The Best Course Available : A Personal Account of the Secret U.S.-Japan Okinawa Reversion Negotiations

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.

Rewriting Medieval Japanese Women explores the world of thirteenth-century Japan through the life of a prolific noblewoman known as Nun Abutsu (1225-1283). Abutsu crossed gender and genre barriers by writing the first career guide for Japanese noblewomen, the first female-authored poetry treatise, and the first poetic travelogue by a woman - all despite the increasingly limited social mobility for women during the Kamakura era (1185-1336). Capitalizing on her literary talent and political prowess, Abutsu rose from middling origins and single-motherhood to a prestigious marriage and membership in an esteemed literary lineage.

Abutsu's life is well documented in her own letters, diaries, and commentaries, as well as in critiques written by rivals, records of poetry events, and legal documents. Drawing on these and other literary and historiographical sources, including The Tale of Genji, author Christina Laffin demonstrates how medieval women responded to institutional changes that transformed their lives as court attendants, wives, and nuns. Despite increased professionalization of the arts, competition over sources of patronage, and rivaling claims to literary expertise, Abutsu proved her poetic capabilities through her work and often used patriarchal ideals of femininity to lay claim to political and literary authority.

This book effectively challenges notions that literary salons in Japan were a phenomenon limited to the Heian period (794-1185) and that literary writing and scholarship were the domain of men during the Kamakura era. Its analysis of literary works within the context of women's history makes clear the important role that medieval women and their cultural contributions continued to play in Japanese history.

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