Abstract
This article explores some features of popular music production by uncovering the palimpsestic geography of Okinawa, and in particular the octogenarian island idols of Kohama that have achieved stardom at home and outside their small island setting. As an island Other on multiple levels of separation beyond the mainland, and imagined in terms of geographic and cultural difference within archipelagic, prefectural, and national imaginaries, the assemblage of identity that embodies locality through the sonic discourse of popular music performance reveals pop simulacra on the one hand yet creative and distinct representation of island identity on the other.