Ariyoshi Yoshiya (1901-82) was known as 'the grand old man of Japanese shipping'. This portrait focuses on his character and his love of both Britain and Japanese cultural traditions.

Arthur Groom (1846-1918) is widely consdiered the father of Japanese golf, and this portrait examines his arguably accidental part in the development of modern Japan during the Meiji period.

This essay charts Britain's contribution to the development of rugby in Japan, particularly as it relates to sporting activities within educational institutions.

This essay puts the introduction of tennis to Japan in the context of British colonialism and Japanese modernisation.

Football was introduced to Japan by a British Naval Mission in 1873. This portrait provides an account of the rise of football in Japan, and the key organisations and individuals involved in its subsequent links with British football.

The British connection was critical to the development of Western-style horse racing in Japan from the 1860s onwards; what began as little more than an amateurish diversion for the expatriate communities of the treaty ports has evolved into a vast multi-billion Yen enterprise. 

In late Edo and throughout the Meiji period, British citizens in Japan gathered to play cricket. This essay provides an account of the matches played and personnel involved, as well as the wider attitudes towards the sport amongst Japanese.

This portait charts the role of F.W. Strange (d.1889) in the growth and promotion of rowing within Japan.

This portrait describes the fascinating career of the juggler and top spinner Mizuhara Gintarō (1875-1952) in Britain and other countries. He was notably successful in presenting Japanese performance practices to British audiences over a long period of time.

This essay provides an account of Honda Sōichirō's (1906-1991) life, personality, and business relationship with Britain.

This essay charts the playing of 'Rugby Football' in Japan, and the clubs established to manage the sport in the country.

This portrait covers the writing and journalistic career of John Morris in the build up to the Second World War, and his contact with George Orwell during his time with the BBC.

John Newman (1925-1993) was an English judoka. His interest for judo started in Japan at Tenri University where he was a language student. He was also a broadcaster at the BBC and later NHK and a professor of sociology at Nihon University School. 

Koizumi Gunji (1885-1965) played an important role in the spread and practise of judo in Britain. This essay details his long journey across the world to America, and then back to Britain as well as his importance as a practitioner of judo.

This chapter covers the life of Walter Weston (1861-1940) an Anglican clergyman who is also responsible for pioneering mountain climbing as a popular leisure sport in Japan. 

British mountaineers had a significant influence on the development of climbing as a leisure sport in Japan and on Japanese climbers associated with the Japanese Alpine Club. This essay assesses that influence and the growth of mountaineering in Japan.

No.48, located in Yokohama, was the Kanagawa Prefecture’s oldest surviving Western structure. It is now just remnants and ruin and is currently named Mollison Shokai. The chapter looks at the people who lived and/or worked there. 

This portrait considers three of the key pioneers in bringing Jūjutsu (Jūdō) from Japan to Britain in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and the measure of popularity the sport gained.

In the 1950s the Foreign Office maintained the tradition of sending language students to Japan. Here future Ambassador Tim Whitehead recalls his time, from 1956, as one such student, including his extensive travelling around the country.

The 1991 Japan Festival was a major celebration of Japanese culture across the UK, and marked the centenary of the Japan Society. The festival is covered in detail elsewhere, but this chapter records the efforts of Martin Campbell-White to involve both the Takarazuka Revue and sumo.

This essay charts the growth and development of Kendō in Britain as a sporting and cultural practice, from 1862 to the present day.

Dick Ellingworth, First Secretary and Olympic Attaché at the Embassy from 1963 recalls the state of Japan at this time, and the Embassy's role in the Tokyo Olympics.

This portrait sketches the life, attitude and career of the renowned judo practitioner Trevor Pryce Leggett (1914-2000).