influenced by Tatsuhiro Oshiro’s novella, “The Cocktail Party” (1967)

“Under the most desperate and unimaginable circumstances, Okinawans directly experienced the absurdity of war and atrocities it inevitably brings about.” - Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum (1975)

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SYNOPSIS: In U.S.-occupied Okinawa, Japan, a local teenage girl is raped by a U.S. serviceman. As they come to terms with the fact that justice may never be served[*], the girl’s family is also forced to deeply reexamine their feelings toward the U.S. military’s postwar occupation of their country.

[*] Since 1945, 14 U.S. military bases have been built on the islands of Okinawa. According to the Okinawa Times (“Crimes Committed and Incidents Concerning U.S. Military on Okinawa,” Millard, October 12, 1995), there have been at least 21 reported cases of women – including underaged girls – being murdered or raped by U.S. servicemen between 1955 and 1995 (the most notorious being the 1995 gang-rape of a local 12-year-old girl perpetrated by 2 U.S. Marines and 1 U.S. Navy Seaman). Many of these violent crimes were charged under U.S. jurisdiction, which often resulted in much weaker punishments for those who were actually convicted.

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PRODUCTION:

recording/arrangement/mixing: Logic 8
programming/synths: Reason 3
live instruments: sanshin [Okinawan lute]