Koza riot The was a violent and spontaneous protest against the US military presence in Okinawa , which occurred on the night of December 20 , 1970 , into the morning of the following day . Roughly 5 , 000 Okinawans clashed with roughly 700 American MPs in an event which has been regarded as symbolic of Okinawan anger against 25 years of US military occupation . In the riot , approximately 60 Americans were injured , 80 cars were burned , and several buildings on Kadena Air Base were destroyed or heavily damaged . Background . Following Japan ' s defeat in World War II , Japan came to be formally occupied by Allied forces and governed under martial law for roughly seven years . While the Occupation of Japan came to an end and most of Japan regained its independence in April 1952 , Okinawa Prefecture was to remain under US military occupation for another twenty years . By 1970 , it had already been decided and was widely known that the US military occupation of Okinawa was going to be ended in 1972 , and that Okinawa would return to being a part of independent Japan , but also that a considerable US military presence was to remain . This came in the wake of a number of incidents between servicemen and Okinawan civilians over the years , including a hit - and - run accident in September 1970 , only a few months prior to the riot , which resulted in the death of an Okinawan housewife from Itoman . The servicemen involved in that incident were acquitted at their court - martial . This incident fueled the growing discontent of Okinawans with the standard status of forces that exempted US servicemen from Okinawan justice , as are all military personnel stationed on foreign soil long term . The riot . The riot lasted seven or eight hours , beginning late at night on December 20 , 1970 , and continuing past dawn the following morning . It was not pre - meditated , planned or arranged , but is said to have erupted spontaneously from tensions , which had reached a breaking point . Around 1 o ' clock that night , a car being driven by a drunk American serviceman hit a drunken Okinawan man , on a road near a major entertainment and red - light district in Koza ( now called Okinawa City ) , a short distance from Kadena Air Force Base . The Americans got out of their car and made sure the man was alright ; he presently stood up and walked away . The four men were then about to get back into their car to leave the scene when they were confronted by a number of Okinawan taxi drivers who had witnessed the accident . A crowd began to form ; some where shouting " no more acquittals " , " Yankee go home " and " don ’ t insult Okinawans " . Two American military police vehicles also arrived , sirens blaring . While the newly arrived MPs attempted to extricate their comrades from the situation , the crowd had the victim lie down where he ' d been hit , and had him reenact the incident . Many accounts emphasize that the newly arrived MPs ignored the man who had been hit , focusing only on seeking to extricate their countrymen . Another American car arriving on the scene accidentally struck one belonging to an Okinawan , and as passersby and people from the neighborhood stopped to get involved , the crowd grew to around 700 , began to throw rocks and bottles , and attempted to turn over the car involved in the original accident . Okinawan police were able to remove the American driver safely from the scene , but the confrontation continued to escalate . Warning shots were fired , attracting a larger crowd , which soon numbered around five thousand ; the number of MPs on the scene was now around 700 . The rioters broke into , turned over , and torched over seventy cars , and continued to throw rocks and bottles , along with Molotov cocktails assembled in nearby homes , bars , restaurants , and other establishments . The rioters pulled American servicemen from their cars and beat them , then burned their cars . Some of the rioters danced traditional folk dances as the riot continued around them ; others passed through the gate into the Air Force Base , overturning and torching cars , breaking windows , and otherwise raining destruction upon American property there as well . About 500 rioters then broke the fence of Kadena Air Base and razed the military employment building and the offices of " Stars and Stripes " newspaper . The MPs , meanwhile , began to deploy tear gas . The riot finally died down and came to an end around 7 o ' clock in the morning ; in the end , many were injured , including 60 Americans , and 82 people arrested . Popular culture references . A song on the eponymous debut album of the Okinawa - based electronic duo Ryukyu Underground is entitled " Koza Riot " .