The southernmost prefecture in Japan. The Ryukyu Islands stretch over 1200 km from the southern tip of Kyushu to the northeastern tip of Taiwan. 1879 Becomes Okinawa Prefecture. After becoming Okinawa Prefecture, all leaders including the governor and the leaders of the prefectural office were dispatched from the mainland, and Japanification was rapidly promoted, but the same autonomy system as the mainland was established in 1920.
Discriminatory special circumstances different from the mainland survived. It was also economically unstable due to the capital of the mainland and the advance of merchants. At the end of the Pacific War, Okinawa became a fierce battlefield, and the inhabitants suffered great damage. Occupied by the US Army in 1945 and subsequently placed under its military administration. Even after the signing of the San Francisco Peace Treaty in 1951, the autonomy of the inhabitants was limited and their lives depended on the base because they were placed under the power of the United States under the provisions of Article 3. The long-awaited return to Japan movement came to fruition in 1972, and Okinawa was on a new path. In 1975, the Ocean Expo was held.
