Did Japan Buy Okinawa from the US?: CAMP FOSTER — Did Japan buy Okinawa from the United States after World War II? Those who answer “yes” have been buoyed by an Okinawan professor’s find in unclassified documents in Washington D.C. But locating supporting documents within the Japanese government remains elusive. Most scholars agree that Okinawa’s reversion to Japan from U.S. control on May 15, 1972, was an economic decision by the two countries that excluded Okinawans. Scholars have searched for Japanese documents substantiating a secret pact in 1969 they say bankrolled the change-over.