Foreword Chapter One Introduction: The Importance of an Even-minded, Objective Standpoint The Most Pressing Task: Seeking Shared Understanding of Facts Japan-China Relations: A Look Back to 40 Years Ago and Forward to the Future Chapter Two The Tripartite Relationship Between the Ryukyus, China,and Japan Ming Dynasty Foreign Policy and the Ryukyu Kingdom Favorable Ming Policies Toward Ryukyu New Developments in East Asia and Changes in Ryukyu The Beginning of Satsuma Rule ofRyukyu Satsuma Control of Ryukyu The Ban on Catholicism and Ryukyu The Concealment of Smuggling Trade The Implementation of Kenchi Land Survey Policies and Ryukyu's Incorporation as a Vassal of Satsuma Ryukyu, Source of Intelligence on China Ryukyu's Relations with Japan and China, Not OnlyDual Dependency Chapter Three The Thirty-six Islands of Ryukyu The Ryukyu Kuniezu Stuck on 36 Tei Junsoku's Zhi Nan Guang Yi Records from the Chinese Document Shun FengXiang Song About the Discoverer of Shun FengXiang Song, Xiang Da Naval Defense Maps Records of Nobility-Conferring Emissaries The Okinawa Trough: a Natural Barrier Chapter Four East Asian Upheavals and the Ryukyu Kingdom Qing China: Sacrificial Lamb to the Western Powers The Opium Wars and Ryukyu Ryukyu's Response to France American Sea Lanes Across the Pacific Perry's Japan Expedition Exploring the Bonin Islands Ten Days in Edo Bay The Fight for the Bonins Who Really Discovered the Bonin Islands? Otsuki Fumihiko's Ogasawarato Shinshi The Significance of the Convention ofKanagawa An Agreement with Ryukyu Chapter Five From Tokugawa Shogunate to Meiji Restoration The Signing of the Sino-Japanese Friendship and Trade Treaty Ryukyuans Killed in Taiwan Annexing the Ryukyu Kingdom Tribute Forbidden The Handling ofRyukyu President Grant's Intervention Opposition from Within Ryukyu Chapter Six Nishimnra Sutezo, 1885 The Fourth Governor of Okinawa Prefecture Erecting Sovereignty Markers on the Daito Islands Secret Orders to Survey Kumeaka Island, Kuba Island, and Uotsuri Island Do Not Erect at Present Chapter Seven Victory in the First Sino-Japanese War and Subsequent Surreptitious Occupation Going Abroad for Albatross Suppressing the Escapees to China Governor Maruoka's 1890 Report Sasamori Gisuke's Adventures in the Southern lslands Governor Narahara's 1893 Report Secret Letter No. 12, Response No. 153 to the Department of Prefectural Administration Japan's Overwhelming Victory in the First Sino-Japanese War AFar Cry from 1885 Chapter Eight Framework for the Treaty of Shimonoseki Drafted in January Deliberate Sabotaging of the Peace Negotiations Excluding Taiwan from Ceasefire Agreement Signing of the Peace Treaty Chapter Nine Assessing the Japanese Government's Key Claims Are they Part of the Nansei-shoto ? The Only On-the-Ground Survey Were Proper Annexation Procedures Followed? A Comparison with the Pratas Islands Commonality: Imposing Occupation by Siezing the Moment of Military Victory Appendix Afterword