The best course available : a personal account of the secret U.S.-Japan Okinawa reversion negotiations / Wakaizumi Kei ; edited by John Swenson-Wright.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wakaizumi, Kei, 1930-1996.

Contributor:

Nilsson-Wright, John.

Standardized Title:

Tasaku nakarishi o shinzemu to hossu. English

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States--Foreign relations--Japan.

Japan--Foreign relations--United States.

United States--Foreign relations--1945-1989.

Japan--Foreign relations--1945-1989.

Okinawa Island (Japan)--History--20th century.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (384 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Honolulu : University of Hawai'i Press, c2002.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

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.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Editor's Introduction

Preface to the English-Language Edition

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1. The Transition to the Nixon Administration

Chapter 2. Denuclearized Reversion: The Prime Minister's Decision

Chapter 3. Prime Minister Satò, Former Prime Minister Kishi, and President Nixon

Chapter 4. Establishing the Political Hotline

Chapter 5. The West Coast White House in San Clemente

Chapter 6. Okinawa's Nuclear Weapons and Textiles

Chapter 7. President Nixon's "Ultimatum"

Chapter 8. Conveying Prime Minister Satò's Counterproposals

Chapter 9. Top Secret Negotiations at The White House

Chapter 10. Writing the Script in Collaboration with Henry Kissinger

Chapter 11. A "Nuclear-Free, Homeland-Level" Reversion by 1972

Chapter 12. The Textiles Question

Chapter 13. "All I Can Do Is Await the Judgment of Future Historians"

Chapter 14. In the Dark Recesses of History

Afterword

Notes

Index

About the Author

About the Editor

Notes:

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 28. Aug 2019)

"In association with Program on Education and Training, East-West Center."

Includes bibliographical references (p. [337]-359) and index.

ISBN:

9780824864613

0824864611

9780585463445

0585463441

OCLC:

52839454