The Return of the Amami Islands

From January 1946 through December 1953, the residents of the Amami Islands underwent a period now referred to as "ryuri no hibi (the days of trial)": like Okinawa, these islands had been politically and administratively separated from Japan and placed under U.S. military rule. In this work Robert D. Eldridge documents the drawn-out debates and the decisions that led to the complete reunification of the Amami Islands with Japan. He carefully traces the U.S. military's insistence on occupying Okinawa and the Amami Islands under the rationale of increased international security; the U.S. State Department's desire to uphold the Atlantic Charter by rejecting territorial expansion; Amamian activists' assertive argument for reversion to Japanese rule; and the Japanese government's work to reach an agreement with the U.S. Eldridge draws on original documents from the reversion movement, several volumes of memoirs and remembrances written by participants in the movement, and numerous declassified documents of the Japanese and U.S. governments. Scholars of international relations, including those who study Okinawa's long tenure under U.S. military rule, will learn much from this nuanced and revealing account of an important but oft-neglected occurrence in U.S.-Japan relations.