A Bitter Choice of False Reversion: Okinawa Reversion Negotiations and the Shadow of the Brothers (1950s-1972)

A Bitter Choice of False Reversion: Okinawa Reversion Negotiations and the Shadow of the Brothers (1950s-1972)

The negotiations for the reversion of Okinawa were the most blatant manifestation of the "fiction of independence" and the "reality of subjugation" that Japan faced in the postwar era. After the defeat in the Pacific War, Okinawa was placed under the administration of the U.S., a situation that continued even after the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty. There were voices in both mainland Japan and Okinawa calling for the return of Okinawa to the United States, but they were only "idealistic" cries.

The two prime ministers involved in the negotiations for the reversion of Okinawa were the brothers, Nobusuke Kishi and Eisaku Sato. Kishi appealed to Eisenhower for the reversion of Okinawa during his visit to the U.S. in 1957, but no substantive progress was achieved, as Eisenhower prioritized the revision of the Security Treaty. While Kishi was idealistic, Sato was realistic and compromised, and succeeded in returning Okinawa to Japan in 1972. However, the reversion was accompanied by a "secret agreement" to maintain U.S. military bases and to bring in nuclear weapons. On the surface, the agreement was "no nuclear weapons, same as on the mainland," but behind the scenes, it was a secret agreement that deceived the public. This treacherous structure made Okinawa's "reversion" to Japan a mere formality.

Sato received the Nobel Peace Prize, but for the Okinawan people, it was not a blessing but the beginning of anguish. The reversion of Okinawa was not a sign of independence, but a symbol of subservience to the U.S. This history of the brothers' intermingling exposes the limits of Japanese diplomacy and its true nature in all its nakedness.