Life for the citizens of Okinawa changed greatly after reversion to mainland Japan. One of the first things was the currency shift from dollars to yen. The dollar was low against the yen at the time of reversion. The Japanese government decided that was a loss of profit for the Okinawans and promised to exchange dollars at the rate of 360 yen to the dollar, with the difference in the real rate to be compensated by the Japanese government. But, because of various related problems and because of price hikes, consumer prices rose 14.5% in one month.
In order to smooth the change in the economy of Okinawa after twenty-seven years of separate development from the economic and political system of the mainland, the government devised the Special Reversion Measures. According to these measures, the Okinawa Development Agency was to formulate plans every ten years for Okinawa's promotion and development in order to correct the disparities between the mainland and Okinawa. This public fund was established to maintain the roads, harbors and agriculture, and gradually the income of the prefecture's citizens grew.
As projects commemorating the reversion, in November 1972 the Planting Festival to Commemorate Reversion was held, in May of 1973 the Okinawa Special National Athletic Meet (the Wakanatsu Games) were held, and starting in July of 1975 for half a year, the Okinawa International Ocean Exposition was held.
On July 30,1978 the traffic patterns changed to the left to meet Japanese standards in the "People to the right, Cars to the Left" campaign.
