Seventy Years Since Reversion to Japan: Retracing the History of the Amami Islands with JACAR Documents

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the December 25, 1953, reversion of the Amami Islands to Japan. In this article, we will introduce a number of JACAR records related to this development. Central to this discussion is one that was released in March 2022 by the Diplomatic Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs titled “Nansei-shotō kizoku mondai: Amami-shotō” [Nansei Islands’s Reversion Issue: The Amami Islands].

The Amami Islands are scattered like stepping stones between Kyushu and Okinawa. They include eight inhabited islands——Amami Oshima, Kakeroma Island, Uke Island, Yoroshima Island, Kikai Island, Tokunoshima Island, Okinoerabu Island, and Yoron Island—and a number of uninhabited ones. In the final stages of the Pacific War, the Amami Islands were the front line of Japan’s defense against the approaching invasion by U.S. forces and were a target for air raids [Image 1].

On September 7, 1945, five days after the Japanese government signed an Instrument of Surrender, a signing ceremony was held place for the Nansei Islands, which includes both the Amami Islands and Okinawa. Army Major General Takada Toshitada and Navy Rear Admiral Kato Tadao took part and signed the surrender document [Image 2].

 

When it comes to records describing conditions in the Amami Islands from right around the time when they came under US military rule, the JACAR database contains a document titled, “Amami-shotō no sengo shori ni tsuite” [On the postwar disposition of the Amami Islands] by Major General Takada Toshisada, who had served as the Amami Garrison commander and was involved with the postwar handling of the islands. This document contains a summary of the talks held between the garrison and the US forces from August to December 1945. In his first letter to the commander of the US Tenth Army, Takada wrote that “it is absolutely necessary that fair borders be established in order to lay the foundations for lasting peace” so that the Amami Islands would not become the site of future conflicts between the two nations. He also tried to convince the US military that the Amami Islands were not part of the Ryukyu Islands (Okinawa Prefecture) but rather belonged to Japan’s Kagoshima Prefecture. A dismarment order issued on September 21 by a Colonel “Condon” of the US Tenth Army directing that “all weapons in the Northern Ryukyus be surrendered” was rejected by Takada on the grounds that “the Amami Islands are not part of the Northern Ryukyus.” After further debate, a telegram arrived from the US forces that was amended to read, “weapons from the Amami and Tokara Islands.” [Image 3]

However, the English naming from March 1946 for the US military government established in Naze at the Oshima Administrative Office read, “United States Navy Government of the Northern Ryukyu Islands.” and the English naming for the Amami Islands under military rule remained “Northern Ryukyu.“

According to a memorandum on administrative separation issued January 29, 1946 by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, [Image 4] the Nansei Islands south of the 30th parallel including the Amami Islands and Okinawa were stipulated as falling outside of Japan’s political and administrative jurisdiction. Because the US military government announced this directive to the residents of the Amami Islands on February 2, it became known as the “Ni-Ni Sengen” [2/2 Declaration]. As already noted, the US military government was established in the Oshima Administrative Office, and the Amami Islands were placed under US military rule.

Under the US military rule, the economy of the Amami Islands fell into straitened circumstances. According to “Amami Ōshima kizoku sokushin no keika” [Progress of efforts to promote the reversion of Amami Ōshima], a pamplet prepared in June 1953 by the Liaison Committee to Study Ōshima Reversion that had been set up within the Kagoshima Prefectural Government, imports of daily necessities were far exceeding exports, creating “excessive money shortages” on the islands. This, combined with a contraction in production and a rise in employment, was leading to a fall in standards of living for residents. The booklet also mentioned an increase in crime due to hardships, a sharp rise in people needing assistance, and a population decline. [Image 5]

 

In light of the difficult situation on the Amami Islands, a movement to seek their reversion to Japan began in earnest in 1951. A reversion petition drive emerged— with the Amami Ōshima Nihon Kizoku Kyōgikai [Council for the Reversion of Amami Oshima to Japan] established that February that year playing a central role—and the entreaties were submitted to the Japanese government [Image 6]. What’s more, this movement developed into into hunger strikes in the schools and elsewhere on the Amami Islands [Image 7].

The reversion movement then spread further around Japan, with, for example, the formation that June of the Amami Ōshima Nihon Kizoku Taisaku Zenkoku Iinkai (National Committee on Measures for the Reversion of the Amami Islands to Japan). Local committees outside of the Amami Islands and Kagoshima Prefecture also submitted petitions to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and so forth [Image 8]. However, Article 3 of the Treaty of Peace with Japan (“San Francisco Peace Treaty”) signed in September 1951 specified that the Nansei Islands south of 29º north latitude were an area where the United States would be “ the sole administering authority.” The Amami Islands remained apart, and achieving their reversion remained extremely difficult.

 

A major change on the efforts to see the Amami Islands revert to Japan occurred with an August 8, 1953, meeting between Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru, Foreign Minister Okazaki Masao, and US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles [Image 9]. That same evening, Dulles issued a statement regarding the return of the Amami Islands, stating that “the Government of the United States desires to relinquish its rights under Article 3 of the Peace Treaty over the Amami Oshima Group in favor of the resumption by Japan of authority over these islands as soon as necessary arrangements can be concluded with the Government of Japan” [Image 10].

Dulles’ statement did not offer any specific proposals on when or under what conditions the return of the Amami Islands would take place, but Japan steadily pushed forward on its preparations to handle reversion. In September 1953, a Japanese government investigatory commission was dispatched to the islands to hold talks over on-site surveys and the handover. Attached to the commission’s report was a “Request on the Reversion of the Amami Islands to Japan” [Image 11] submitted by the Amami Ōshima Nihon Kizoku Taisaku Iinkai [Committee for Measures on the Reversion of the Amami Islands to Japan]. Their request, which was also submitted to the US authorities, included a demand for the return of the Amami Islands and brought up urgent issues related to administration, judicial structures, the economy, and finances. Based on the commission’s report, on October 29 the “Amami-Ōshima no fukki ni tomonau hōrei no tekiyō no zantei sochi nado ni kansuru hōritsu” [Act Related to Provisional Measures on the Application of Ordinances Accompanying the Reversion of Amami Ōshima] was brought before an extraordinary session of the Diet where it was approved, along with a supplementary budget of ¥1 billion to cover the remedial costs associated with handling the reversion.

In the wake of Dulles’ statement, several unofficial talks between Japan and the United States were held on the Amami Islands reversion issue. One was to confirm the specific area to be returned. In mid-August 1953, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through its embassies inquired with the US Department of State about what areas were to be reverted. In response, on October 20 the US embassy in Japan sent a map showing the area to be reverted [Image 12] as an appendix to communique on the issue. The Japanese side then told its US counterparts that further clarification on the area to be returned was needed. On November 5, the US sent an unofficial response specifying that the area to be retunred “includes all islands, islets, atolls, and reefs, and their territorial waters, within the area bounded by north latitude 29º and south latitude 27º, and east longitude 128º 18” and west longitude 130º 13”.”

Formal negotiations between Japan and the United States began on November 24, 1953 when the US presented Japan with its proposal [Image 13] on the reversion of the Amami Islands. The US proposal comprised an official document, four enclosures, and an official meeting record. The enclosures specified various matters such as military rights, facilities and areas, financial and political arrangements,.and a description of the area.

Upon receiving the US proposal, on November 27 the Japanese government invited a US representative to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where the first official talks were held [Image 14]. The US studied Japan’s views on the proposal, and then the two sides further exchanged views. However, views remained divided to the end over the issue of how to handle the “B” yen currency circulating in the Amami Islands. The “B” yen were military payment certificates issued by the US that circulated as currency around Okinawa Prefecture and the Amami Islands (including the Tokara Islands) during the US occupation. Enclosure 3 of the US proposal had specified that the Japanese government would begin to withdraw the “B” yen from circulation and return it to the US Civil Administrator without any obligation for the US to reimburse Japan. In response, Japan cited an example from 1951, wherein the US reimbursed in Japanese yen the full value of the “B” yen that had been collected when Takarajima Village, Kagoshima-gun, Kagoshima Prefecture, had reverted to Japan. Japan strongly demanded an explanation as to why there would be no reimbursement for handing the yen over to the US now, but in the end, on the grounds that there could be no further delay to the islands’ reversion, they had no choice but to accept the US proposal [Image 15].

New budget measures would be necessary to dispose of the “B” Yen. Accordingly, the agreement between the two sides on the reversion of the Amami Islands was converted into the form of a treaty that would require Diet approval. At a December 16 bilateral meeting, it was decided the effective date of the return of the Amami Islands would be set for December 25. On the morning of December 24, the US State Department filed its final instructions regarding the agreement, and that same day the Diet deliberated over the agreement [Image 16]. The “Agreement Between Japan and the United States of America Concerning the Amami Islands” was unanimously passed by both the House of Councilors and the House of Representatives. A signing ceremony [Image 17] promptly took place at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with Foreign Minister Okazaki and US Ambassador Allison inking the agreement. Separately from the agreement, Japan and the US also exchange documents [Image 18] which stated in part ,that “The Amami Islands and their territorial waters, because of their proximity to both the mainland of Japan and to military installations of the United States of America in the remaining islands of the Nansei Shoto, bear a unique relationship to the defense and security of the Far East. It is understood that the Government of Japan, cognizant of this unique relationship, will take into consideration those requirements which the United States of America considers necessary to preserve, strengthen and facilitate the defense of the remaining islands of the Nansei Shoto.” Hence, even after their reversion, the Amami Islands would remain a strategically important region for both Japan and the United States.

 

References

Haraguchi Kunihiro. “Takada Toshitada, ‘Amami guntō no sengo shori ni tsuite.’” Gaikō shiryōkan-pō [Journal of the Diplomatic Archives], vol. 30, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Diplomatic Archives, 2017.

Hazuma Hiroshi. Zen kiroku: Bunri-ki gunsei-ka jidai no Amami fukki undō, bunka undō.. Nanpōshinsha, February 2003.

Hirai Kazuomi. “Amami henkan kankei gaikō bunsho ni miru fukki undo.” Amami Nyūsuretā, vol. 17, Kagoshima University, April 2005.

Kajiuara Atsushi. “Amamishotō no henkan o meguru Beikoku no tainichi taiso senryaku.” Kokusai Seiji [International Relations], no. 105, Japan Association of International Relations, January 1994.

Kobayashi Takeshi. “Amami guntō no Nihon fukki to Okinawa to no kankei.” Aichidaigaku hōgakubu-hō kyōron-shū, no. 221–222, Aichi Daigaku Hōgakkai, March 2020.

Nobuo Takashi. “Amami henkan to Nichibei mitsuyaku.” Seikei kenkyū, vol. 53, no. 2, Nihon University Political Science and Economics Institute, October 2016.

Saitō Koichi, Chōsa-shitsu (Research Office), Committee on Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism,. “Amami guntō Nihon fukki 60-shūnen o hete no aratana torikumi – Amami Ogasawara shinkō kaihatsu tokubetsu sochi-hō no ichibu kaiseian.” Rippō to chōsa, no. 350, Sangiin jimukyoku kikaku chōsei-shitsu (House of Councilors Planning and Coordination Office), March 2014.

 

MIZOI Satoshi, Assistant Researcher, JACAR