1952

Under the Ogasawara Reversion Agreement, the Ogasawara Islands was returned to Japan

  • Feb 17, 2016

Under the Agreement Between Japan and the United States of America Concerning Nanpo Shoto and Other Islands (Ogasawara Reversion Agreement), the administrative rights over the Ogasawara Islands was formally returned to Japan. (Ref. 1) Therefore, the Ogasawara islanders who had been living as evacuees on the Japanese mainland since 1944 were able to return. 

Details of the background the Agreement from the initiation of negotiations to the reversion are as follows.
1967 November 14-15 In a Japan-U.S. summit meeting held in Washington D.C., agreement on the reversion of the Ogasawara Islands to Japan was reached. (Ref. 2)
April 5 1968 Agreement Between Japan and the United States of America Concerning Nanpo Shoto and Other Islands was signed in Tokyo. (Ref. 1)
May 22 Conclusion of the Agreement was approved by the Diet.
May 27 The United States is notified of the agreement having been approved. Under the terms of Article 6 of the agreement, the agreement entered into force on the thirtieth day (June 26, 1968) following the receipt by the United States government of notification from the Japanese government. (Ref. 3) 
June 12 Ogasawara Reversion Agreement was promulgated. (Ref. 1)
June 26 The agreement entered into force and the islands were returned to Japan. Tokyo Metropolitan Ogasawara Island Branch Office was established, and Ogasawara Village was established, covering all areas of the Ogasawara Islands. The prewar villages of the former Omura, the former Ougimura, Fukurosawamura, the former Kitamura, and the former Okimura, as well as the former Iwojimamura all became Ogasawara Village, and Kita-Iojima, Minamitorishima, Okinotorishima and Nishinoshima, which had been under the direct jurisdiction of Ogasawara Branch Office, also became part of the Ogasawara Village. (Ref. 4) 

Ref. 1: Agreement Between Japan and the United States of America Concerning Nanpo Shoto and Other Islands (Ogasawara Reversion Agreement), June 12, 1968, Treaty No. 8, 1968. 

Ref. 2: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “Joint Communique by Prime Minister of Japan Sato Eisaku and President of the United States of America Lyndon B. Johnson following their summit meeting in Washington DC on November 14 and 15, 1967,” Waga gaiko no kinkyo (Recent Developments in Japanese Diplomacy), 1968 ed., October 1968.

Ref. 3: “Entry into effect of Agreement Between Japan and the United States of America Concerning Nanpo Shoto and Other Islands (Notification No. 130, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, June 12, 1968).

Ref. 4: “Act on Temporary Measures concerning Application of Laws and Regulations Incidental to Reversion of the Ogasawara Islands,” Law no. 83, June 1, 1968. 


Related documents
Ref. 1: R.D. Eldridge, Iwo Jima and the Bonin Islands in U.S.-Japan Relations, (in Japanese translation), Kagoshima: Nanpo Shinsha, 2008, pp. 385-456.

Ref. 2: Daniel Long, ed., Ogasawara-gaku kotohajime (Starting the Study of the Ogasawara Islands), Kagoshima: Nanpo Shinsha, 2002, pp. 245-270.
 

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