Okinawan Protest Music
Okinawa's musicians provide a focus for Japanese protest against US bases With Barack Obama visiting Japan in April, resentment at plans for the US Futenma military base is finding a musical voice Justin McCurry in Okinawa theguardian.com , Thursday 17 April 2014 15.50 BST If an island of 1.4m people can be summed up in a sound, it is that of the sanshin . Where there are people on Okinawa, a Japanese island almost 1,000 miles south of Tokyo, the distinctive tones of the three-stringed instrument are never far away. Music is deeply rooted in Okinawa's tragic place in Japan 's history and the conduit for its modern grievances against the glut of US military bases on the island. As Barack