The Return of the Amami Islands: The Reversion Movement and US-Japan Relations (Studies of Modern Japan) - Hardcover

Eldridge, Robert D.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0739107100 ISBN 13: 9780739107102

Publisher: Lexington Books, 2003

Synopsis

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.

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Review:

With painstakingly detailed accounts of U.S. policy-making meetings, document drafts and debates, Eldridge demonstrates that the Amami Reversion Movement merits greater attention than it has received to date.--Dennis J. Frost, Columbia University, New York, NY, U.S.A. "Pacific Affairs, Vol. 78, No. 1 --Spring 2005 "

The book provides a good picture of civil society activism early in Japan's fledging democracy. . . . [Eldridge] paints a picture of an "inside-out" process whereby Japan was not a subservient and reactive partner of the United States despite the asymmetrical relationship forged at the time under the occupation. . . . The study thus provokes us to think about the contemporary relevance and broader lessons beyond one case study. . . . It will be a rewarding read for diplomatic historians and for those interested in an early chapter of U.S.-Japan relations. . . .--Dennis T. Yasutomo, Smith College "The Journal of Japanese Studies "

Eldridge has produced a well-researched monograph on a relevant but hertofore unexamined epidose in US-Japan relations. . .. Taking advantage of recently declassified US and Japanese documents as well as memoirs and reminiscences of participants from both sides, the author tells for the first time the story of bilateral relations leading to reversion. The book will appeal to students of international and US-Japan relations in post-WWII Asia and the Pacific.--CHOICE

In an account that looks at 'both sides of the hill, ' Robert Eldridge gives us a look at a small but significant issue in the story of how two powers only recently the bitterest and deadliest of foes could put aside the hatred of war and build a solid relationship that was better for both than what had come before. . . . Eldridge is a master storyteller and renders his account in smooth prose that shows he is rapidly becoming the foremost historian of U.S.-Japanese relations on either side of the Pacific.--Nick Sarantakes, Texas A&M University--Commerce

About the Author:

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

About this edition

• Publisher: Lexington Books
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0739107100
• ISBN 13: 9780739107102
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 168