Idealized View of Article 9

This large signboard near Yomitan City Hall is from the Yomitan city workers' union (ca. middle or late 1980s). The large letters at the far right say "Constitution of Japan," followed by Article Nine outlawing war as an instrument of national policy. At left, the mayor of Yomitan proclaims that Japan's "self-defense forces" are prohibited by the constitution. He further exhorts, the emperor, cabinet members, diet members, and bureaucrats to respect and defend the constitution. This image is an excellent example of the idealized view of Japan's "peace constitution" held by many Okinawans, who assumed incorrectly that reversion to Japan would end the military occupation of their island.

Source: Chibana Shôichi, Yakisuterareta hi-no-maru: kichi no shima Okinawa Yomitan kara 焼き捨てられた日の丸--基地の島沖縄読谷から (新泉社, 1992), p. 193.