Foreword 1
Chapter One Introduction:The Importance of an Even-minded,Objective Standpoint 15
The Most Pressing Task:Seeking Shared Understanding of Facts 26
Japan-China Relations:A Look Back to 40 Years Ago and Forward to the Future 33
Chapter Two The Tripartite Relationship Between the Ryukyus,China,and Japan 50
Ming Dynasty Foreign Policy and the Ryukyu Kingdom 52
Favorable Ming Policies Toward Ryukyu 56
New Developments in East Asia and Changes in Ryukyu 61
The Beginning of Satsuma Rule of Ryukyu 62
Satsuma Control of Ryukyu 65
The Ban on Catholicism and Ryukyu 68
The Concealment of Smuggling Trade 72
The Implementation of Kenchi Land Survey Policies and Ryukyu's Incorporation as a Vassal of Satsuma 77
Ryukyu,Source of Intelligence on China 81
Ryukyu's Relations with Japan and China,Not Only"Dual Dependency" 82
Chapter Three The Thirty-six Islands of Ryukyu 84
The Ryukyu Kuniezu 84
Stuck on"36" 90
Tei Junsoku's Zhi Nan Guang Yi 101
Records from the Chinese Document Shun Feng Xiang Song 105
About the Discoverer of Shun Feng Xiang Song,Xiang Da 109
Naval Defense Maps 110
Records of Nobility-Conferring Emissaries 111
The Okinawa Trough:a Natural Barrier 119
Chapter Four East Asian Upheavals and the Ryukyu Kingdom 122
Qing China:Sacrificial Lamb to the Western Powers 123
The Opium Wars and Ryukyu 124
Ryukyu's Response to France 127
American Sea Lanes Across the Pacific 129
Perry's Japan Expedition 130
Exploring the Bonin Islands 133
Ten Days in Edo Bay 135
The Fight forthe Bonins 137
Who Really Discovered the Bonin Islands? 139
？tsuki Fumihiko's Ogasawaratō Shinshi 142
The Significance of the Convention of Kanagawa 150
An Agreement with Ryukyu 155
Chapter Five From Tokugawa Shogunate to Meiji Restoration 157
The Signing of the Sino-Japanese Friendship and Trade Treaty 158
Ryukyuans Killed in Taiwan 161
Annexing the Ryukyu Kingdom 169
Tribute Forbidden 175
The Handling of Ryukyu 179
President Grant's Intervention 183
Opposition from Within Ryukyu 194
Chapter Six Nishimura Sutezo,1885 197
The Fourth Governor of Okinawa Prefecture 198
Erecting Sovereignty Markers on the Daitō Islands 207
Secret Orders to Survey Kumeaka Island,Kuba Island,and Uotsuri Island 214
"Do Not Erect at Present" 230
Chapter Seven Victory in the First Sino-Japanese War and Subsequent Surreptitious Occupation 246
Going Abroad for Albatross 249
Suppressing the"Escapees to China" 251
Governor Maruoka's 1890 Report 253
Sasamori Gisuke's Adventures in the Southern Islands 256
Governor Narahara's 1893 Report 258
Secret Letter No.12,Response No.153 to the Department of Prefectural Administration 261
Japan's Overwhelming Victory in the First Sino-Japanese War 263
A Far Cry from 1885 269
Chapter Eight Framework for the Treaty of Shimonoseki Drafted in January 279
Deliberate Sabotaging ofthe Peace Negotiations 283
Excluding Taiwan from Ceasefire Agreement 285
Signing of the Peace Treaty 286
Chapter Nine Assessing the Japanese Government's Key Claims 296
Are they"Part of the Nansei-shotō"? 297
The Only On-the-Ground Survey 301
Were Proper Annexation Procedures Followed? 305
A Comparison with the"Pratas Islands" 309
Commonality:Imposing Occupation by Siezing the Moment of Military Victory 314
Appendix 316
Afterword 333