The Return of the Amami Islands The Reversion Movement and U.S.-Japan Relations

From January 1946 through April 1952, 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. 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.

Robert D. Eldridge is Associate Professor of Japanese Political and Diplomatic History at the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), Osaka University.