A history of Japan-United States relations from the point of view of a pro-American Japanese scholar, this work is designed to serve as an analysis of the current situation--the third opening of Japan to the West in the last century. The two earlier openings failed when Japan adopted the policy of sonno-joi (which means literally revere the emperor and expel the foreigners). This book is written to try to forestall the very real possibility of a recurrence of sonno-joi: as a reaction to the current opening by appealing to both the Japanese and the Americans to understand Japanese history...