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When I think of Okinawa, an image from a TV show that I had watched in passing a long time ago comes to my mind. The heroine driving a sports car on top of a long bridge that crosses the sea, and in particular, the sea shining like a jewel. Okinawa is a beautiful island, the southernmost territory of Japan, where one can see Taiwan on clear days beyond the sea: a paradise of blue and exotic skies, with the sea and the sand shining under the sun.

The beautiful image of the island, however, clashes with the intrusion of the military bases that surround the beaches. In this island of peace, the island of cure, Okinawa houses more than 70% of the American military facilities in Japan, while the Yambaru National Park, located to the north of the Okinawa Islands, has the largest jungle training center in the world used by the United States military, where many soldiers train before being dispatched to war zones around the world.

In 1945, just after the Pacific War, Okinawa became the site of the Battle of Okinawa and was placed under military and civil administration, becoming a site of exploitation by the United States military and a strategic site for the Vietnam War. Okinawa was only returned to Japan in 1972. Just as war and the rule by the United States military came to an end, the people of Okinawa ironically saw the Japanese Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) and United States military bases moving in, increasing the presence of military on the island.

Okinawa was home to a kingdom called Ryukyu. The Ryukyu Kingdom (1429-1879) fought for its existence between the Ming and Qing China, as well as the Satsuma Domain (during the Edo period: 1603-1867). But in 1879, the Ryukyu Kingdom was annexed into Japan, and the Ryukyu Islands came under Japanese colonial rule. As the lecturers (Kwak Hyoung-deoc, Professor, Myongji University) mentioned, this is the start of the double (from <The Souls of Black Folk>, W.E.B. Du Bois) no, triple consciousness of the Uchinanchu (Okinawans).

Until the Pacific War and the Battle of Okinawa, the people of Okinawa considered themselves as loyal Japanese subjects and did not oppose the colonial rule over the Taiwanese and the Koreans. But during the Battle of Okinawa, civilian casualties exceeded 90,000 (30,000 Okinawan soldiers conscripted into the Imperial Japanese Army are considered as military combatants, and are not as such included in this figure), most of them by the Japanese military.

Despite their claim to being a loyal Japanese subject, and despite their struggle to be recognized as Japanese, this showed that Okinawa was nothing but a colony to Japan. Okinawans thus must have come to realize their double identities, as victims and perpetrators of Japanese imperialism. That was the start of the self-criticism and reflection in Okinawa.

# The two facets of Okinawa, according to Shun Medoruma and Eiki Matayoshi

In the fourth lecture of the <Asian Literature Preview>, the pre-festival event for the <2022 Asian Literature Festival>, Professor Kwak Hyoung-deoc of Myongji University began with the theme, "Asia Remembers and Records State Violence". After a short summary of Okinawan history, Professor Kwak discussed the uniqueness of Okinawan literature.

This lecture covered the event in 1995, considered the turning point of Okinawan literature, and two different perspectives to that event. Professor Kwak introduced two works of two Okinawan writers who received the prestigious Akutagawa Prize: Shun Medoruma (目取真俊) and <Niji no tori (虹の鳥; Rainbow Bird, 2006)>, and Eiki Matayoshi (又吉榮喜) and <Buta no mukui (豚の報い; The Pig's Retribution, 1996)>.

After it was returned to Japan in 1972, Okinawa became a "military island", standing as the vanguard to state (imperialist) violence. With longstanding discrimination from the mainland and the rape of a 12-year-old girl by U.S. military personnel in 1995, the contradiction between the reality of Okinawa and its overwritten identity as an "island of peace" by the outside (the state), gave rise to anti-war, anti-military base movements and transformed the contours of Okinawan literature.

Despite their shared identity as Okinawans, Medoruma and Matayoshi show different perspectives on the position that Okinawa finds itself in. In <Buta no mukui>, Eiki Matayoshi focuses on Okinawan traditions and motherhood. Pigs are considered as gods in Okinawa, and by eating them, the people of Okinawa heal and purify themselves. The novel captures the people who lost their souls (魂) by an intrusion of a pig returning to the island to restore the soul to their bodies, and discusses the idea of "healing" through tradition with Okinawan aerial sepulture (風葬).

Medoruma's <Niji no tori> focuses on "vengeance" over "healing". Its two protagonists struggle with memories of violence. The two conform to the absolute violence that no one can endure by oneself, and live their lives in torpor within that violence. Through his work, Medoruma shows the impact of the 1995 incident, how the people of Okinawa sought to live in the face of it, and how the protagonists cannot help but let themselves be subjugated to the absolute character of the violence inflicted upon them, the reality of Okinawa's situation. But rather than continue to acquiesce to this violence, Medoruma shows how the situation is overcome by violence, as a dark, yet liberating ritual of cleansing that is not possible in reality.

If Matayoshi focuses on "healing" through tradition, Medoruma stares down the violence inflicted upon Okinawa and responds with "vengeance". Indeed, Medoruma is a prolific activist in the movement against military bases in Okinawa. He has worked to bring the reality in Okinawa to the people outside the island, and has steadfastly continued to advocate for the withdrawal of the United States military and opposition to additional construction of military bases.

# Preparing for the 4th Asian Literature Festival

<Asian Literature Festival>, an event that traces where Asia is today and where it is heading to, began in 2017 and assumed its present biennial format in 2018. The 3rd festival in 2020 was conducted under the COVID-19 pandemic, and this year's festival, which will be the 4th, will be held this October.

<Asian Literature Preview> is a pre-festival event held in ACC, Chonnam National University, and Chosun University from June 9 to September 29. It includes seven programs, featuring lectures, discussions, and author book talks. This year's event focuses on a wide range of literary topics from an Asian perspective — from modernity in Asia, disease, and local disasters to diaspora, state violence, and discrimination — and how they have been reevaluated and reinterpreted in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

On June 9, novelist Kim Nam-il opened the first lecture with the theme of "East Asian Writers’ First Encounters with the Faces of Modernity", discussing how writers across Asia, from Soseki Natsume in London, Lu Xun in Sendai, Yi Kwang-su in Tokyo, and Yeom Sang-seop in Seoul, faced the emerging cities of modernity.

Last June 23, Chosun University hosted the lecture, "Humanity’s Encounter with the Bare Faces of Violence and Conflict: Voices of East European Writers" by writer Shim Yun-kyung, who discussed Eastern European writers and their inner conflict through works like <Death and the Penguin> by Andrey Kurkov (Ukraine), <War Does Not Have a Woman’s Face> by Svetlana Alexievich (Belarus), and <The Fox Was Ever the Hunter> by Herta Müller (Romania and Germany).

Novelist Shim Yun-kyung in the second lecture

On July 7, Professor Shin Jung-ho of Mokpo National University took the podium under the theme "How China Suppresses Diseases", using works like <Medicine> by Lu Xun, <Dream of Ding Village> by Yan Lianke, and <Adrienne on the Shore> by Jin Renshun to discuss how China has engaged with diseases from the ancient times until today, and how China has, and continues to engage with COVID-19.

Professor Shin Jung-ho in the third lecture

After the fourth lecture on July 21, the fifth lecture will be held on August 25 by Professor Sohn Suk-joo of Dong-a University in B4F Lecture Hall 1 of ACC Archive & Research, under the theme, "History of Contemporary Indonesia in Magical Realism and Alvin Pang’s Poetry". The lecture will take the listeners through the contemporary history of Indonesia and Singapore through the works of two writers, Eka Kurniawan's <Beauty is a Wound> and <Man Tiger> for Indonesia, and Alvin Pang's poetry for Singapore.

The sixth program is a conversation between poet Koh Jae-jong and literary critic, Ko Myeong-cheol, on the world of poet Kim Si-jong, a Korean-Japanese poet, under the theme "Trans-Boundary Languages and Consciousness". This lecture, guided by Kim Si-jong's works <Searching for Lost Seasons> and <Gwangju Poems>, will be held on September 15, 16:00, in Chonnam National University's Kim Nam-ju Hall, College of Humanities 1.

The last program in this 3-month-long program will be a book talk with novelist Chae Hee-yoon on September 29, in ACC Cultural Education Building's Lecture Room 1. This event, titled "Asia Literature with Readers", will be an opportunity for a sincere discussion on Asia with Asian writers who were featured in the previous lectures.

Readers who want to engage with this new aspect of Asian literature are recommended to take part in the remaining three pre-festival events for the 4th Asian Literature Festival. Details for the event may be accessed in the ACC website (www.acc.go.kr).

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