Lecture Series
“RESIDUAL SOVEREIGNTY IN PRACTICE:
Japanese Law and Government
in the US-Administered Okinawa, 1952-1972”
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8D%97%E6%96%B9%E9%80%A3%E7%B5%A1%E4%BA%8B%E5%8B%99%E6%89%80
The term “residual sovereignty” has been used to describe Japan’s claim on what is now Okinawa
Prefecture from the time that the San Francisco Peace Settlement went into effect in April 1952 to
Okinawa’s “reversion” to Japan in May 1972. Conventional wisdom assumes that residual sovereignty
was accompanied by a complete suspension of the Japanese legal and administrative authority in the
US-administered Ryukyu Islands. Through an overview and analysis of the institutions that mediated
Japan’s relations with Okinawa during the period of US administration, the presentation will make the
case that the conventional wisdom is incorrect and that in practice Japanese law and government
administration was effectively exercised there in a number of non-trivial ways during the period. It is
also contended that it is important for students of Okinawa to adopt a more nuanced and sophisticated
understanding of residual sovereignty as the conventional wisdom significantly distorts our
understanding of social and political processes in Okinawa during this critical historical period.
Speaker:
Date:
Time:
Location:
Dr. Lonny E. Carlile, Asian Studies & Center for Japanese Studies
September 30, 2014 (Tuesday)
3:00-4:30 pm
Moore Hall 319 (Tokioka Room)
Co-sponsored with:
Center for Japanese Studies
Event is free and open to the public.
For more information or disability access, please contact:
Center for Okinawan Studies, tel. 956-0902 / 956-5754
University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa
An Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Institution