Greg Girard
Japan’s southernmost prefecture, Okinawa, hosts a concentration of US military bases unlike anywhere outside the continental United States. More than half the 50,000 US troops stationed in Japan are based here. On the main island of Okinawa nearly 20% of the land is occupied by these bases. This large US military footprint, and the legacy of Okinawa’s history as a US-administered territory until 1972, means that the social and physical landscape of Okinawa is shaped by this relationship with the US military like few other places. In "Hotel Okinawa" (2017), Girard looks at this unique world "on base" and off, separate and yet conjoined, the result of decades of living in close proximity with the US military. Additionally, archival photographs, periodicals and other artefacts, some dating back to the US occupation, appear throughout the book, registering historical strands that are part of the complex fabric of Okinawa today.
Brooklyn Army Terminal
The Brooklyn Army Terminal was the largest military supply base in the United States through World War II. The complex had its own railroad line as well as dedicated police and fire departments. According to contemporary news articles, the Brooklyn Army Base saw of cargo and was the point of departure for 3.5 million soldiers during World War II, though the Brooklyn Army Terminal's website states that the Brooklyn Army Base handled of cargo and 3.2 million soldiers. The terminal hired 20,000 workers and served as the headquarters for the New York Port of Embarkation. In mid-1941, the U.S. Army moved some civilian workers into more than at Bush Terminal, spread across three buildings along First Avenue, because there was no more space at Brooklyn Army Terminal.