American Japanese Relations

Examining the 160 year relationship between America and Japan, this cutting edge collection considers the evolution of the relationship of these two nations which straddle the Pacific, from the first encounters in the 19th century to major international shifts in a post 9/11 world. It examines the emergence of Japan in the wake of the 1905 Russo-Japanese War and the development of U.S. policies toward East Asia at the turn of the century. It goes on to study the impact of World War One in Asia, the Washington Treaty System, the issue of Immigration Issue and the deterioration of US-Japan relations in the 1930s as Japan invaded Manchuria. It also reflects on the Pacific War and the Occupation of Japan, and the country’s postwar Resurgence, democratization and economic recovery, as well as the maturing and the challenges facing the US Japan relationship as it progresses into the 21st century. This is a key read for those interested in the history of this important relationship as well as for scholars of diplomatic history and international relations.

September 2001 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the San Francisco Treaty, formally ending the Second World War. In signing this treaty, Japan fundamentally transformed its position on the world stage. It established itself in the vanguard of the burgeoning cold war bulwark against the Soviet Union and its communist satellites, and wed itself to the United States through economic, political, and security ties that persist today. The half century since the establishment of the San Francisco system has seen highs and lows in the relations between the two countries, continuing even into the current war on terrorism. This new book evaluates the changing relationship between the two great powers, providing in-depth analysis on a variety of topics. It scrutinizes the historical context, providing the reader with predictive tools for understanding events as they unfold. Instead of looking at the U.S.-Japan relationship one issue at a time, this book examines specific trends and then analyzes how these trends affect the relationship as a whole. This innovative approach allows the reader to view several perspectives simultaneously, and it compels the contributors to assemble clear causal arguments that detail what each factor can and cannot explain. The result is a cogent and convincing appraisal of the status and future of U.S.-Japan relations after fifty years of peaceful coexistence.

From 1899 until the American entry into World War II, U.S. presidents sought to preserve China's territorial integrity in order to guarantee American businesses access to Chinese markets -- a policy famously known as the "open door." Before the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, Americans saw Japan as the open door's champion; but by the end of 1905, Tokyo had replaced St. Petersburg as its greatest threat. For the next thirty-six years, successive U.S. administrations worked to safeguard China and contain Japanese expansion on the mainland. The Currents of War reexamines the relationship between the United States and Japan and the casus belli in the Pacific through a fresh analysis of America's central foreign policy strategy in Asia. In this ambitious and compelling work, Sidney Pash offers a cautionary tale of oft-repeated mistakes and miscalculations. He demonstrates how continuous economic competition in the Asia-Pacific region heightened tensions between Japan and the United States for decades, eventually leading to the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Pash's study is the first full reassessment of pre--World War II American-Japanese diplomatic relations in nearly three decades. It examines not only the ways in which U.S. policies led to war in the Pacific but also how this conflict gave rise to later confrontations, particularly in Korea and Vietnam. Wide-ranging and meticulously researched, this book offers a new perspective on a significant international relationship and its enduring consequences.

Examined thoroughly and intelligently in this book is an important aspect of the Japanese–American negotiations preceding the outbreak of the war—the role played by the Tripartite Alliance between Germany, Japan, and Italy. The author shows the Tripartite Pact in a broad light, as part of the general diplomatic and political developments of the times. He considers it first as it figures in the story of Japanese–American relations; then as it fits into the history of Japanese-German relations from 1936 to 1941; and finally as it was seen by the outside world, especially by the American leaders and public. The view that American policy was Roosevelt's "back door to war" is rejected, as is the opposite view that it was the only possible answer to Japanese conspiracy and aggression. The author favors Ambassador Joseph E. Crew's opinion that American policy in the latter half of 1941 was a mistake and that a more conciliatory policy could have achieved America's essential aims without war or "appeasement." Among the author's provocative contentions is that if American policy was a mistake, it was a mistake not of the Administration or a party only, but of the whole American people. Winner of the 1956 Beveridge Award, this book provides a persuasive analysis of a complex and controversial chapter in American history.

One of America's leading historians tells the entire story behind the disagreements, tensions, and skirmishes between Japan--a compact, homogeneous, closely-knit society terrified of disorder--and America--a sprawling, open-ended society that fears economic depression and continually seeks an international marketplace. Photos.

America's relationship with Japan recently passed its 140th anniversary. Although over those years, hundreds of books and thousands of articles have explored different issues or periods of the relationship, no book has analyzed the entire relationship from beginning to present. The void can perhaps be explained by the relationship's complexity and changes over time. Two great cycles of initial partnership and eventual rivalry have shaped American-Japanese relations, one geopolitical (1853-1945) and the other geoeconomic (1945-present). This book fills that void as it systematically untangles the interrelated perceptions, convergent and divergent national interests, and shifting power relations which have shaped American policies toward Japan within those two great cycles. More specifically, it highlights the personalities, national moods, domestic issues and political alignments, and other pressing international concerns within which Washington has attempted to define and assert its interests toward Japan.