Japan’s leaders accepted Okinawa’s US colonization to keep bases away from mainland

Evidence

During the postwar occupation of Japan, U.S. negotiators insisted on retaining full control of Okinawa after nominally returning it to Japan. Thus, when the occupation of Japan ended in 1952, the United States continued to rule Okinawa and smaller islands like Iwo Jima. American officials described Japan as maintaining “residual sovereignty” over these islands, but the U.S. government retained the right to establish military facilities on them, and effectively to govern them as it wished. This arrangement was politically palatable to Japanese leaders because concentrating U.S. bases and troops in a colonized part of Japan meant reducing the U.S. military’s impact elsewhere. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 843

Categorization

Category: Causal Relationships

• DEFINE: “Residual sovereignty” explained as a face-saving fiction covering de facto US rule.

Related

• Japan accepted US rule of Okinawa to avoid bases on the mainland. (similarity 0.95)
• The U.S. continued colonial rule over Okinawa after Japan regained sovereignty in 1952 (similarity 0.94)
• Okinawa regained nominal sovereignty in 1972 but kept long-term U.S. base tenancy. (similarity 0.88)
• The 1972 reversion actually increased Okinawa’s share of US bases. (similarity 0.84)
• Okinawa’s 1972 return to Japan left its U.S. base burden largely unchanged (similarity 0.83)
• Okinawa bases keep Japan locked in as a U.S. client state (similarity 0.83)
• Japan colonized Okinawa and used it as an imperial military outpost (similarity 0.82)
• Japan colonized the independent Ryukyu Kingdom and used it as a military outpost. (similarity 0.80)
• The containment rationale for Okinawa bases now rests on weaker threats (similarity 0.80)
• US displaced nearly half of Okinawa’s population and half its farmland (similarity 0.79)