Okinawan Women's Stories of Migration

<p>The phenomenon of “war brides” from Japan moving to the West has been quite widely discussed but this book tells the stories of women whose lives followed a rather different path after they married foreign occupiers. During Okinawa’s Occupation by the Allies from 1945 to 1972 many Okinawan women met and had relationships with non-Western men who were stationed in Okinawa as soldiers and base employees. Most of these men were from the Philippines.</p><p>Zulueta explores the journeys of these women to their husbands’ homeland their acculturation to their adopted land and their return to their native Okinawa in their late adult years. Utilizing a life-course approach she examines how these women crafted their own identities as first-generation migrants or “Issei” in both the country of migration and their natal homeland their re-integration to Okinawan society and the role of religion in this regard as well as their thoughts on end-of-life as returnees.</p><p>This book will be of interest to scholars looking at gender and migration cross-cultural marriages ageing and migration as well as those interested in East Asia particularly Japan/Okinawa.</p>