‘Island people are always waiting’: Young people’s everyday lives and future narratives in Okinawa

This paper explores young people’s everyday lives and future narratives in Okinawa with focus on education, career, and the role and position of Japan and USA in Okinawan society. Drawing on anthropological and sociological scholarship on youth cultures and island futures, it aims to outline and analyse the meaning of place and cultural identity in relation to oscillating local-global power dynamics. The military bases in Okinawa, influencing the islanders’ lifestyles and values, play a central role in the discussions about the past and the future among young people. The local notion of chanpurū, referring to the hybridisation of elements from different cultures, is used as to scrutinise young people’s identity negotiation and struggle to rethink Okinawa’s relation to the world. The paper, based on a fieldwork among students at higher education institutions in Okinawa in 2019, argues that present-day young people use creative future imagination better to understand contemporary realities and challenges.