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.

Following the introduction of Western music to Japan in the nineteenth century, Meiji leaders struggled to incorporate it into the modernised education system. This essay details the way in which British vocal music provided a solution to their difficulties.

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

This portrait provides an account of the interest of Ye Sette of Odd Volumes' interest in and promotion of things Japanese within their society.

Alongside his contribution to the modernisation of music performance and education in Japan, John William Fenton is known as a composer of the first Japanese national anthem, Kimigayo. This portrait considers his career as a bandmaster in the British and then Japanese armed forces.

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.

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.

One of the oldest Japanese institutions in London, the Nippon club traces it origins back to 1881 when groups of Japanese gathered monthly in the Strand. This portrait details its establishment and development.

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