When Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Sato visited Okinawa in 1965 he stated that "The postwar era will not end so long as Okinawa is not returned." However, the terms of reversion as advocated bilaterally by Japan and the U.S. and those sought by the Okinawan people were quite divergent in nature.
The Okinawan Reversion movement began to resist the rule of a foreign nation and as civic activism to unify with their ethnic group. After the protests against the "Twin Education Bills" in the latter half of the 1960's, the struggle, which had begun by waving the Hinomaru flag of Japan as a symbol, shifted emphasis for unification with their ethnic group toward being anti-war and pacifist.
In 1968 in the elections for the Chief Executive of the Government of the Ryukyus, Chobyo Yara, a candidate that stressed "immediate, unconditional, and complete reversion" soundly beat out the other candidate and won the office of Chief Executive . The defeated Junji Nishime had also stressed unification with Japan. Also in 1970, the enactment of a bill in the Japanese Diet allowed elected representatives from Okinawa participation in the Diet. The resulting election saw victory for the Reformist candidates and indicated the hopes of the Okinawan people in a removal of the military bases from Okinawa.
In November of 1969, the talks between Japanese Prime Minister Sato and U.S. President Nixon resulted in a joint declaration of a "non-nuclear Okinawa, one of parity with Japan, and reversion in 1972". Opposition to the details of the agreement caused widespread protest among the Okinawan people.