Britain and Japan: Biographical Portraits, Vol. VI (Britain & Japan)

Annotation. There is no doubt that this sixth volume in the Japan Society & rsquo;s highly regarded Britain and Japan series contains many & lsquo;long overdue & rsquo; essays of leading personalities with links to Britain and Japan that will be welcomed by the researcher and general reader alike & ndash; from the opening essay on Churchill and Japan by Eiji Seki, to the concluding account by Rikki Kersten of the distinguished intellectual liberal Maruyama Masao & rsquo;s close relationship with Richard Storry and Oxford in particular and his interests in Britain in general. Containing a total of thirty-three entries, thoughtfully and painstakingly compiled and edited by Hugh Cortazzi, there may well be a case for arguing that the best has been kept until last. Indeed, by way of an & lsquo;Envoi & rsquo; the book concludes with an account of the Beatles visit to Tokyo in 1965, including a facsimile report for H M Government by the British Embassy & rsquo;s then first secretary, Dudley Cheke. Also of special interest are Hugh Cortazzi & rsquo;s portraits of Morita Akio and Honda Shoichiro, as well as John Hatcher & rsquo;s fascinating record of Ian Fleming & rsquo;s 1959 five-week visit to Japan on behalf of the Sunday Times. The volume is divided up thematically and includes an Index of Biographical Portraits published to date by the Japan Society, and by way of appendix, a highly significant report by Robin Mountfield on the Nissan Negotiations of 1980-84, which resulted in the biggest foreign investment in car manufacturing in Britain This Seventh Volume tracking the history of Anglo-Japanese relations through leading personalities and significant themes of the day offers a classic menu totalling 47 entries divided into ten sections - opening with three studies of Meiji Era leaders, (all of whom spent time in London) and concluding with the fascinating unpublished memoir of British diplomat Douglas Busk, who records embassy life from just after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941 until he and the remaining staff left on an `exchange ship' bound for Lourenco Marques, Mozambique, in July 1942. The other sections of the book are British Politicians; British Officials; Scholars, Writers and Journalists; Scientists; Missionaries; Art; Recreations; Charitable Work Among the personalities included in the volume are Cambridge scholar Carmen Blacker, historians Arnold Toynbee and William Beasley, British military observer and The Times reporter of the Russo-Japanese War General Sir Ian Hamilton, philosopher Bertrand Russell, playwright and orator George Bernard Shaw, the Choshu students Inoue Kaoru and Yamao Yozo who were later key figures in the modernization of Japan, and Walter Dening -- scholar and missionary. Themes treated include the history of horse racing in Japan, the Japanese influence on British architects, the beginnings of golf in Japan and Japanese gardeners in Britain. --Book Jacket IN JANUARY 1880, Mori Arinori arrived in London as the third resident minister from Japan to be appointed to the Court of St James.