This article lists the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

governors of the , an

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese

islands An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

within

Kagoshima , abbreviated to , is the capital city of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. Located at the southwestern tip of the island of Kyushu, Kagoshima is the largest city in the prefecture by some margin. It has been nicknamed the "Naples of the Eastern wor ...

and

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

prefectures A prefecture (from the Latin ''Praefectura'') is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed prefect. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, or a subdivision in certain international ...

, centered on the

Okinawa Islands The Okinawa Islands ( or ) are an island group in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan and are the principal island group of the prefecture. The Okinawa Islands are part of the larger Ryukyu Islands group and are located between the Amami Islands of Ka ...

and its main island,

(the smallest and least populated of the five

Japanese home islands The Japanese archipelago (Japanese: 日本列島, ''Nihon rettō'') is a group of 6,852 islands that form the country of Japan, as well as the Russian island of Sakhalin. It extends over from the Sea of Okhotsk in the northeast to the East Chi ...

). The list encompasses the period of U.S. occupation, from the start of the

Battle of Okinawa The , codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa by United States Army (USA) and United States Marine Corps (USMC) forces against the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). The initial invasion of ...

in 1945 until the return of the islands to Japanese sovereignty in 1972, in accordance with the 1971 Okinawa Reversion Agreement.

Officeholders

Source: † denotes people who died in office.

United States Military Government of the Ryukyu Islands (USMGR, 1945–1950)

Military Governors

United States Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands (USCAR, 1950–1972)

Governors and Commanders-in-Chief, Far East Command (in
Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
)

Deputy governors and Commanding Generals, Ryukyu Islands Command (in
Naha is the capital city of Okinawa Prefecture, the southernmost prefecture of Japan. As of 1 June 2019, the city has an estimated population of 317,405 and a population density of 7,939 persons per km2 (20,562 persons per sq. mi.). The total area i ...
)

High Commissioners

Civil Administrators

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryukyu Islands, U.S. governors of

List of U.S. governors of the Ryukyu Islands This article lists the U.S. governors of the , an archipelago of Japanese islands within Kagoshima and Okinawa prefectures, centered on the Okinawa Islands and its main island, Okinawa (the smallest and least populated of the five Japanese ho ...

History of United States expansionism 1945 establishments in Japan 1972 disestablishments in Japan Japan–United States relations Postwar Japan Shōwa period United States history-related lists Japan history-related lists Cold War-related lists Lists of governors in Asia