Introduction

Summary

This is the ninth volume in the series Britain and Japan: Biographical Portraits. The first volume so titled was published in 1994 and followed a volume entitled Britain and Japan 1959–1991, Themes and Personalities, published by the Japan Society to mark the Society's centenary and the Japan Festival in the UK Related volumes are British Envoys in Japan 1859–1971, Japanese Envoys in Britain 1862–1964 and Japan Experiences: Fifty Years One Hundred Views, Post-War Japan through British Eyes. All these volumes aim to shed light on aspects of the relations between Britain and Japan and the personalities who played interesting and significant roles in the relationship.

The life and work of the men and women named in these volumes deserve to be recorded and remembered. When read together they give a picture, even if inevitably a partial one, of important facets of modern history and Anglo-Japanese institutions. They shed light on a number of controversial issues and remind us of the successes and failures of our fellow-countrymen.

When as chairman of the Japan Society in 1990 I proposed the first of these volumes as part of the Japan Festival in Britain, designed to mark the centenary of the founding of the Society, I saw the volume produced at that time as a one-off memorial volume. But Ian Nish, to whose scholarship and enthusiasm I owe a real debt of gratitude, recognized, as I did, that there were other individuals and themes, which deserved to be described and discussed. The volumes grew out of our interest in the history of two countries so far apart but so closely interconnected. New names and themes kept on occurring to us. The problem was never one of shortage of people or themes. It was rather to find contributors with the time and willingness to do the necessary research and writing. We could not offer contributors anything except a promise of publication and a copy of the book when published. The large number of contributors, who continue to accept these ungenerous terms, shows how much interest these volumes have created.

I am most grateful to David Warren, Chairman of the Trustees of the Japan Society and former British ambassador in Tokyo, for much valuable advice and assistance in the compilation and editing of this latest volume.