September 8
1951 Japanese representatives joined representatives from 47 nations in signing a peace treaty. This agreement represented Japan's return to the community of nations following World War II and six years of Allied Occupation. Prime Minister YOSHIDA Shigeru led Japan's delegation to the signing ceremony. Click here to read the treaty .
Teachers may wish to download a copy of the visual literacy curriculum unit Peace in the Pacific prepared by Katherine Whitney and Associates for USF.
1996 89% of those voting in an Okinawan plebiscite supported reducing the size and scope of United States military bases in the prefecture.
Okinawa (actually the Ryűkyű islands, the largest of which is Okinawa) has been a flash point in the region for over a century. The Meiji government took formal control over the islands in 1874, fending off Chinese claims in part by invading Taiwan. The islands were gradually brought into the Japanese administrative structure. The United States took control of the islands in June 1945 and held them as a trust after the 1951 peace treaty (see above). In May 1972 the islands were again made part of the Japanese administrative structure. (Click here to read declassified U.S. memos on the role Okinawa played in the U.S. regional security strategy.) The U.S., however, continues to occupy much of Okinawa. About 30,000 U.S. soldiers are stationed there.
The Okinawa Prefectural government has prepared materials on the U.S. bases there.
1997 Prime Minister HASHIMOTO Ryutaro (b. 1937) was reelected head of the Liberal Democratic Party. He became the first LDP leader to run unopposed for the position since Prime Minister NAKASONE Yasuhiro managed it in 1984. Hashimoto was first elected to head the LDP in 1995.
Hashimoto grew up in a political family and was elected to the Diet when he was just twenty-five, the minimum age for membership. He later served in various cabinet posts. Hashimoto became prime minister in 1996, leading the LDP's return to power after two and a half years of coalition governments headed by non-LDP figures. Hashimoto served as Minister of International Trade and Industry in one of those governments. In 1998, the LDP was defeated in parliamentary elections and Hashimoto resigned as prime minister.
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edited by Clayton Dube.
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© 2001 UCLA Center for East Asian Studies