Okinawa in Postwar U.S.-Japan Relations, 1952-1972

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.