The was a violent and spontaneous protest against the US military presence in Okinawa

United States Forces Japan

The refers to the various divisions of the United States Armed Forces that are stationed in Japan. Under the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan, the United States is obliged to defend Japan in close cooperation with the Japan Self-Defense Forces for...

, which occurred on the night of December 20, 1970, into the morning of the following day. Roughly 5,000 Okinawans clashed with roughly 700 American MPs

Military police

Military police are police organisations connected with, or part of, the military of a state. The word can have different meanings in different countries, and may refer to:...

 in an event which has been regarded as symbolic of Okinawan anger against 25 years of US military occupation.

Background

Following Japan's defeat in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, Japan came to be formally occupied by Allied forces and governed under martial law for roughly seven years. While the Occupation of Japan came to an end and most of Japan regained its independence in April 1952, Okinawa Prefecture

Okinawa Prefecture

is one of Japan's southern prefectures. It consists of hundreds of the Ryukyu Islands in a chain over long, which extends southwest from Kyūshū to Taiwan. Okinawa's capital, Naha, is located in the southern part of Okinawa Island...

 was to remain under US military occupation for another twenty years.

By 1970, it had already been decided and was widely known that the US military occupation of Okinawa was going to be ended in 1972, and that Okinawa would return to being a part of independent Japan

Prefectures of Japan

The prefectures of Japan are the country's 47 subnational jurisdictions: one "metropolis" , Tokyo; one "circuit" , Hokkaidō; two urban prefectures , Osaka and Kyoto; and 43 other prefectures . In Japanese, they are commonly referred to as...

, but also that a considerable US military presence was to remain. This came in the wake of a number of incidents between servicemen and Okinawan civilians over the years, including a hit-and-run accident in September 1970, only a few months prior to the riot, which resulted in the death of an Okinawan housewife from Itoman. The servicemen involved in that incident were acquitted at their court-martial.

The riot

The riot lasted seven or eight hours, beginning late at night on December 20, 1970, and continuing past dawn the following morning. It was not pre-meditated, planned or arranged, but is said to have erupted spontaneously from tensions, which had reached a breaking point.

Around 11 o'clock that night, a car being driven by an American serviceman hit a drunken Okinawan man, on a road near a major entertainment and red-light district

Red-light district

A red-light district is a part of an urban area where there is a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, adult theaters, etc...

 in Koza (now called Okinawa City

Okinawa, Okinawa

is the second-largest city in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, following Naha, the capital city. It is located in the central part of the island of Okinawa, about 20 km north of Naha....

), a short distance from Kadena Air Force Base. The Americans got out of their car and made sure the man was alright; he presently stood up and walked away. The four men were then about to get back into their car to leave the scene when they were confronted by a number of Okinawan taxi drivers who had witnessed the accident. A crowd began to form, and two American military police vehicles arrived, sirens blaring. While the newly arrived MPs attempted to extricate their comrades from the situation, the crowd had the victim lie down where he'd been hit, and had him reenact the incident. Many accounts emphasize that the newly arrived MPs ignored the man who had been hit, focusing only on seeking to extricate their countrymen.

Another American car arriving on the scene accidentally struck one belonging to an Okinawan, and as passersby and people from the neighborhood stopped to get involved, the crowd grew to around 700, began to throw rocks and bottles, and attempted to turn over the car involved in the original accident. Okinawan police were able to remove the American driver safely from the scene, but the confrontation continued to escalate.

Warning shots were fired, attracting a larger crowd, which soon numbered around five thousand; the number of MPs on the scene was now around 700. The rioters broke into, turned over, and torched over seventy cars, and continued to throw rocks and bottles, along with Molotov cocktails assembled in nearby homes, bars, restaurants, and other establishments. The rioters pulled American servicemen from their cars and beat them. Some of the rioters danced traditional folk dances as the riot continued around them; others passed through the gate into the Air Force Base, overturning and torching cars, breaking windows, and otherwise raining destruction upon American property there as well. About 500 rioters then broke the fence of Kadena Air Base and razed the military employment building and the offices of Stars and Stripes newspaper. The MPs, meanwhile, began to deploy tear gas. The riot finally died down and came to an end around 7 o'clock in the morning; in the end, many were injured, including 60 Americans, and 82 people arrested.

Popular culture references

A song on the eponymous debut album of the Okinawa-based electronic duo Ryukyu Underground

Ryukyu Underground

' is an electronic music duo, consisting of Keith Gordon and Jon Taylor, whose music is heavily based on and inspired by, traditional Okinawan folk music.-Artistic style:...

is entitled "Koza Riot".