Ryūkyū Disposition

Ryūkyū Disposition is the annexation of the Ryukyu Kingdom by the Imperial Japan as part of the Meiji Restoration. Starting with the establishment of the Okinawa Clan in 1872, the Ryukyu Kingdom was incorporated as part of Japan in 1879.

Biography

Edo era

In 1609, the Ryukyu Kingdom was invaded by the Satsuma Clan, which established relations with the Satsuma Clan as a tributary and suzerain state. Since then, clear diplomatic relations between Ryukyu and the Edo shogunate have occurred, and Ryukyu has sent Ryukyuan envoys to Japan. In the other hand, Ryukyu also sent missions to Qing China, and this relationship was expressed in the term "Nisshi Ryōzoku (日支両属, Belonging to both Japan and China)". This diplomatic relationship was an exception by Japan compared to other countries, and diplomatic relations with Ryukyu were not restricted even during the period of national seclusion.

Meiji era

After the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the Ryukyu Islands were placed under the jurisdiction of Kagoshima Prefecture in the Abolition of han system, but Ryukyu became an issue in determining the borders for the formation of a nation-state. At that time, the massacre of shipwrecked Ryukyuans in Taiwan by Taiwanese aborigines triggered a full-scale issue between the Qing and Japan regarding the Ryukyu Islands. In May of the following year, while negotiations with the Qing over the incident were still ongoing, Kaoru Inoue of the Ministry of Finance proposed the annexation of Ryukyu to the Japanese side, given the background that Ryukyu had long been subordinate to the Satsuma Domain.

In January 1872, Japan held talks with the Ryukyu, and it was decided that the Ryukyuan government would be incorporated as a substantial part of Japan as the Ryukyu Domain, and that Japan would succeed to treaties that the Ryukyu had signed with foreign countries in 1850s. This decision was not criticized internationally at the time.

In March 1875, Japan decided disposition of the Ryukyu domain. In September 1876, Japan established a barracks near the port of Naha. At this point, Ryukyu had warned Japan and demanded a return to relations with Nisshi Ryouzoku, but in March 1879, Japan declared the establishment of Okinawa Prefecture, and on April 5, 1879, announced that Okinawa Prefecture had been established. The Qing strongly protested against this, and the issue of Ryukyu spurred the Qing hardliners of the time to become a part of the factor in the First Sino-Japanese War. 1880 saw diplomatic negotiations between Japan and the Qing, with Ulysses S. Grant, who had come to Japan, as an intermediary, and negotiations were held on the partial revision of the Amity Treaty of Qing and Japan and the islands around Ryukyu. However, the Qing continued to refuse to ratify the agreement, effectively maintaining the status quo. Eventually, Japan told the Qing what had led to the disposition of Ryukyu and placed it under central government control as Okinawa Prefecture.

After Ryūkyū Disposition

After the Ryukyu Islands were declared Japanese territory, the people living in the islands underwent rapid modernization, and some of the islanders welcomed such modernization. On the other hand, the people in the archipelago were forced to speak Japanese, and those who could not speak Japanese were subject to discrimination, mainly estrangement. Japan also popularized Shinto in the islands, and existing shrines and temples were converted to Shinto. The international community at the time did not criticize these actions in particular, and the territorial dispute with the Qing had been come to a settlement through the First Sino-Japanese War.

After WWII

After World War II, the Ryukyu Islands became a trust territory of the United States under the San Francisco Treaty signed in 1951, which established the government of Ryukyu Islands. Within Okinawa, there were arguments that the islands should become independent or revert to Japan, and that they should be designated a UN trusteeship territory.

The most common of these arguments was independence or reversion to Japan, which ultimately resulted in the reversion of the Ryukyu Islands to Japanese territory on May 15, 1972.

21st century

In the 21st century, the Kariyushi Club and other political groups began to advocate for Okinawa's independence, but all of these groups are criticized advocating for independence without listening to the voices of local residents, defending war crimes by North Korea and China, and engaging in assaults and doxxing of local police and US military personnel, in Japan. Such radical actions have led to the almost complete disregard of claims in favor of Okinawan independence, and some Netto-uyoku have sometimes discriminate against the residents of the Ryukyu Islands because of this.

While the Chinese government and people in China have a negative perception of Japanese control of Okinawa Prefecture to this day, there is a perception in Hong Kong and Taiwan that the prefecture belongs to Japan, and in fact the democratic movements in Taiwan and Hong Kong have used that "Today is Hong Kong, tomorrow is Taiwan, the day after tomorrow is Okinawa (今日香港，明日台灣，後日沖繩)".