Using a multi-national and multi-archival approach to this diplomatic history study, the author examines comprehensively and in great detail for the first time the origins of the so-called Okinawa Problem. Also inlcludes four maps.

Winner of the prestigious Yoshida Shigeru Prize 1999 for the best book in public history when it was published in it's original Japanese, this book presents a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of Japan 's international relations from the end of the Pacific War to the present. Written by leading Japanese authorities on the subject, it makes extensive use of the most recently declassified Japanese documents, memoirs, and diaries. It introduces the personalities and approaches Japan 's postwar leaders and statesmen took in dealing with a rapidly changing world and the challenges they faced. Importantly, the book also discusses the evolution of Japan 's presence on the international stage and the important if underappreciated role Japan has played. The book examines the many issues which Japan has had to confront in this important period: from the occupation authorities in the latter half 1940s, to the crisis-filled 1970s; from the post-Cold War decade to the contemporary war on terrorism. The book examines the effect of the changing international climate and domestic scene on Japan 's foreign policy; and the way its foreign policy has been conducted. It discusses how the aims of Japan 's foreign relations, and how its relationships with its neighbours, allies and other major world powers have developed, and assesses how far Japan has succeeded in realising its aims. It concludes by discussing the current state of Japanese foreign policy and likely future developments.

Winner of the prestigious Yoshida Shigeru Prize 1999 for the best book in public history, this book presents a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of Japan s international relations from the end of the Pacific War to the present. Written by leading Japanese authorities on the subject, it makes extensive use of the most recently declassified Japanese documents, memoirs, and diaries. It introduces the personalities and approaches Japan s postwar leaders and statesmen took in dealing with a rapidly changing world and the challenges they faced. Importantly, the book also discusses the evolution of Japan s presence on the international stage and the important if underappreciated role Japan has played. The book examines the many issues which Japan has had to confront in this important period: from the occupation authorities in the latter half 1940s, to the crisis-filled 1970s; from the post-Cold War decade to the contemporary war on terrorism. The book examines the effect of the changing international climate and domestic scene on Japan s foreign policy; and the way its foreign policy has been conducted. It discusses how the aims of Japan s foreign relations, and how its relationships with its neighbours, allies and other major world powers have developed, and assesses how far Japan has succeeded in realising its aims. It concludes by discussing the current state of Japanese foreign policy and likely future developments.

The tragic rape of an Okinawan school girl in September 1995 touched off the current "Okinawa Problem" and shook the bilateral relationship. It also had the effect of highlighting the need to understand the complicated history of Okinawa in the post-war US-Japan relationship. Ironically, one of the least examined periods in this post-war history is the same period that would have the most dramatic impact on Okinawa's future status, namely the years up until 1952, when the Peace Treaty with Japan, signed the September before in San Francisco, would go into effect. Using a multinational and multi-archival approach to this diplomatic history study, Eldridge examines comprehensively and in great detail for the first time the origins of the so-called Okinawa Problem.

Based on extensive Japanese-language materials, this book is the first to examine the development of Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force. It addresses: how the GSDF was able to emerge as the post-war successor of the Imperial Japanese Army despite Japan's anti-militarist constitution; how the GSDF, despite the public skepticism and even hostility that greeted its creation, built domestic and international legitimacy; and how the GSDF has responded to changes in international and domestic environments. This path-breaking study of the world's third-largest-economic power's ground army is timely for two reasons. First, the resurgence of tensions in Northeast Asia over territorial disputes, and the emphasis recent Japanese governments have placed on using the GSDF for defending Japan's outlying islands is driving media coverage and specialist interest in the GSDF. Second, the March 11, 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami has focused global attention on the GSDF as Japan's lead disaster relief organization. This highly informative and thoroughly researched book provides insight for policy makers and academics interested in Japanese foreign and defense policies.

Based on extensive Japanese-language materials, this book is the first to examine the development of Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force. It addresses: how the GSDF was able to emerge as the post-war successor of the Imperial Japanese Army despite Japan's anti-militarist constitution; how the GSDF, despite the public skepticism and even hostility that greeted its creation, built domestic and international legitimacy; and how the GSDF has responded to changes in international and domestic environments. This path-breaking study of the world's third-largest-economic power's ground army is timely for two reasons. First, the resurgence of tensions in Northeast Asia over territorial disputes, and the emphasis recent Japanese governments have placed on using the GSDF for defending Japan's outlying islands is driving media coverage and specialist interest in the GSDF. Second, the March 11, 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami has focused global attention on the GSDF as Japan's lead disaster relief organization. This highly informative and thoroughly researched book provides insight for policy makers and academics interested in Japanese foreign and defense policies.

In March 2011 a magnitude 9 earthquake struck off the eastern coast of northern Japan, triggering a massive tsunami and damaging a nearby nuclear reactor. Nearly twenty thousand people were killed or went missing, and many areas have yet to rebuild. Megaquake: How Japan and the World Should Respond, written by the prolific and award-winning writer Tetsuo Takashima five years before this disaster, appears here for the first time in English. This edition of Megaquake has been updated with additional information, including a new chapter coauthored by Robert D. Eldridge, translator and one of the key American officials involved in the response to the 2011 earthquake. Both Takashima and Eldridge experienced the 1995 Kobe earthquake and combined their skills and insights to produce this English edition to offer the lessons Japan has learned over the centuries, having endured a disproportionate share of disasters. Takashima and Eldridge hope to educate the international community about how to prepare for and respond to the next big Japanese earthquake, which is expected to far exceed the 2011 quake in terms of lost lives, destruction of infrastructure, and worldwide economic impact.

Originally published in Japan in 2005, each album in The Japanese Naval Warship photo album Series contains official photographs taken by the Kure Maritime Museum, as well as those taken by private individuals. These pictorial records document the main types of Japanese vessels, from battleships to submarines, based on the best images from Shizuo Fukui, a former Imperial Japanese Navy commander and technician. These photos include the ones Fukui began collecting as a young boy and continued after he worked as a naval shipbuilder, and those that he was given in order to complete a photographic history of the Imperial Japanese Navy's ships, which include those gathered by Nagamura Kiyoshi, a shipbuilder who proactively collected photos, and the collection of machinist Amari Yoshiyuki. Moreover, with the help of shipbuilder Makino Shigeru, among others, Fukui was able to continue to gather photographs and other items throughout the postwar period. It is not an exaggeration, therefore, to say that Fukui dedicated his entire life to this work. These images are especially valuable because of the massive destruction of official documents at the end of the war.

Fighting Spirit is essential reading for anyone interested in the Battle of Iwo Jima and the Pacific War. Major Horie was one of only four Japanese field grade officers directly associated with the Battle of Iwo Jima who survived and the only officer known to have left memoirs. Having served as a liaison officer with the Navy, Major Horie described in detail the respective positions, ideas and assumptions that both the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy had when executing the Pacific War, the personalities involved, and the challenges they faced. He was a specialist in logistics and headed Lt. Gen. Kuribayashi's detached headquarters on Chichi Jima, located between Iwo Jima and mainland Japan. He was, however, intimately involved in planning the battle, and used his experience as a liaison to the Imperial Navy to share information and insights through his contacts. He was also very much aware of the limits to Japan's strategy. Fighting Spirit is an annotated translation of the memoirs of Imperial Japanese Army Major Yoshitaka Horie, co-edited by a USMC veteran of the Battle of Iwo Jima and an American academic who is a specialist on U.S.-Japan relations. In addition to the original chapters of Horie's work, the book includes an Editors'Preface, providing biographical information on Major Horie and the context of the book, and two appendices of materials prepared by Major Horie shortly after the end of the war. About the Author Robert D. Eldridge is currently the deputy assistant chief of staff, G-5, Marine Corps Bases, Japan, and was a tenured associate professor at the School of International Public Policy, Osaka University, Japan, from 2001-2009.

This book proposes a solution to three interrelated problems facing Japan: the rapidly declining population, a decrease in working age adults, and a lack of social and economic vitality. Hidenori Sakanaka, the former director of the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau, proposes that Japan accept ten million immigrants, including refugees, over the next fifty years, and articulates the benefits of this measure for Japan and its future. The author has spent close to fifty years working in the field of immigration and was one of the first to identify the pending population crisis as early as the mid-1970s. This is the first time his thoughts appear in book-length form.

The Meji Japanese Who Made Modern Taiwan describes the story of Japan's involvement and administration of Taiwan in the pre-war era, with a focus on the period from 1895, when Taiwan was made a part of the Japanese Empire, to 1945, when the Pacific War ended. It introduces the policies pursued and equally important, the personalities, philosophies, and ambitions of the administrators, engineers, and technicians behind those policies. In particular, the unique thinking, leadership styles, and contributions of Kodama Gentaro, Goto Shinpei, Hatta Yoichi, Iso Eikichi, and Sugiyama Tatsumaru, among others who contributed to the development of modern Taiwan, are introduced in great detail. Their accomplishments remain with Taiwan today, which helps explain the extremely close relationship between Taiwan (officially known as the Republic of China) and Japan maintain today.

This book proposes a solution to three interrelated problems facing Japan: the rapidly declining population, a decrease in working age adults, and a lack of social and economic vitality. Hidenori Sakanaka, the former director of the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau, proposes that Japan accept ten million immigrants, including refugees, over the next fifty years, and articulates the benefits of this measure for Japan and its future. The author has spent close to fifty years working in the field of immigration and was one of the first to identify the pending population crisis as early as the mid-1970s. This is the first time his thoughts appear in book-length form in English.

Japan's Backroom Politics is the translation of a classic study of the rough and tumble of Japanese politics and conservative party factions in the first two decades of postwar Japan. The original book, published in 1967, was written by the preeminent political writer at the time, Watanabe Tsuneo, who later became the controversial owner of the Yomiuri Shimbun. The book was written when a generational change was occurring in Japanese politics after several of the early party leaders had passed away, including his political mentor, Ono Bamboku. Comprising ten chapters, including a comprehensive preface on the author, Japan's Backroom Politics discusses in great detail the history of and personalities within the near-dozen factions and sub-factions that existed at the time. He introduces the resiliency of factions within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, noting the role of money, influence, party presidency, and the chance at the premiership, among other factors, which subsequent commentators and scholars have elaborated on. Moreover, using extensive data and a penetrating analysis, Watanabe provides a historical as well as an international comparison of Japanese factions, making predictions about the future of Japanese politics.

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 examines the lives and times of Japan's postwar prime ministers, covering the period from 1945 to 1995. Written by Japan's leading scholars, it is the first English-language biographical portrait of these twenty-three individuals who helped lead Japan on its road to recovery, its return to the community of nations, and its subsequent prosperity. Each chapter brings out, to varying degrees, the larger political and historical environment, party dynamics, and personality traits of the prime ministers. In addition, the book discusses not only the policy choices the prime ministers made, but how those decisions were made and what the consequences were for the country, ruling party, and the individual who made them. The Prime Ministers of Postwar Japan, 1945-1995 fills a large void in the literature on postwar Japan by introducing the actual people who made the decisions during these important years, rather than simply discussing the theories and institutions in which those decisions were made.

Japan s Backroom Politics is the translation of a classic study of the rough and tumble of Japanese politics and conservative party factions in the first two decades of postwar Japan. The original book, published in 1967, was written by the pre-eminent political writer at the time, Watanabe Tsuneo, who later became the controversial owner of the Yomiuri Shimbun. The book was written when a generational change was occurring in Japanese politics after several of the early party leaders had passed away, including his political mentor, Ono Bamboku. Comprising ten chapters, including a comprehensive preface on the author, Japan s Backroom Politics discusses in in great detail the history of and personalities within the near-dozen factions and sub-factions that existed at the time. He introduces the resiliency of factions within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, noting the role of money, influence, party presidency, and the chance at the premiership, among other factors, which subsequent commentators and scholars have elaborated on. Moreover, using extensive data and a penetrating analysis, Watanabe provides a historical as well as an international comparison of Japanese factions, making predictions about the future of Japanese politics.

Secret Talks Between Tokyo and Washington offers an insider's perspective of the political, economic, and security-related negotiations of Japan and America between 1949 and 1954. Translated by Robert D. Eldridge, for the first time the memoirs of Miyazawa Kiichi reaches a global audience. This book is a critical link to understanding the views and reactions of the Japanese government, both when it was under occupation and then as a newly independent nation, during which time the young, talented, and international-minded Kiichi played a central role. A firm believer in the "Yoshida Doctrine," Kiichi argued that Japan should play a civilian economic role instead of becoming a military power in order to satisfy its ego, a position that occasionally set him apart from his contemporaries. In this book Kiichi offers valuable insight into the bilateral relationship that has evolved between Japan and the United States from the early post war as he describes in detail the many events, personalities, and ideas he came across during his years serving as then-Finance Minister Ikeda Hayato's secretary and his own work in the Upper House. Secret Talks Between Tokyo and Washington is an enlightening text that will appeal to those interested in Asian studies and international relations.

Secret Talks Between Tokyo and Washington offers an insider's perspective of the political, economic, and security-related negotiations of Japan and America between 1949 and 1954. Translated by Robert D. Eldridge, for the first time the memoirs of Miyazawa Kiichi reaches a global audience. This book is a critical link to understanding the views and reactions of the Japanese government, both when it was under occupation and then as a newly independent nation, during which time the young, talented, and international-minded Kiichi played a central role. A firm believer in the 'Yoshida Doctrine,' Kiichi argued that Japan should play a civilian economic role instead of becoming a military power in order to satisfy its ego, a position that occasionally set him apart from his contemporaries. In this book Kiichi offers valuable insight into the bilateral relationship that has evolved between Japan and the United States from the early post war as he describes in detail the many events, personalities, and ideas he came across during his years serving as then-Finance Minister Ikeda Hayato's secretary and his own work in the Upper House. Secret Talks Between Tokyo and Washington is an enlightening text that will appeal to those interested in Asian studies and international relations.