Using recently released archival material from the US and Japan, this book critically re-examines US-Japanese relations during the tenure of Sato Eisaku, Japan's longest serving prime minister. During these critical years in the Cold War in Asia, with the Vietnam War raging and the acquisition by China of a nuclear capability, Sato closely aligned with the US. This directly contributed to his success in securing the reversion of Okinawa and other Japanese territories which had remained under US control since Japan's surrender at the end of World War II. To accomplish this he was also forced to conclude secret agreements with President Richard Nixon, including one on nuclear weapons, which are explored fully. Sato faced the challenge of the Nixon administration's attempts to shore up the relative decline in American power with policies at odds with allied interests. Sato successfully overcame such challenges and also laid the groundwork for Japan's anti-nuclear policy.

Table of Contents
1. Sato's First Year in Power, 1964-1965
2. Maturity, Reversion and a Year of Crises, 1966-1968
3. The Reversion of Okinawa, 1969, part 1
4. The Reversion of Okinawa, 1969, part 2
5. The Reversion of Okinawa, 1968, part 3
6. The Nixon Doctrine and Japan's Defence Policy, 1969-1971
7. The Nixon China Shock, 1971
8. Economic Woes, 1971-1972

Fintan Hoey is Assistant Professor of History at Franklin University, Switzerland, was previously a Government of Ireland Doctoral Scholar at the Humanities Institute, University College Dublin, Ireland, and held a Japan Foundation Japanese Studies Fellowship at Rikkyo University, Tokyo. He has previously published on Japan's defence policy and his current research centres on the Japanese approach to nuclear weapons.