ABSTRACT

This book is a biography of Eisaku Satō (1901-75), who served as prime minister of Japan from 1964 to 1972, before Prime Minister Abe the longest uninterrupted premiership in Japanese history. The book focuses on Satō’s management of Japan’s relations with the United States and Japan’s neighbours in East Asia, where Satō worked to normalize relations with South Korea and China. It also covers domestic Japanese politics, particularly factional politics within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), where Satō, as the founder of what would become the largest LDP faction, was at the centre of LDP politics for decades. The book highlights Satō’s greatest achievement – the return of Okinawa from United States occupation - for which, together with the establishment of the non-nuclear principles, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the only Japanese to receive the Prize.

The Open Access version of this book, available at https://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons [Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND)] 4.0 license.

chapter |16 pages

Introduction – a brilliant clan

Matsuoka Yōsuke and the three Satō brothers: Ichirō, Nobusuke, and Eisaku
Size: 0.44 MB

chapter 2|40 pages

“An Honor Student of the Yoshida School”

Satō's turn to politics
Size: 0.53 MB

chapter 3|40 pages

“The Politics of Waiting”

From Finance Minister in the Kishi government to MITI Minister under Ikeda
Size: 0.45 MB

chapter 4|29 pages

“Social Development” and “Independent Foreign Policy”

The first Satō government
Size: 0.43 MB

chapter 5|55 pages

The reversion of Okinawa and the “Secret Agreement”

The second Satō government
Size: 0.52 MB

chapter 6|29 pages

2,797 days

The third Satō government, longest and undefeatable
Size: 0.37 MB

chapter |12 pages

Conclusion – The Nobel Peace Prize

The glory of Satō's final years and his sudden death
Size: 0.31 MB