Okinawa in Postwar U.S.-Japan Relations, 1952-1972 The Road to Reversion

Okinawa, the largest of Ryukyu Islands, was occupied by the United States following a bitterly fought battle in the early months of 1945, and remained under US administration for 27 years, reverting to Japan in 1972, 20 years after the US Occupation ended elsewhere in Japan. Large US bases continue on the island to this day and are the cause of much controversy. This book examines the impact of the US occupation of Okinawa from the end of the US Occupation of the rest of Japan up to the reversion of Okinawa to Japan in 1972. It shows how Okinawans opposed the US presence, and how the continuing US occupation of Okinawa was a major factor in US-Japan relations in the period, with the Japanese government agreeing to the US occupation of Okinawa and to US military bases there as a key part of the US-Japanese alliance. It examines Okinawan protests, charts US-Japanese diplomacy over the period showing how key Okinawa was in bilateral relations, and recounts how the reversion of Okinawa to Japan was eventually agreed.

Introduction: Okinawa Reactions to the Peace Treaty Chapter 1 The Return of the Amami Islands and Okinawa Policy, 1952-1954 Chapter 2 Dark Years: Anti-Reversionism, Political Suppression, and the Land Problem, 1952-1955 Chapter 3 Shimagurumi Toso: Island Wide Protests and the Okinawa Problem, 1955-1957 Chapter 4 Japan and Okinawa as a Bilateral Problem, 1957-1958 Chapter 5 Okinawa and the Revision of the Security Treaty, 1958-1960 Chapter 6 Okinawa Policy During the Ikeda-Kennedy Years, 1960-1964 Chapter 7 Reexamining Okinawa Policy: the U.S. and Japanese Governments, 1964-1967 Chapter 8 The Return of Ogasawara and Okinawa Policy, 1967-1969 Chapter 9 The Decision to Return Okinawa, 1969 Chapter 10 The Reversion Negotiations and the Agreement, 1970-1972 Conclusion Bibliography

Robert D. Eldridge is an Associate Professor in the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) and Director, U.S.-Japan Alliance Affairs Division, in the Center for International Security Studies and Policy (CISSP), Osaka University.