Eisaku Sato, Japanese Prime Minister, 1964-72

Book excerpt: 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.