This volume affords a fascinating and rare look at the sensitive issue of nuclear diplomacy between two critical Cold War allies, the United States and Japan, during the 1960s. Challenging the silence of the official bureaucracies in Washington and Tokyo, Wakaizumi Kei reveals the truth behind the secret 1969 agreement that ensured the eventual reversion of Okinawa to Japanese jurisdiction in 1972. Revelation of this secret accord created considerable controversy in Japan when Wakaizumi's memoir was first published in 1994. With the publication of this translation, his description of the events leading up to the closed-door agreement is available to an English-language audience for the first time.

At a time when security matters are once again predominant in the U.S. -- Japan alliance, Professor Wakaizumi's account is a timely reminder of the gap between official, media-filtered descriptions of diplomatic relations and the private discussions of national leaders. The long-standing reluctance of the Japanese government to declassify its postwar diplomatic records has meant that Japan's side of its relationship with the U.S. has been only partially revealed. The Best Course Available attempts to correct this shortcoming and at the same time provides insight into the complicated and arcane process of foreign policymaking, national leadership, and domestic politics in Japan after 1945.

Eight distinguished experts from a wide range of disciplines consider the nature and the use of evidence in the modern world. Peter Lipton begins the book by analysing evidence in general philosophical terms. Carlo Ginzurg then examines the ambiguities of historical evidence. Vincent Courtillot analyses the evidence for cataclysmic geological change. Monica Grady considers the evidence for life in space. Brian Greene discusses superstring theory and the quest for a unified theory of the universe. Philip Dawid explores the uses and abuses of statistical evidence in landmark legal cases while Cherie Booth looks at the role of evidence in domestic and international law. In the final chapter Karen Armstrong considers the role of evidence in religious belief.

At a time when security and political relations between the United States and Japan are exhibiting renewed confidence and strength, this study provides a timely analysis and reassessment of the early Cold War’s trans-Pacific bilateral alliance. Taking issue with studies that have characterized the United States as largely dismissive of Japanese national interests, the book reveals an engaged and pragmatic leadership working to develop an active partnership with America's former adversary. Drawing on the latest scholarship in both Japan and the United States, exhaustively reassessing the diplomatic record, and relying on a wealth of newly released archival material, the author offers a reinterpretation of key issues in the early Cold War relationship. The work also casts dramatic new light on Japan's importance as a target of covert diplomacy and Soviet espionage—and the significance, in this context, of Japan's internal conflict between progressive and conservative values and the wider debate over national identity and political legitimacy.