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Why and how did Japan Table Tennis Association President Goto Koji invite China to participate in the World Table Tennis Championships in Nagoya, Japan, in 1971 (the Nagoya World´s)? Against strong opposition at home and abroad, Goto Koji created a stage for Premier Zhou Enlai to launch Ping-Pong Diplomacy, which changed world history forever

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International Political Background Goto Koji and Meiden School Goto Koji and Table Tennis Goto Makes the Decision Mr. Goto Goes to China Nagoya World Table Tennis Championships U.S. Response: President Nixon Goes to China Japan´s Response: Prime Minister Tanaka Goes to China Conclusion: Lessons of Ping-Pong Diplomacy

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"Makes a contribution to local history through the author s enlightening references to the political and economic factors peculiar to the Nagoya region, factors that contributed to Gotô s rise as a local civic leader, and which served as a background to the events of 1971-2. The author s extensive references to personal interviews and memoirs by his friends and associates are especially insightful in drawing a portrait of a man very much centered in the community in which he lived almost his entire life. It deserves to be read, and undoubtedly will be, for its comprehensive treatment of the factors behind ping-ping diplomacy." - Stephen J. Roddy, Associate Professor, University of San Francisco

"Well-researched, well-framed analytically, and highly original. Sheds important new light on the how today´s complex yet fatefully important US-Japan-China triangle came to be." - Kent Calder,Director, Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies,SAIS/Johns Hopkins University

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MAYUMI ITOH Former Professor of Political Science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA.

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