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12 — BOOKS
Further Reading
Books for getting to know Okinawa's history and people more deeply — general histories of the Ryukyu Kingdom, records of the Battle of Okinawa, novels set in the Amerika-yu era, and the islands' ties with Taiwan. For before your trip, and after it.
The Ryukyu Kingdom
Ryukyu Okoku (The Ryukyu Kingdom)
An introduction to the Ryukyu Kingdom by a historian who was closely involved in the restoration of Shuri Castle. It clearly sets out how the kingdom came into being, how its government worked, and its exchanges with Asia (the Shuri Castle room).
Umi no Okoku Ryukyu (Ryukyu, Kingdom of the Sea)
A portrait of Ryukyu within maritime Asia. Drawing on the latest research, it introduces the movements of ships and people in the great age of trade (the Trade room).
Tempest
A long novel whose heroine, in the final years of the kingdom, disguises her sex to become an official at Shuri Castle. It depicts the glittering world of the royal court and an era heading towards the Ryukyu Disposition.
The Battle of Okinawa
Himeyuri no To o Meguru Hitobito no Shuki (Memoirs of the People of the Himeyuri Monument)
A record compiled by a teacher who led the Himeyuri Student Corps, gathering the memoirs of the surviving students. It conveys the reality of the battlefield in each person's own words (the Battle of Okinawa room).
Junkoku: Rikugun Nitohei Higa Shin'ichi (Dying for the Nation: Army Private Higa Shin'ichi)
A novel, based on painstaking research, portraying a 14-year-old boy who went to the battlefield as a member of the Tekketsu Kinnotai (Blood and Iron Student Corps).
Amerika-yu and postwar Okinawa
The Cocktail Party (Kakuteru Pati)
A work that probes the complex relationship between perpetrator and victim through an incident in Okinawa under American rule. In 1967 it won the Akutagawa Prize — the first time an Okinawan writer had done so (the Postwar room).
Takarajima (Treasure Island)
A long novel that races through Okinawa up to reversion, centred on the "senka agiyaa" — young men who stole supplies from US bases and handed them out to local residents. It won the Naoki Prize in 2019.
Droplets (Suiteki)
One day, a man's leg swells up like a winter melon, and water begins to drip from his toe. A short story that depicts the memory of war in a fantastical way, it won the Akutagawa Prize in 1997.
The islands and Taiwan
Yaeyama no Taiwanjin (The Taiwanese of Yaeyama)
A work of non-fiction in which a local newspaper reporter carefully traces the story of the settlers from Taiwan who brought the pineapple industry and water buffalo to Ishigaki Island (the Islands room).
Yonaguni Taiwan Oraiki: "Kokkyo" ni Kurasu Hitobito (Between Yonaguni and Taiwan: People Living on the "Border")
By the same author, a book based on interviews about the lives and memories of people who travelled back and forth between Yonaguni and Taiwan. It conveys how close Taiwan feels from an island on the border.
* Publishers and editions listed are representative. Availability may change if titles go out of print or new editions are released.