speak or have resources in any of these languages? I'm building an online dictionary of queer-related words (anything regarding sexuality, romantic orientation, gender expression, intersex traits, etc).

The languages I still haven't manage to get much from are (in no particular order):

Hmong

Yagan

Aonikenk

Manchu

Jeju

Okinawan

Ainu

Kakán

Ossetian

Even if you don't speak any of these, but you speak a language few people know, I'd love for you to reach out.

[ed-recoverry]

Shoutout to all Asian LGBTQ+ folks.

Shoutout to all Bruneian LGBTQ+ folks.

Shoutout to all Burmese LGBTQ+ folks.

Shoutout to all Cambodian LGBTQ+ folks.

Shoutout to all Filipino LGBTQ+ folks.

Shoutout all Hmong LGBTQ+ folks.

Shoutout to all Indonesian LGBTQ+ folks.

Shoutout to all Laotian LGBTQ+ folks.

Shoutout to all Malaysian LGBTQ+ folks.

Shoutout to all Mien LGBTQ+ folks.

Shoutout to all Singaporean LGBTQ+ folks.

Shoutout to all Timorese LGBTQ+ folks.

Shoutout to all Thai LGBTQ+ folks.

Shoutout to all Vietnamese LGBTQ+ folks.

Shoutout to all Afghani LGBTQ+ folks.

Shoutout to all Armenian LGBTQ+ folks.

Shoutout to all Azerbaijani LGBTQ+ folks.

Shout to all Georgian LGBTQ+ folks.

Shoutout to all Kazakh LGBTQ+ folks.

Shoutout to all Kyrgyz LGBTQ+ folks.

Shoutout to all Mongolian LGBTQ+ folks.

Shoutout to all Tajik LGBTQ+ folks.

Shoutout to all Turkmen LGBTQ+ folks.

Shoutout to all Uzbek LGBTQ+ folks.

Shoutout to all Chinese LGBTQ+ folks.

Shoutout to all Japanese LGBTQ+ folks.

Shoutout to all Korean LGBTQ+ folks.

Shoutout to all Okinawan LGBTQ+ folks.

Shoutout to all Taiwanese LGBTQ+ folks.

Shoutout to all Tibetan LGBTQ+ folks.

Shoutout to all Bangladeshi LGBTQ+ folks.

Shoutout to all Bhutanese LGBTQ+ folks.

Shoutout to all Indian LGBTQ+ folks.

Shoutout to all Maldivians LGBTQ+ folks.

Shoutout to all Nepali LGBTQ+ folks.

Shoutout to all Sri Lankan LGBTQ+ folks.

Shoutout to all Pakistani LGBTQ+ folks.

Take pride in it all. Your culture, your identity, it’s all so beautiful. Celebrate where you are from and who you are. It makes you you, and that is something to be proud of.

post for Pacific Islanders, post for Middle Easterners, post for Oceanic folks , post for Hispanics, post for Africans, post for Native Americans, post for Caribbeans

[nobuouematsu]

i was reading this old ass book on okinawa and it really struck me as hilarious how the author posed american patriotism (having the flag in every classroom) akin to religion lol

[luxaofhesperides]

reading academic articles on Okinawa is so interesting bc i start off nodding and interested until i start seeing the author say 'things are this way bc if this!' and i have to start shaking my head bc that is not what i've seen/experienced in okinawa.

[klug]

I will say in my stupor that I've sort of given HE a pass on some things because enstars to me reads as a satire so I've been taking most of the absurd things as satirical. Unfortunately, the more recent and recurring pattern of mistreating the indigenous characters and not addressing the discrimination they face with any tact has been concerning me.

The recent Akatsuki story and other business decisions have proven to me that HE and Akira don't seem to care about their fanbase or breaking this concerning narrative pattern anytime soon.

Happyelements is the number one fan of Japanese hegemony lately aren't they

[amayabikuni]

With the Oppenheimer movie getting all the garbage attention, unfriendly reminder that the US occupied Okinawa after WW2 and decades later "returned" it to Japan. Not only is there still an American base there, but Okinawa is an independent nation, not an Island of Japan. Neither Japan nor the US should have at any point taken control of the island.

Both governments are currently complicit in the unlawful occupation of Okinawa. Anyone who wants to learn more can check out Rob Kajiwara on YouTube, who is an Okinawan activist pressing for the return of the island to it's people.

[msfbgraves]

God bless KK Legends for styling Ralph so very nicely. His hair is thick and fluffy instead of that severe and flat CK hairstyle. HIS CLOTHES ARE NOT FUCK*NG BLUE!!!! He is wearing flattering colors that compliment his skin tone. He looks younger than ever! He is absolutely cute and charming and sweet and THIS IS THE DANIEL THAT WE KNOW AND LOVE. Our totally loveable, pretty, kind-hearted boy!

FUCK the CK writers for treating this angel so poorly for so long. AND FOR PUTTING HIM IN SUCH UGLY BLUES!! Give this olive-skinned, good-looking guy jewel tones and earthy colors!

Never forget, never forgive!

Can't speak for the film, of course, but at least the trailer feels like: "this one's for Daniel." Because Cobra Kai never was even though they literally would not have had a fourth and fifth season without him, or a sixth, because no Sekai Taikai without Terry. I'm being overly dramatic now, but I feel like that trailer alone pulled Daniel out of some toxic relationship we've had to watch him suffer through. Three seconds with Jackie Chan and Ben Wong showing the character genuine respect and some positive styling and everything about Cobra Kai feels extra enraging. Like some asshole boyfriend saying: "You'll never do better than me, so be thankful for what you get, bitch." And that numbness that comes with it. "Maybe they're right. Maybe this is all I'm worth. I try, but I must not be good enough." And here is Jackie Chan with one simple line: "I came here for you", and Ben with one deeply respectful bow - not even Robby's weird tantrum or Demetri's "Can we skip this", no, a simple "Thank you for taking time for me", and it feels like the world saying: "No, you're beautiful and worth it and always were."

Look I'm glad Ralph doesn't seem to mind however poorly his character was treated, as he's fine with working with these three bullies again, but I feel like, for the briefest of moments, the character was done justice, and maybe I can choose to view the three films and this one without ever having to reference Cobra Kai. I mean, YES!!! still for Silverusso, but this constant focus on Daniel's darkest impulses it came with, even that can be tiring. Sure, OK, boy has a Murder Switch, but how he lives is kind and warm and respectful and I love, too, that maybe they offer him a way back into all the depth and warmth of what Miyagi gave him inside himself, without having Miyagi present. Because it seems hinted that even NYC will play a role, so Daniel's American roots will be an asset, something Miyagi didn't have. He can finally make it his, the way Miyagi also said he would: "One day, you teach karate your way", without that meaning the value of the tradition he pulls from is in any way diminished. Shimpo Miyagi took what he learnt from China and made it Okinawan, Nariyoshi Miyagi brought it to America and Daniel-san took it and made that his, another branch on the tree. Finally letting him evolve it, and himself, past his dependence on his sensei.

It's possible the film can't deliver all that but the roots are all there in the trailer and I'd love for Daniel to create and teach his own style because I simply feel it's richer where Johnny's style lacks depth. It's not tang soo do, and when left to be the sole sensei in S6 part 2, he had remarkably little insight to offer other than: "don't hold back." And I also love the potential of Mr Han telling Daniel, "Sensei, you have something our tradition doesn't, please teach us."

[velvetvexations]

Okinawa: The History of an Island People is a really good book and I heavily recommend it, but it's study of the war in general, especially it's final days, was way too brief.

Perhaps it would have been very politically inconvenient since people at the time it was written weren't yet even sure if Okinawa was going to go back to Japanese control or not, but for a book that did a pretty good job not hiding how Japan had spent the last three hundred years fucking over the Ryukyus, and does not shy away from how disgustingly careless the Japanese government was in protecting the citizens even as Okinawa became the biggest battleground in the Pacific, I was hoping to read some about how the military convinced Okinawan civilians to kill themselves en masse with the lie that the Americans were coming to do worse to them. Instead, all the civilian casualties get put down to Japan's carelessness leaving the Okinawans unprepared for being caught in the middle.

The really sad thing is reading all that and walking away knowing that Okinawans were by far the least harmed by Japan's colonialism.

[spiderbitesandvampirevenom]

I will say as someone who is half Okinawan and from Hawai'i, there does need to be a discussion on the role Black americans (and Latinos more recently) play in upholding imperialism through the military while still understanding circumstances that created their material conditions and current & historical oppression.

Also side note if you have a chance Read: Hawai′i Is My Haven: Race and Indigeneity in the Black Pacific.

It's free on jstor and is a really interesting holistic look at Black people in Hawai'i from military, to locals, transplants, and Black Native Hawaiians

preaching to the choir nonny

[softsoundingsea]

By Luke Gentile

The FBI announced last week its recovery of at least 22 historical artifacts taken after the American victory at the Battle of Okinawa in World War II.

A deal to return the artifacts to the Government of Japan, Okinawa Prefecture, was arranged via the FBI, and a repatriation ceremony will be held after the artifacts return for the first time in nearly eight decades, according to a release from the FBI Boston Division.

Several artifacts date back to the 18th and 19th centuries and hold a place in the long history of Okinawa, including portraits, a hand-drawn map, pottery, and ceramics, the release noted.

“It’s incredibly gratifying when the FBI is able to recover precious cultural property that has been missing for almost 80 years,” Jodi Cohen, the special agent in charge of the FBI Boston Division, said.

“This case highlights the important role the public plays in recognizing and reporting possible stolen art. We’d like to thank the family from Massachusetts who did the right thing in reaching out to us and relinquishing these treasures so we could return them to the people of Okinawa,” Cohen said.

Multiple artifacts now returning to Okinawa were registered with the FBI’s National Stolen Art File in 2001 by the Okinawa Prefectural Board of Education, according to the release.

In 2023, the family of a late World War II veteran (who did not serve in the Pacific) discovered some of the valuable Asian art while they went through his personal items, and they found at least four of the works in the National Stolen Art File, according to the FBI.

“It’s an exciting moment when you watch the scrolls unfurl in front of you and you just witness history, and you witness something that hasn’t been seen by many people in a very long time,” Geoffrey Kelly, an FBI Boston special agent and Art Crime Team member, said.

“These artifacts are culturally significant, they’re important pieces of Japan’s identity. These were especially important because they were portraits of Okinawan kings dating back to the 18th, 19th centuries. This case really illustrates part of the work we do on the Art Crime Team. It’s not always about prosecutions and putting someone in jail. A lot of what we do is making sure stolen property gets back to its rightful owners even if it’s many generations down the road,” Kelly said.

Assisting the FBI in the return of the items was the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of Asian Art, according to the release.

“The FBI reached out, asked us for some help making sure they knew how to care for the works and that they had a safe place to store them while they worked out the repatriation details. It’s an honor to be able to help the works go back to their home,” Danielle Bennett, the head of collections management at the National Museum of Asian Art at the Smithsonian Institute, said.

You can see all of the recovered artifacts here.

[our-ensemble]

On Ibuki, Identity, And Establishing A Character

With Ibuki being a new character, there’s a lot of potential for where he goes – but at the same time, Enstars has established quite a bit in the time since release. Below, I’ll jot down my feelings in regards to his identity.

When it comes to his identity, Enstars in-text and announcements (such as 4piece’s Final Ceremony) calls him half-American, half-Okinawan. This alone stands out, because he isn’t being associated with the entire country of Japan, but with a specific region. This is an unusual way for Enstars to refer to any of its characters, with the closest any character being to this sort of region-based identification character being Mika.

Mika is one of the few characters whose regional background is specified, with him being from Kansai – but even still, it doesn’t compare to Ibuki. Mika’s character description makes no mention of this, nor does he address himself as such. He is classified by his nation, not his specific city/region of origin, meaning that he is considered Japanese, not explicitly called Osakan.

When it comes to characters whose nationalities and/or ethnicities are mentioned, there is Adonis (“A young idol that came to Japan from the Middle East” <- !!-era character description; “I was born to a Japanese mother and a foreign father…” <- !!-era self description) and Aira (“He is a quarter French…” <- character description).

But with the characters above, who are each half-Japanese, the term Japanese or Japan is used. They don’t have a region specified the way that Ibuki does, so we can see that this isn’t something that Enstars is implementing on account of Ibuki being half-American.

From his description alone, he’s already distinct because he doesn’t mention Japan at all, but has no problem mentioning Okinawa, so we already see a distinct and unique relationship with Japan.

Then, there’s also how he addresses himself. In his Idol Story 1, he explicitly calls himself uchinaanchu (うちなぁんちゅ) (In the voiced video for the Idol Story on the Youtube channel, this would be around the 0:44 mark). This is a term used by Ryukyuans, or Indigenous Okinawans, meaning that his relation to Okinawa isn’t just a matter of him being born there.

To elaborate on this, what I mean is that the term “Okinawan” on its own isn’t just used to describe Indigenous Okinawans, but in general, anyone who is a resident of Okinawa, or has some history in Okinawa (such as spending their youth in Okinawa). In English-speaking spaces, I personally find that people use the term Okinawan and Ryukyuan interchangeably, but there are certainly also people who use the term “Okinawan” by the other descriptions that I provide above. With Ibuki though, we aren’t seeing that he calls himself Okinawan specifically because of the circumstances of his birth – his ethnic background plays a role in his self-identification as well.

To summarize: he isn’t a guy who happens to have ties to Okinawa – he is specifically Indigenous to the Okinawan region.

Most importantly, when it comes to his relationship with his identity, we see that he regards his identity positively.

In Idol Story 1, Ibuki makes a comment about being discriminated against on the basis of being half-American, half-Okinawan (where he specifically uses the term uchinaanchu). Without getting too far for now into how Enstars uses this as a joke which risks underplaying the discrimination that marginalized groups face, we do see that Ibuki is familiar with the way that the groups that he belongs to are perceived, and condemns this discrimination.

There’s a comment that Ibuki makes in Idol Story 2 towards Tetora – “You shouldn’t think of yourselves as the standard for everything~, Mr. Japanese.” He pokes at how cultural ideas change with eras and places and so there is no one standard in Japan – despite its reputation as a homogeneous society – given the diversity that it has. (This does risk getting undercutted by Ibuki’s antagonistic role in the story, depending on how Ibuki’s pokings at Japanese society are depicted in Enstars from here on out.)

Ibuki’s pride is directed to both his Okinawan and American roots – his experiences in both places are valuable to him (which is going to be very important to remember later). This is consistent throughout all of his experiences – he continuously refers to cuisine and practices from both cultures without downplaying them.

What makes this especially important is that its distinct. For comparison: Rinne has a complicated relationship with the Amagi hometown due to his upbringing; Hiiro is trying to get acclimated to city-life and unlearn some of the ideas that he was raised with (though there is a lot more to say about the Amagis that I won’t get into here); Adonis deals with internalized racism as seen in his negative self-image; and Aira hasn’t made a strong claim to his French heritage since he wasn’t raised with French culture.

This is big, genuinely. His identity is not ambiguous, and he actively engages in it, which is also being directly shown in-game. But that also ties into another concern related specifically to discussions about Ryukyuans.

In the present, Ryukyuans are not a recognized Indigenous group in Japan. Instead, they are considered a sister group to the Yamato ethnic group, which is the predominant ethnic group in Japan (90+% of Japan is stated to be Yamato, with some sources putting them as high as 99%).

As such, Ibuki’s inclusion in AKATSUKI, which presents itself as a traditional Japanese group, is currently at a crossroads – either they acknowledge the Ryukyuans as a distinct group, but not to be treated differently from the Yamato, or they consider Ryukyuans an extension of the Yamato.

The latter is a concerning road to take given the assimilation of the Ryukyuans. When talking about assimilation, we usually talk about ethnic cleansing, which involves the prohibition of cultural practices or harm done to practitioners prohibiting them from engaging in their cultures. However, a part of assimilation that isn’t often discussed is absorption – as in, the targeted culture’s practices are deemed the practice of the dominant culture, thus denouncing or downplaying their claims to certain cultural ideas, if not all of them.

We see this especially in discussions about the Ryukyuan languages, to give a real-world example. When it comes to the prohibition of practices, in the Meiji era, to promote the use of Japanese and dissuade the use of the Ryukyuan languages, the language of instruction in Okinawan schools was exclusively Japanese, and use of any other language would be punished, usually by making the offending student wear a humiliating tag around their neck.

Then, when it comes to the absorption of practices, in the 19th century, the Ryukyuan languages were deemed dialects of Japanese. This strips the Ryukyuans of the ability to use their practices as a point of distinction and proof of Indigeneity, since their practices are mislabelled to integrate them into the dominant group. In the present, most discourses I’ve seen about the dialect vs. language classification agree that the Japanese government’s use of “dialect” (方言) is derived from political, social, and cultural arguments, not linguistic ones.

And so, when it comes to AKATSUKI and Ibuki, we are running the risk of misattributing Ryukyuan culture to all of Japan. Instead of their culture being “the practice of Indigenous Okinawans”, Enstars might label it, “the practice of Japanese people living in Okinawa.”

These Japanese vs. Ryukyuan cultural comparisons continue to be of great concern in Ibuki’s writing. In Ibuki’s Idol Story 3, he mentions that he’s trying to learn about the “true Japanese style” (和風). Here, we run into concerns about what constitutes true Japanese style – and the fact that Ibuki is searching for it implies that it is something he currently lacks. Ibuki is well-versed in Okinawan culture as was mentioned above, so what exactly is the part of Japanese culture that he struggles with? I don’t think its surprising for him to have some interest in the cultures of mainland Japan, but why should that be labelled the “true Japanese style”? Additionally, he has as much reason to consider himself Japanese as he does to call himself Okinawan, but as we see above, only the latter gets used for him.

And that gets us back to the importance of “ibuki as half-Okinawan” vs “Ibuki as half-Japanese”.

(Note: I am not Indigenous. The classifications that I’m making below are not supposed to be representative of every Indigenous person ever, and are mixed between local conversations that I’ve had and global debates. Corrections and alternative perspectives are encouraged.)

To explain this, its important to note how many Indigenous groups self-identify, especially in relation to their nation-state.

Nation + Indigenous identification (Ex. A person calls themself Japanese-Ryukyuan) comes from different feelings and experiences across domains. For example, on one hand, in the legal and international dominant, the nation-state identity is what one will be referred to. The nation-state's culture is the one that a lot of children are raised in, and depending on the demographics of their area, it might be common that a parent and/or other family members will be from the dominant group, so its not wholly correct from an ethnic standpoint to reject the dominant identity. However, in other domains, the Indigenous identity still prevails. Maybe their Indigenous identity is more relevant locally, or their upbringing meant that they were sufficiently exposed enough to their respective cultural practices to build a foundational association with them. Nonetheless, its not a matter of one or the other – both identities have their place and relation (and it’s a very complicated thing to manage for people personally, not as clear-cut as I’ve put in my examples above).

Solely Indigenous identification (Ex. A person calls themselves Ryukyuan) comes from the rejection of the imposed nation-state identity – in particular, it rejects the borders that one’s respective Indigenous group was forced into. Whatever interaction there is with the dominant group – whether it be upbringing, blood ties, or extended exposure – it does not change the fact that one does not associate with the dominant group. Ultimately, the nation-state, irrespective of its legal and/or international presence, is deemed an imposed identity, not an organically originating one for those who refuse to call themselves by it.

(There are also Indigenous people who refer to themselves by solely the nation identification – I do not include this perspective because it does not relate to Ibuki specifically, but I ask that people keep it in mind when it comes to greater discussions of Indigeneity.)

For Ibuki, this is relevant because his lack of association puts him in the second category – he has never made any claims to Japan as a whole, and this is reflected in his written profile, meaning that it is something that Enstars is attributing to him, not fan interpretations.

Additionally, as seen in his interaction with Tetora in Idol Story 2, he is willing to poke at the idea of what constitutes being “Japanese”. As it currently stands with Enstars characters, there is a scale to how heavily characters associate themselves with Japan. I would personally put Aira at one end, given that he consciously makes attempts to follow norms since his appearance leads people to assume that he isn’t Japanese, leading to his complex, and I would put Rinne at the other end because for all that he enjoys the city-life, that doesn’t change the fact that he criticizes the idea of a homogeneous Japan, and he repeatedly condemns the historical treatment of his people.

I don’t think I would shock anyone if I said that Ibuki’s outlook is far more similar to Rinne’s. I also don’t think it would be shocking if I suggested that, if Rinne were to be written as Ibuki is, then it would be easier for people to see the contradiction between ideology and action.

But, as seen in Idol Story 3, Ibuki does have an interest in mainland culture. However, Ibuki isn’t unique for this – Adonis and Hiiro have a similar interest in mainland culture, yet their treatment has been vastly different. Using a Doylist lens, I’ll talk about why this is stands out to me.

As a precursor, let me note: Ibuki is still a character being established, and will take time to develop given Enstars’ medium as a gacha game, and I genuinely hope from the bottom of my heart that Enstars takes the many nuances of this situation into account – but this is unlikely given how Enstars has written racial minorities from its inception, and I don’t think its an unfair thing to voice concerns about.

In light of AKATSUKI’s mischaracterization, I don’t think its unfair to say that Ibuki’s characterization is also being “adapted” to justify his inclusion in AKATSUKI. I’m not using the term mischaracterization off the bat because I’m aware that people are going to take it in ways that I don’t intend it to, so let me explain:

Rather than thinking of it as “mischaracterization”, it would be more accurate to say that his characterization is being set up to make certain choices easier for the writing team. This has been a similar concern with Adonis’ internalized racism, given that his comments towards himself have been used to legitimize other characters’ tendency to describe him as “scary” rather than to serve his narrative and development. As such, instead of telling us anything about Adonis as a person, his internalized racism softens the discussion around racism by making it seem like racialized groups, too, find their own bodies as scary as out-groups do - which plays into racist assumptions that all racialized people consider themselves inferior culturally.

In Idol Story 3, we have Ibuki mention that he wants to find the “true Japanese style”, which Esu sympathizes with. The purpose of this scene isn’t to establish Ibuki’s motives – its to defend Enstars’ writing choice. Esu expresses sympathy, which prompts Ibuki to say that most people haven’t been understanding of his choice – but the question is who are these people? The closest we get to criticism about his choice to join AKATSUKI is Kuro and Souma’s reluctance, but even that isn’t permanent. We get throwaway lines about “people”, but never any clarification on what type of person. It’s a breaking of the fourth wall – and if we’re breaking it, lets go all the way.

People are surprised about Ibuki’s choice for many reasons, but allow me to say this – its sudden and doesn’t match up with what we’ve seen of Ibuki.

Between Idol Story 2 and VS. Audience, interacting with Keito suddenly gets him from “don’t assume what is or isn’t common in Japan” to “I need to find out what true Japanese style is.” Idol Story 3 doesn’t elaborate on this, it just puts it into plain words.

Again, as I’ve mentioned, Ibuki isn’t the first character to be interested in mainland culture. Adonis, specifically, is a friend of Souma who uses him as a reference for what is true Japanese culture. But at no point in his attempts to learn about Japanese culture does Adonis ever consider joining AKATSUKI, nor does Hiiro do the same in his attempts to learn about the city. Ibuki, despite having similar motives, is being treated is exceptionally invested. And I really want to emphasize that last sentence – there isn’t anything particularly strong or spectacular about Ibuki’s desire to learn, he isn’t written to be more determined than any other character, but Enstars expects us to see it differently.

It also doesn’t work with his character as established thus far, specifically as it pertains to character conflicts. In 4piece, we already see that Esu and Fuyume have a complicated relationship worsened by the airplane crash that took Esu’s father’s life, Kanna is burdened by the label “genius” and is unsure of how to become human, and Raika is suddenly being introduced to a society that he doesn’t understand. Ibuki has had almost as much screen time as EsuPuri, but he’s the only one to suddenly introduce a new character motivation.

At first glance, his unconstrained nature seemed to be a source of conflict given his tendency to pick fights and his easy-going nature. His mind in particular is said to be prone to swaying, and yet his resoluteness in joining AKATSUKI is unquestioned narratively from what I’ve seen. Wouldn’t other characters who know ibuki for his go-with-the-flow nature be surprised to see him give his all to a group? Instead, its being treated as something obvious that “people” need to respect.

There is some well speculation that Ibuki’s inclusion is meant to play into the ongoing idol-colonization of Okinawa in Enstars… but to be frank, connecting Ibuki to this plot point doesn’t require him joining AKATSUKI. In fact, one could argue that if Ibuki’s narrative purpose were to address this, he would be better off going solo or joining RYUSEITAI since this would give him more opportunities to address this plotline since AKATSUKI isn’t as heavily involved.

In the end, what really makes me doubtful about Ibuki’s writing is 1) the inclusion of the Rising Sun flag in the 2025 ver of “Hyakka Ryouran, Akatsukiyo” (百花繚乱 紅月夜) and 2) concerns about his upcoming solo being about his identity – specifically a feeling of lack of identity.

Firstly… I truly don’t think that you can make a claim about respecting Ryukyuan culture if you’re doing so under an imperialistic image. Remember, the Ryukyuan’s problem is that they are being mislabelled as the Yamato’s sister group, so calling their practices “Japanese culture” from an ethnicity lens has problems. Also, using the Rising Sun flag to promote Ryukyuan culture risks associating their culture with the ideology that was used to ethnically cleanse them.

Secondly, Ibuki already has an identity. Its one of his most established traits, to be clear. If concerns of fans turn out to be true and it turns out that Ibuki is insecure in his identity, then we must ask: where is this coming from? Maybe its not his ethnicity specifically that he has problems with – don’t worry, I’ll allow nuance – but as I’ve said above, none of this is what we have seen with Ibuki thus far. It feels like they’re introducing this new insecurity to poke at fans who don’t like this decision to put him in AKATSUKI – “See, you’re the exact sort of person that makes Ibuki insecure! Aren’t you awful? Really, since this is Ibuki’s choice which absolutely isn’t being influenced by anything else, it shows that you don’t have any respect for people like Ibuki who follow their dreams (even if their dream is to follow the status quo against their own wishes)!”

But there’s another thing that Enstars risks saying with Ibuki, which is that yes, he may be Okinawan, but it’s not enough for him to just consider himself Okinawan – but if so, why? Why is it necessary that he call himself Japanese from an ethnic standpoint when he has not claimed that identity nor has been given a reason thus far to do so – an identity that has been used to erase his community?

[uwmspeccoll]

It’s Feral Friday! 

This week we’re taking a look at This Land is My Land, a newly acquired addition to our collection from book artist, concrete poet, & graphic designer Thad Higa. This 100-page work is “a fictional narrative from the imagined headspace of current day, online white supremacists, nationalists, and their sympathizers”. It was digitally printed, features Coptic binding with uncovered boards as well as two multi-page foldouts, and was self-published in a limited edition of 50 numbered copies in Oakland, CA in 2023. 

Higa is an Okinawan-Korean American cultural worker born in California in 1989 and raised in Hawaiʻi. His practice “investigates the intersections of language, technology, capitalism and eurocentrism, and their roles in controlling perceptions of reality and legibility.” In This Land is My Land, Higa “weaves together all manner of rhetorical devices and strategies, creating an experience familiar to anyone who has read the comments on an online article or listened to attendees at a Trump rally.” The structure of the book inherently encourages interaction, emphasizing the participatory and performative nature not only of reading & text-based communication but also of the formation and enaction of political identity.  

His work has been highlighted on the Lantern Review, Artists’ Book Reviews, Art Review, Art Papers & Hawai’i Public Radio, and featured in the exhibitions whistling the avant garde (Small Press Traffic, San Francisco CA, 2023) and O, (FiveMyles, Brooklyn NY, 2021).  

--Ana, Special Collections Graduate Intern 

View more Feral Friday posts. 

View more Artists’ Books posts. 

View more Concrete Poetry posts. 

View more Graphic Design posts. 

[uss-edsall]

The names of over 240,000 people who lost their lives during the Battle of Okinawa are inscribed on wavelike concentric arcs of black granite slabs [at the Cornerstone of Peace monument]. Ernie’s name, along with those of 14,008 other Americans who were killed, is no more prominently displayed than those of the nearly 150,000 Okinawans—close to half of the island’s prewar population—or the 110,000 Japanese soldiers who lost their lives. Military and civilian. Allied and Axis. It doesn’t matter. Everyone who lost their lives is treated equally. It’s the only war memorial I’ve ever visited where all sides of the conflict are represented, without judgement, side by side. The Cornerstone of Peace, not unlike the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall in Washington, DC, does not speak to the righteousness of the cause or to the courage of the sacrifice it required. The 116 slabs of stone speak to something simpler. They say: This is what it cost.

The Soldier’s Truth: Ernie Pyle and the Story of World War II, by David Chrisinger

[lovelyerotica25]

Senshi x Laios fanfic idea:

Modern AU:

Senshi: A polynesian, Okinawan, or Filipino private chef who cooks with unique and exotic ingredients. He quite often goes hunting, foraging, fishing, etc, for the ingredients himself.

Laios: An American Paleontologist who loves learning researching about dinosaurs and the prehistoric world. He has a massive obsession with wanting to eat dinosaurs, since they are extinct, much to his dismay, he settles with their modern day relatives and creatures that resemble them.

How they met: Laios was conducting field research on prehistoric fossils with his team; Marcielle, a medic.

Chilchuck, an expert on prehistoric and ancient architecture, artifacts, and traps.

Falin: an expert on botany and horticultural medicine.

They had run out of food whilst on their expedition, and Laios took it as an opportunity to capture a crocodile to eat. An argument ensues amongst the team, and the noise alerts Senshi, who is nearby hunting for ingredients himself. Excited that he found someone who loves out of the ordinary ingredients as he does, he offers to help them cook the crocodile. Laios and Senshi bond over the experience, and Senshi asks to join their expedition.

They grow close over the expedition and eventually sexy stuff ensues. The expedition ends with Senshi inviting Laios to his home in Japan, which Laios just ever so casually happens to be working next, and Laios accepts. They eventually become boyfriends and live together and go casually hunting and foraging together as dates.

[experimentkc]

Happy (belated) anniversary to Lilo & Stitch: The Series and Stitch!

Yes, I know that the twentieth anniversary of the premiere of Lilo & Stitch: The Series (on ABC Kids) was on September 20th. I was sick back then, though. So, I'm celebrating it today on the anniversary of its Disney Channel premiere instead.

Lilo & Stitch: The Series continued our beloved titular human-alien duo's adventures on their home island of Kaua'i after the first film and the show's pilot film Stitch! The Movie. Throughout the course of 65 episodes over two seasons that aired within almost three years (September 2003 to June/July 2006), they went around the island (and occasionally elsewhere) to find, capture, and rehabilitate Jumba's other genetic experiments by giving them a place where they truly belonged. They also dealt with the ex-Captain Gantu, now working for Jumba's ex-partner Dr. Jacques von Hämsterviel, as they hunted down the experiments.

While Lilo & Stitch creator Chris Sanders, who reprised his voice role as Stitch in the show (as did almost all of the original film's voice cast reprising their roles), never really intended for his film to go anywhere beyond the one film he made, Lilo & Stitch: The Series has left a lasting impact with Lilo & Stitch fans everywhere that can still be seen to this day. Dr. Hämsterviel and his Python-esque Frenchman-sounding voice became recognizable while giving the franchise a proper villain. Gantu was fleshed out more as a character instead of just being a brute enforcer for someone else, especially through his interactions with the memorably lazy, wisecracking, sandwich-loving, reluctant sidekick Experiment 625, who we know today as Reuben. The second season did crossovers with other Disney properties before it was cool, with the casts of Kim Possible, American Dragon: Jake Long, The Proud Family, and Recess each joining our duo's 'ohana for an episode. Then there are the genetic experiments themselves, with their fun designs and wide and sometimes wacky abilities making a lasting impression on those who enjoyed seeing Stitch and his mischief while expanding on the (admittedly crazy and inconsistent) lore of Lilo & Stitch's universe. One of them, X-619/Splodyhead, even made a cameo in a Walt Disney Animation Studios film in Big Hero 6, while another, X-221/Sparky, who debuted in Stitch! The Movie, became a boss in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep. And we can't talk about experiments without mentioning X-624/Angel, Stitch's love interest and mate who became so popular in her own right that she now gets a regular influx of merchandise and has made several video game appearances, including most recently in Disney Speedstorm.

Not to be forgotten, the Stitch! anime series also recently celebrated its fifteenth anniversary of its premiere back on October 8th. The first spin-off made after the original Western continuity, Stitch! had the little blue alien crash-land on a small fictional island in the Ryukyu Islands called Izayoi, where he meets and befriends the tomboyish Yuna. During the first two seasons, which were animated by Madhouse, Yuna and Stitch go on their own adventures around the island, befriending yokai who live in the island's Chitama Forest, and dealing with Hämsterviel, Gantu, and Reuben again. Some of the experiments even return in this show, especially Angel, who became an intergalactic pop star in the (in-universe) years since we first met her on Kaua'i. The main plot of these two seasons is about Stitch getting enough good deeds to have the magical Chitama Spiritual Stone grant him a wish, which was apparently to become "ruler of the universe". However, by the end, he decides that living with Yuna is better. After Madhouse's 56 episodes (which includes two post-season specials), Shin-Ei Animation took over for the third season, retooling it by having Yuna and Stitch move to a fictional Okinawan city called New Town, going on wackier adventures there with her new classmates, while Hämsterviel now goes after Stitch on behalf of a big-eared humanoid alien woman named Delia to gain a power cell within him, using several experiments that he "transmutated" to do his dirty work. The 30-episode (again, including another post-season special) season also had Stitch reuniting with Lilo, now all grown up with a daughter of her own, for one episode. The main series of three seasons ran from 2008 to 2011; they were followed by two more specials, Stitch and the Planet of Sand in 2012 and Stitch! Perfect Memory (or Stitch! A Perfect Memory) in 2015.

Infamously, the English dub of the anime established itself as a post-Lilo continuation from the get-go with probably the worst-chosen opening lines to any sequel show ever, when Jumba claimed (later proven false by Lilo's aforementioned third-season appearance) that Stitch left her because Lilo became more interested in a boyfriend over him; such lines, which weren't in the Japanese original, caused many fans to swear off the anime series as "not 'ohana". However, as the years passed since Stitch! ended, the anime faded to relative obscurity, which in turn caused much of the hate it received to die down. In more recent years, it's now garnered some appreciation in its own right after years of ridicule and vitriol, with those such as Saberspark enjoying the show for what it is and making videos about their more positive thoughts on it.

My friend @angoraram made the drawing at the top of this post for this special occasion featuring Stitch, Reuben, Angel, and several other experiments well-known and obscure from throughout Lilo & Stitch: The Series (plus Dorkifier from Stitch!). She already shared this picture on her DeviantArt galley last month, but she also allowed me to share some special 5K desktop wallpaper edits I made of her drawing available in 16:9 and 16:10 aspect ratio versions. You can download these over here.

[klug]

I understand people joking about jumping ship from enstars into another thing, but I kind of wish people would acknowledge that racism isn't unique to enstars at all. Japanizing Ibuki, a Ryukyuan-American/Okinawan-American, is just a culmination of a lot of frustrating choices they've been making recently...

I'd say enstars is only unique for having openly acknowledged indigenous Ainu and Ryukyuan peoples, even if the Amagis might be a point of contention due to the amount of backlash from the main story leading to a lot of their coding being censored.

A lot of my concerns with the game's treatment of its indigenous characters arose when I saw how the Kurones' backstory was treated in 1.5 and it just got worse with Matrix. The Kurones aren't Okinawan or Ainu, but their mother was from some unnamed indigenous Australian group and their horrific backstory was pretty much just used for shock value.

And unfortunately none of this is solved just by dropping moving fandoms because ensemble stars doesn't just mistreat its Asian indigenous characters poorly: it generally fails with any character that isn't Wajin/Yamato Japanese. This extends to almost every gacha game under the sun IMO, because orientalism, sinophobia, Korean discrimination, and antiblackness are very very normalized.

These companies care more about profit than writing these groups with any sort of tact and I wish people would acknowledge this. They only care about acknowledging these groups if they can use them to turn a profit.