Nuclear nonproliferation policy has been among the most difficult and sensitive of bilateral issues in America's foreign relations in recent years. Differences of views between Japan and the United States were heightened by the completion of a pilot reprocessing plant at Tokai-Mura, and threatened to undermine the fabric of the U.S.-Japanese relationship. This work analyzes the complex issues on both sides without papering over the many areas of disagreement. It is a model of its kind, which could be usefully followed in other sensitive bilateral cases.