China versus the U.S. alliance: the background to Sino-Japanese rivalry

In the spring of 1945, the United States invaded Okinawa in the only American landing in a Japanese homeland prefecture prior to the Empire’s surrender in August of the same year. Japan, with the minor exception of four islands taken by the USSR (which are still under Russian control; see Chapter 22, this volume), recovered its sovereignty in 1952, but the United States continued to occupy Okinawa Prefecture, which besides the main island is comprised of numerous other smaller ones. In 1972, the United States gave Okinawa Prefecture back to Japan.