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===Occupation===
===Occupation===
[[File:Ryukyuseifu.jpg|right|thumb|320px|A photo of the ''Rippôin'', where the Ryûkyû Government (''Ryûkyû seifu'') - the elected Okinawan representative assembly under US Occupation - met. Today the site of the Okinawa Prefectural Legislature (''Okinawa kenchô'').]]
[[File:Ryukyuseifu.jpg|right|thumb|320px|A photo of the ''Rippôin'', where the Ryûkyû Government (''Ryûkyû seifu'') - the elected Okinawan representative assembly under US Occupation - met. Today the site of the Okinawa Prefectural Legislature (''Okinawa kenchô'').]]
Following the end of World War II, Allied forces occupied Japan, placing it under martial law. For the next seven years or so, up until 1952, Gen. Douglas MacArthur and his SCAP offices oversaw considerable rebuilding efforts, as well as changes in the education system, reorganization of government and economy, and so forth.
Following the end of World War II, Allied forces occupied Japan, placing it under martial law. For the next seven years or so, up until 1952, Gen. Douglas MacArthur and his SCAP offices oversaw considerable rebuilding efforts, as well as changes in the education system, reorganization of government and economy, and so forth. A weak civilian government was permitted to operate, and political parties were allowed to be formed in 1947, but the following year, the US stepped up its military control of the islands, and considered holding onto the archipelago permanently.<ref name=siddle135>Richard Siddle, "Return to Uchinâ," in Siddle and Glenn Hook (eds.), ''Japan and Okinawa: Structure and Subjectivity'', Routledge Curzon (2002), 135.</ref>
In 1952, mainland Japan was restored to Japanese sovereignty. The Allied military Occupation, and martial law, continued for another twenty years in Okinawa, under USCAR - the United States Civil Administration of Ryukyu. At that time, the occupation of Ryukyu had no set end-date, but it was only after considerable protest and agitation for a return to Japanese sovereignty, and in 1970 a series of violent riots in the city of Koza, that the United States, and the Japanese government, were convinced to finally end the occupation. A public referendum was held among residents of Okinawa, asking whether they would prefer independence or to return to Japanese sovereignty, and overwhelmingly they chose the latter.
Okinawans in mainland Japan were not permitted to return to Okinawa, and a group in [[Kansai]] formed the ''Okinawajin Renmei'' (Okinawans' League) to help aid these "refugees" and to petition the government for assistance. SCAP represented the Ryukyuans in most of their rhetoric as a separate people (''minzoku'') from the Japanese, as colonized, minority, and subordinate, contributing to its justifications for US military retention of Okinawa even after sovereignty was restored in the rest of Japan. The Japanese Communist Party, in its official publication ''Akahata'' ("Red Banner" or "Red Flag"), also described the Okinawan people as being a separate nation, and a minority people who have been oppressed.<ref name=siddle135/>
As early as 1951, as the Treaty of San Francisco was being negotiated, Okinawan groups pushed for a variety of different ends. Several major political parties pushed for immediate reversion to Japanese sovereignty, something supported by nearly 200,000 signatures on an appeal, accounting for over 70% of the eligible voters in Okinawa. Meanwhile, the Socialist Party in Okinawa pushed for Okinawa to become a trustee under the United States, while the Republican Party in Okinawa angled for full independence.<ref name=siddle135/>
In 1952, mainland Japan was restored to Japanese sovereignty. The Allied military Occupation, and martial law, continued for another twenty years in Okinawa, under USCAR - the United States Civil Administration of Ryukyu. At that time, the occupation of Ryukyu had no set end-date, and the 1950s-1960s saw considerable protest and agitation. The US military removed people from their land by force in order to build or expand military bases, in a move known as "bayonets and bulldozers," and offered monetary compensation as a means of resolving all land problems. This only spurred further protest, however. Some 200,000 people participated in rallies against the base construction in 1956, and demonstrations calling for reversion, the end of US "colonial" rule, and the removal of all nuclear weapons from Okinawa, continued through the next decade. Due to the strategic value of Okinawa as the US continued to fight the Vietnam War, the US delayed and sought ways of retaining control of the islands. In the end, however, finally in 1969 President Nixon and Prime Minister Satô Eisaku came to an agreement about reversion.
The Koza Riots which broke out in the city of Koza (today, Okinawa City) in 1970 were the most violent of the Okinawan protests during the Occupation. A public referendum was held among residents of Okinawa, asking whether they would prefer independence or to return to Japanese sovereignty, and overwhelmingly they chose the latter. Many Okinawans at that time railed against "rule by a foreign people" (''iminzoku shihai''), referring to the Americans, but are said to have done so while identifying themselves as ''Japanese'', and not as a separate Okinawan or Ryukyuan identity. Okinawan protesters employed [[Japanese flag]]s as a symbol of their Japanese (and non-American, or anti-American) identity so frequently and prominently that the US Occupation authorities attempted to ban it; the Okinawans flew the flag anyway. Many in mainland Japan supported their push for reversion to Japanese sovereignty as well. Reversion finally took place on May 15, 1972.<ref>Siddle, 136.</ref>
While Okinawans were now once again free to choose their leaders and governmental representatives, and regained all the rights and protections associated with being Japanese citizens, US military bases continued to occupy up to 20% of the island's land area, creating difficulties and representing a continued "occupation" of Okinawan land. In addition to incidents of aircraft crashes, US soldiers attacking, even raping, Okinawan girls, and even just getting into traffic accidents or just drunkenly being a public nuisance, and being immune from Japanese legal prosecution, many Okinawans also feel that the presence of the US bases make Okinawa a military target, just as the Japanese military bases made Okinawa a target, and a battlefield, in 1945. While Washington and Tokyo maintain that Okinawa is of great strategic value because of its geographic location and so forth, many Okinawans believe that if there were no military bases on Okinawa - or at least, fewer - Okinawa might be spared death and destruction in the next great military conflict to come, whatever that may be.
While Okinawans were now once again free to choose their leaders and governmental representatives, and regained all the rights and protections associated with being Japanese citizens, US military bases continued to occupy up to 20% of the island's land area, creating difficulties and representing a continued "occupation" of Okinawan land. In addition to incidents of aircraft crashes, US soldiers attacking, even raping, Okinawan girls, and even just getting into traffic accidents or just drunkenly being a public nuisance, and being immune from Japanese legal prosecution, many Okinawans also feel that the presence of the US bases make Okinawa a military target, just as the Japanese military bases made Okinawa a target, and a battlefield, in 1945. While Washington and Tokyo maintain that Okinawa is of great strategic value because of its geographic location and so forth, many Okinawans believe that if there were no military bases on Okinawa - or at least, fewer - Okinawa might be spared death and destruction in the next great military conflict to come, whatever that may be.