Japan paid the United States $320 million in costs for the 1972 reversion of Okinawa, according to the government's long-held official position. But on March 12, following an internal probe, Finance Minister Naoto Kan said that he believes the actual amount paid was much greater.
His ministry acknowledged the existence of a Dec. 2, 1969, memorandum of understanding signed by Japan's top financial diplomat at the time, Mr. Yusuke Kashiwagi, and his U.S. counterpart, Mr. Anthony Jurich, that Mr. Kan said probably served as the "starting point" for negotiations on clandestine financial deals and functioned as a "secret pact in a broad sense."
Upon the reversion, the Japanese government had to replace all U.S. currency that was in circulation in Okinawa with yen. Under an arrangment outlined in the memorandum, Japan had to deposit an amount equivalent to the U.S. currency withdrawn from Okinawa — about $103 million — into a zero-interest account of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where it would be held for at least 25 years. The Japanese government deposited some $53 million, and the Bank of Japan some $50 million, in the account in 1972, where it was held until 1999. The memorandum also said that Japan would pay a further $405 million in reversion costs (in addition to the publicly acknowledged $320 million).