ABSTRACT
The two treaties: the multilateral peace treaty and the bilateral security treaty constituted the 'San Francisco System', which not only formally ended the war but established the basic structures of the peace. This chapter considers the general quality of the United States-Japan relationship as molded and modified by the treaty system and the implications for Okinawa. Mainland Japan was divided as a semi-independent 'protectorate', lacking foreign, defense powers, qualified economic and social policy powers. The separation of Okinawa and the functional division into 'peace-state' mainland and 'war-state' Okinawa continued. In the early 1990's, with the Cold War suddenly over, a window of possibility opened again in Japan. The Hosokawa government commissioned a report into Japan's desirable post-Cold War posture. The Hatoyama Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) government that took office following the elections of August 30, 2009, promised a clean break with Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) politics and, in principle, with the San Francisco System.
