The United States had administered Okinawa and the Ryukyu Islands since 1945, using them as the hub of its military presence in the Pacific, including during the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Under the Reversion Agreement signed in 1971 by the governments of Prime Minister Eisaku Satō and President Richard Nixon, the islands became Okinawa Prefecture again. Many American bases remained, however, and they continue to cause tension with residents to this day.
The Battle of Okinawa in 1945 killed an estimated 100,000 or more civilians, a large share of the island's population, along with about 110,000 Japanese and more than 12,000 American military personnel. After the war, the peace treaty of 1951 left the Ryukyus under US administration, and the island became one of the most important American bases in Asia. Okinawans drove on the right, used dollars and needed passports to travel to mainland Japan.
A reversion movement grew through the 1950s and 1960s, fuelled by land seizures for bases and crimes by American servicemen. Satō, who took office in 1964, made the islands' return a priority, and he and Nixon agreed in 1969 that it would take place without nuclear weapons on the islands, at least officially.
At midnight on May 15, 1972, the islands became Japanese again. The mood was mixed: ceremonies were held in Tokyo and Naha, but many Okinawans protested because the bases stayed. Six years later, on July 30, 1978, Okinawa switched to driving on the left.
Key people: Eisaku Satō, Richard Nixon