The U.S.-Japan Project:

Featured Posting

The U.S.-Japan Military Alliance: A Documents Primer

Washington, D.C., June 28, 2019 - A long-standing mutual security treaty between Japan and the United States commits each country to undertake significant military and additional…

Jun 28, 2019

Previous Postings

Okinawa: Perennial Flashpoint in the U.S.-Japan Alliance

Oct 16, 2018

Nuclear Weapons on Okinawa Declassified December 2015, Photos Available Since 1990

Feb 19, 2016

Japan and the United States from Kennedy to Clinton

Jun 20, 2012

Nuclear Noh Drama

Oct 13, 2009

U.S.-Japan Relations Declassified

Dec 14, 2005

U.S. Nuclear Weapons on Chichi Jima and Iwo Jima

Dec 13, 1999

Revelations in Newly Released Documents about U.S. Nuclear Weapons and Okinawa Fuel NHK Documentary

May 14, 1997

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Project Document Sets

The three sets produced by the Japan Project are:

Japan and the United States: Diplomatic, Security, and Economic Relations,

About this Project

The Archive’s project on U.S.-Japan relations began in 1993 and worked to secure declassification of key documents that shed light on U.S. policies toward and relations with Japan between the Kennedy and Clinton administrations. The project focused on diplomatic, security and economic relations between the two countries and produced three document sets, with the last set published in 2012.

Project Director

Dr. Robert A. Wampler has been with the Archive since 1993. In addition to the Japan Project, he directed the project on U.S.-Korean relations and currently also directs projects on climate change diplomacy, the United States and the Tibet issue since the 1970s, and the history of the Pentagon’s Office of Net Assessment. He has also contributed to Archive projects on NATO and Henry Kissinger. Dr. Wampler received his doctorate in History at Harvard University, where he worked with the late Ernest R. May, who was a member of the Archive’s Advisory Board.

Blog Posts

Gina Haspel Torture Cable Newly Released in NSArchive FOIA Suit Shows Mistaken Belief Detainee Had Imminent Attack Information: FRINFORMSUM 10/18/2018

Oct 18, 2018

Japan and the United States: Diplomatic, Security, and Economic Relations, Part III, 1961-2000

Jun 29, 2012

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In the Media

Japan to disclose U.S. nuke deal

Associated Press

Jan 11, 2010

Advisory Panel

The Japan Project drew upon the expertise of a panel of American and Japanese scholars who advised the project director on the declassification effort and related project activities. Information about the Advisory Panel can be found here.

Oral History Program

The Japan Project also oversaw the preparation of oral history interviews with key U.S. and Japanese political and military figures from the 1960s and later. These interviews were conducted by the project director and research fellows. Links to the available oral history transcripts may be found here.

Conferences

The Project’s Research Fellows papers were discussed at a series of conferences held between 1996 and 2000 in Washington, D.C., San Diego, Honolulu and Tokyo. Information about project conferences and other activities can be found here.

Books

Partnership: The United States and Japan, 1951-2001
by Akira Irie and Robert A Wampler

This collection of 15 essays - written to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the signing of the San Francisco Peace Treaty - examines the course of US-Japanese relations since Word War II.