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Post-war Okinawa
After the war, the islands were occupied by the United States and run by a U.S. military government even after the end of the occupation of Japan in 1952. Despite the creation of the an Okinawan elected government, the United States exercised absolute authority over the islands, and an emphasis was placed on Okinawa's strategic military role as the "Keystone of the Pacific."

As stated in Executive Order 10713, the High Commissioner, an active duty military official appointed by the Secretary of Defense to head the Government of the Ryukyus was given the power to “(1) veto any bill or any part or portion thereof, (2) annul any law or any part or portion thereof within 45 days after its enactment, and (3) remove any public official from office.”

In post-war Okinawa, the United States dollar was the official currency used after 1958, and cars drove on the right, American-style, as opposed to on the left as in Japan. The islands switched to driving on the left in 1978, six years after they were returned to Japanese control.

Forced Land Acquisition
The U.S. used their authority and time as occupiers to build large army, air force, navy, and marine bases on Okinawa. However, this land acquisition was typically forceful and has been termed by Okinawans as a policy of "bulldozers and bayonets."

In 1952, the United States Civil Administration [USCAR] did attempt to rent the land for bases, but “an individualized landowner would receive less than two yen per year for 3.3 square meters of land or 200 to 300 yen per year for average-sized landholdings,” but a “box of cigarettes cost 23 yen and a bottle of Coca-Cola cost 10 yen.” So, 98% of landowners refused. So, in 1953 USCAR issued Ordinance 109 and forcibly seized farmland and houses using "tanks, bulldozers, and tear gas."

Recognition of Residual Sovereignty
On November 21, 1969 U.S. President Richard Nixon and Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Sato signed the Okinawa Reversion Agreement in Washington, D.C. on June 17, 1971. Under terms of the agreement, the U.S. retained its rights to bases on the island as part of the 1952 Treaty to protect Japan, but those bases were to be nuclear-free.

Agent Orange controversy
Evidence suggests that the US military's Project 112 tested biochemical agents on US marines in Okinawa in the 1960s. Later, evidence has been show that the US may have stored and used Agent Orange at its bases and training areas on the island.

In at least one location where Agent Orange was reportedly used, there have been incidences of leukemia among locals, one of the listed effects of Agent Orange exposure. Drums that were unearthed in 2002 in one of the reported disposal locations were seized by the Okinawa Defense Bureau, an agency of Japan's Ministry of Defense, which has not issued a report on what the drums contained.

The United States denies that Agent Orange was ever present on Okinawa. However, thirty US military veterans claim that they saw Agent Orange on the island, and three of them have been awarded related disability benefits by the US Veteran's administration. The locations of suspected Agent Orange contamination include Naha port, Higashi, Camp Schwab, and Chatan. In May 2012, it was claimed that the US transport ship USNS Schuyler Otis Bland (T-AK-277) had transported herbicides to Okinawa on 25 April 1962. The defoliant might have been tested in Okinawa's northern area between Kunigami and Higashi by the US Army's 267th Chemical Service Platoon to assess its potential usefulness in Vietnam. A retired Marine Lieutenant Colonel, Kris Roberts, told the Japan Times that his base maintenance team unearthed leaking barrels of unknown chemicals at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in 1981. In 2012 a US Army environmental assessement report, published in 2003, was discovered which stated that 25,000 55-gallon drums of Agent Orange had been stored on Okinawa before being taken to Johnston Atoll for disposal. In February 2013, an internal US DoD investigation concluded that no Agent Orange had been transported to, stored, or used on Okinawa. No veterans or former base workers were interviewed for the investigation.