Based on extensive original research including interviews with key participants, this book examines how, following Richard Nixon’s famous visit to China in 1972, Japan established formal diplomatic relations with China, doing so before the United States and other Western countries. It considers the key personalities – Prime Minister Tanaka and Foreign Minister Ōhira on the Japanese side, and Zhou Enlai on the Chinese side, outlines how the discussions unfolded, and discusses the key issues which divided the two sides and how these issues were resolved: Japanese war reparations to China, how the two countries perceived their past, how Taiwan should be treated, and possession of the Senkaku Islands. The book also shows how Tanaka and Ōhira sought to reconcile China–Japan relations with the US–Japan Security Treaty and to continue non-governmental exchanges with Taiwan following the severing of relations. Overall, the book emphasises that the nature of the relationship established in 1972 continues to be very important for understanding present day China–Japan relations.

Yasuhiro Nakasone, who served as prime minister for more than five years in the 1980s, was one of Japan's leading postwar politicians. This book is a biography of him but, by interweaving in international politics and media appraisals of him, it also serves as an examination of Japan's postwar politics. Nakasone was an innovative conservative who actively criticized the conservative mainstream, and this book reveals from both domestic and foreign policy perspectives how the Liberal Democratic Party governed. The Nakasone government served as not only the final phase of the Cold War era of LDP factional politics but also as the starting point for the general mainstream faction system that followed. With the lengthy passage of time since the end of the Cold War and the collapse of Japan's 1955 party system, there is a need to reassess Nakasone, showing that there was much more to him than the popular picture of him as a far-right hawk who loudly advocated for Japan to engage in autonomous self-defense and as an opportunist leader of a small faction, and to place the era in which Nakasone lived its proper historical context.

This book is a biography of Eisaku Sato (1901-75), who served as prime minister of Japan from 1964 to 1972, before Prime Minister Abe the longest uninterrupted premiership in Japanese history. The book focuses on Sato's management of Japan's relations with the United States and Japan's neighbours in East Asia, where Sato worked to normalize relations with South Korea and China. It also covers domestic Japanese politics, particularly factional politics within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), where Sato, as the founder of what would become the largest LDP faction, was at the centre of LDP politics for decades. The book highlights Sato's greatest achievement - the return of Okinawa from United States occupation - for which, together with the establishment of the non-nuclear principles, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the only Japanese to receive the Prize.

This book is the English translation of a recent biography of Sakata Michita, one of Japan's leading, yet unassuming, politicians in the postwar era, who was even considered a serious contender for the premiership. While he did not become prime minister himself, he did serve as Justice Minister, Education Minister, Welfare Minister, Defense Minister, and Speaker of the House of Representatives. What's more, he served an incredible seventeen uninterrupted terms as a member of the Lower House, from 1946-1990, one of the longest in Japanese history. Sakata was appointed Director General of the Japan Defense Agency (i.e., Minister of Defense) in December 1974 during a challenging time in U.S.-Japan relations in the wake of the resignations of U.S. President Richard M. Nixon and Japanese Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei, for separate scandals. As Japan's only ally, the relationship with the United States was crucial for the latter country, and it was up to Sakata to manage alliance relations during this period. He was not a security expert, yet used his political experience, studious nature, sincerity, and likeability among his staff, subordinates, colleagues, and personnel to make a lasting impression on his nation's forces, and on Japan's alliance partner. He succeeded in developing the first-ever National Defense Program Outline and the Basic Defense Force Concept among other initiatives during the crisis-filled 1970s. Furthermore, he developed a close policy dialogue with the United States which eventually led to the original U.S.-Japan Guidelines for Defense Cooperation. He did all this despite being a novice in defense matters. Furthermore, he is the longest consecutive serving defense minister in Japanese history, taking highly principled stances during his time.

This book is a biography of Eisaku Sato (1901-75), who served as prime minister of Japan from 1964 to 1972, before Prime Minister Abe the longest uninterrupted premiership in Japanese history. The book focuses on Sato's management of Japan's relations with the United States and Japan's neighbours in East Asia, where Sato worked to normalize relations with South Korea and China. It also covers domestic Japanese politics, particularly factional politics within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), where Sato, as the founder of what would become the largest LDP faction, was at the centre of LDP politics for decades. The book highlights Sato's greatest achievement - the return of Okinawa from United States occupation - for which, together with the establishment of the non-nuclear principles, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the only Japanese to receive the Prize.

Based on extensive original research including interviews with key participants, this book examines how, following Richard Nixon's famous visit to China in 1972, Japan established formal diplomatic relations with China, doing so before the United States and other Western countries. It considers the key personalities - Prime Minister Tanaka and Foreign Minister Ohira on the Japanese side, and Zhou Enlai on the Chinese side, outlines how the discussions unfolded, and discusses the key issues which divided the two sides and how these issues were resolved: Japanese war reparations to China, how the two countries perceived their past, how Taiwan should be treated, and possession of the Senkaku Islands. The book also shows how Tanaka and Ohira sought to reconcile China-Japan relations with the US-Japan Security Treaty and to continue non-governmental exchanges with Taiwan following the severing of relations. Overall, the book emphasises that the nature of the relationship established in 1972 continues to be very important for understanding present day China-Japan relations.