The year 2004 marked the 150th anniversary of the signing of the first treaty of peace and amity (Treaty of Kanagawa) between the United States and Japan. The author offers a significant Japanese view of the alliance, explores the history, but also poses the question what the relationship will be for the next fifty years.

In fall 1996, the Council on Foreign Relations formed a Study Group, chaired by Harold Brown of CSIS and Richard Armitage of Armitage and Associates, to reexamine current assumptions and explore the factors affection the evolution of this crucial alliance.

For the foreseeable future, the alliance with the United States will remain the cornerstone of Japan's security. The Japan-U.S. alliance is also arguably the most important factor in the stability of East Asia. While this alliance is thought to rest on a firm foundation, it is in reality constantly affected by a number of elements, small and large. Domestic public opinion and politics, international events and their repercussions, tensions between other countries, and cultural outlook--all these things and more influence the health of the alliance. In this collection of essays, six Japanese political scientists examine how the differences as well as the similarities in policies between the two alliance partners toward various issues and countries may affect the solidarity of the alliance and, hence, influence the stability of the Asia Pacific region at large. Themes covered by these young scholars--all of whom were born after World War II--include the two countries' strategies toward armed non-state actors, the security of Southeast Asia as a common agenda in the alliance, the Taiwan issue in Sino-Japanese relations, the impact of a reunified Korea on the security agreements between Japan and the United States and between South Korea and the United States, economic sanctions against Myanmar, and the overall framework of the Japan-U.S. alliance. As the first such collection of analysis and opinion on this topic in English by Japan's intellectual leaders of tomorrow, this volume makes accessible to readers current thinking in Japan on the alliance that is so important to both countries.

Despite the enduring importance of the U.S.-Japan security alliance, the broader relationship between the two countries is today beset by sobering new difficulties. In this comprehensive comparative analysis of the transpacific alliance and its political, economic, and social foundations, Kent E. Calder, a leading Japan specialist, asserts that bilateral relations between the two countries are dangerously eroding as both seek broader options in a globally oriented world. Calder documents the quiet erosion of America's multidimensional ties with Japan as China rises, generations change, and new forces arise in both American and Japanese politics. He then assesses consequences for a twenty-first-century military alliance with formidable coordination requirements, explores alternative foreign paradigms for dealing with the United States, adopted by Britain, Germany, and China, and offers prescriptions for restoring U.S.-Japan relations to vitality once again.

The U.S.-Japan Alliance: Past, Present, and Future explains the inner workings of the U.S.-Japan alliance and recommends new approaches to sustaining this critical bilateral security relationship.

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.