ABSTRACT
In 1972, Okinawa returned to Japan, and everything apart from the US military base presence changed. It marked the start of a long ‘low’ period in terms of mass protest that lasted until the third ‘wave’ of island-wide protest, triggered by the rape of a 12-year-old girl in 1995. During the first and second ‘waves’ of protest, the campaign for reversion was led by the Council for Reversion, which engaged in successive mass rallies and campaigns, and gave substance to the idea of a united Okinawans’ political movement, described in terms such as the ‘Okinawa Struggle’. Reversion as an overall goal was achieved and a goal that once held the coalition of protest organizations together no longer existed. The victory was, for many, more bitter than sweet. The US military bases were there to stay.
