This book is the culmination of my ongoing research and experiences living on, travelling around and interacting intensively with Okinawa since 2001 when I first visited the islands from Tokyo as a young person in the midst of a hot and hectic Japanese summer. Ever since that time, the role and meaning of this unique island and its extended archipelago – positioned at the very centre of a geological and geopolitical fault line that runs through the stunningly serene beauty of the East China Sea's turquoise iridescence – has fascinated and enthralled me. Now, as the geopolitics of the Far East threaten to boil over from a new cold war to hotly contested kinetic conflict, it seems appropriate to focus attention more than ever on what is poised to become one of the region's key flashpoints.

The concept for the book was, therefore, to create an informative, engaging and balanced resource for those new to Okinawa who want to learn more about it and its heightened significance. However, I also anticipate that practitioners, academics and students who might want to better understand the complexity of Okinawa's state, market and societal spheres will find the text to be a useful resource, as well as containing a compelling argument, namely that Okinawa matters! Through this project, I have aimed to challenge existing literature on Okinawa that suffers from specific or partisan perspectives and compile a single volume that is both holistic in nature and integrated in its approach. In addition to those at the head of government, directors of large corporations and military leaders, it is my belief that only by incorporating the role of a wide range of key actors from foreign policy-making, domestic political and business communities, as well as the broader general population, can realistic counter-measures and sustainable solutions be developed in response to escalation. Only then can the currently tense status quo be alleviated and a lasting peace be realized.

In order to successfully realize this challenging endeavour and express it in a credible form, the research unpacked throughout the chapters that follow consciously and systematically accesses a diverse scope and scale of data in order to write a book that strives for coherence and consistency despite its obvious limitations as a short, stand-alone text. This includes extensive use of original Japanese-language sources.