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Ra MASON, Okinawa heiwaron no ajenda: ikari wo chikara ni suru shiza to hōhō (An Agenda for Okinawan Peace Studies: Viewpoints and Methodologies for Transforming Anger into Power), Social Science Japan Journal, Volume 25, Issue 1, Winter 2022, Pages 153–156, https://doi.org/10.1093/ssjj/jyab031
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Okinawa’s political, economic and social victimisation at the hands of mainland Japanese authorities and the American military is an overcrowded topic area. However, in Okinawa heiwaron no ajenda, the authors make an innovative attempt—through four sections and eight diverse chapters—to develop a theory and practice of peace in order to effect real change from an Okinawan perspective. This is accomplished by effectively using Okinawa as an interdisciplinary case study in the field of Peace Studies. The text thereby primarily employs International Relations (IR) and International Political Economy (IPE) theories to inform policy making in the applied academic disciplines of Education and Law as a way of improving socio-economic aspects of everyday life on the Ryukyu Islands. In that respect, the text attempts a brave mission by reflectively querying its own validity—asking whether or not the theorising and analysis of peace theories and the practice of peace movements can substantively advance the building of a meaningful and lasting peace (v). In response, the volume adopts a commendably comprehensive approach, incorporating human security (chapter 2), legality (chapter 4) and education (chapter 8), among other aspects, as pivotal avenues of enquiry that require fuller conceptual and practical integration in order to realise their full potential in terms of addressing endemic structural violence (60).