By: Mayumi Yamamoto

Regarding the Empire Overseas-I
American Age

Born
in the mid-twentieth century,
in an island of Asia,
and raised
during the so-called American Age,
unlike the others who flocked to the States,
I never made the journey.
Nor will I ever.

I’ll leave the world without seeing America,
although it surfaces time and again,
like a fleeting glimpse
of a giant fish,
showing a part of its body above the water.
It was not my dream.
Nor will it ever be.

Regarding the Empire Overseas-II
Black Soldiers

My education
started
in an American school
of an Asian landlocked country
where
my friends are of various skin colours
except black.

On our summer vacation
spent back in our homeland,
my mother took me
to Okinawa
to visit the only battlefield
of Japan
during the Second World War.

And that’s where I first saw
the Black Americans.

My mother told me
that they were all soldiers.

Regarding the Empire Overseas-III
Military Bases

I learned
two slangs in Okinawa:
“amejo” and “kokujo”.

The former is
a girl who loves Americans,
while the latter implies
one who dates exclusively
Black Americans.

However,
I was not aware of
how and why
these words were invented
and
by whom.

I was too small to understand them.

＊“jo”(女) is “woman” and “koku”(黒) means “black” in the Japanese language.

###

Mayumi Yamamoto is a writer and academic based in Kyoto, Japan. Her writings appeared in Literary Yard, Tint Journal, The Space Ink, The Wise Owl, RIC Journal and others. She authored several published books in Japanese.