In this paper, I regard the period from 1960 to 1965, when sugar production recovered to the prewar level after the war in Okinawa, as the reconstruction period of sugar industry, and research what kind of people were responsible for the operation of the sugar factory increasing rapidly during this period. We will consider whether it was done by paying attention to the engineers of the sugar factory which started running in early 1960s. In recent years, while the focus has been on sugar industry engineers and skilled workers in the history of modern imperial Japanese sugar industry, it is not yet in the history of postwar Okinawa. Studies on sugar industry in postwar Okinawa have focused on the sugar economy of Okinawa society and farmer household, and percentage of capital structure of sugar company. Therefore, these have overlooked or not concerned about engineers. This paper clarify that the sugar factory actual sites were carried out by skilled workers who had experience in sugar factories in the prewar Micronesia, Taiwan, and the postwar Minamidaito Island by analyzing engineers in Hokubu Seito sugar corporation, which started in1960 at northern part of Okinawa Island. The former skilled workers of Nanyo Kohatsu sugar factory in Micronesia have obtained sugar production skills by OJT and studied in advanced vocational school for sugar engineering of the corporation, and after war and repatriation, found a job in Hokubu Seito. Workers from Daito Togyo factory in Minamidaito Island which started to run in 1951, moved to Hokubu Seito, who could use the network of Izena and Iheya islands. It can be said that the Okinawa sugar industry was revived by the smooth operation of the sugar factory started by their skilled worker technological capabilities, and that the engineers from two Japanese south expansion places were familiar with the people, who had formed their "Imperial careering" in Taiwan and contributed to the reconstruction of postwar Okinawa society.

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The purpose of this article is to trace the evolution of sugar production in Okinawa under U.S. rule and to position the issues that emerge from this as key to the study of the contemporary history of Okinawa. The article first discusses the question of the significance of the island’s existence as a sugar-producing region. During the postwar period in which Japan lost control of Taiwan and the South Sea islands, it was likely that Okinawa would heighten its potential as a sugar-producing region. In fact, its sugar production expanded rapidly in the early 1960s due to policies to increase domestic sugar production. However, after the Japanese government took steps to liberalize sugar imports in 1963, the production of sugar in Okinawa began to decline, accelerating the withdrawal of labor force from agriculture. It is thus obvious that the same problem that modern Okinawa faced as a sugar-producing region continued until the 1960s, and this should be positioned as a key issue in the study of contemporary Okinawan history. The second point concerns the labor force that withdrew from agriculture during the periods of contraction of sugar production. Of particular importance here is the issue of the expansion of low-wage labor and underemployment in the Okinawan labor market in the late 1960s, as female laborers who had left agriculture remained without employment opportunities. By focusing on this issue, it becomes possible to analyze the relation between the agricultural problems during the period of U.S. occupation and the labor problems that ensued in the post-reversion eras.

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