The composer Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) was only in Japan for twelve days, in 1956, but his exposure to Japanese culture had a powerful impact on his music, resulting in his opera Curlew River.

As air services developed and Japan become more accessible, the number of visitors from Britain increased. One of these early visitors was composer Benjamin Britten.

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 details David Lean's interactions with Japan as a filmmaker through his two film projects The Wind Cannot Read and The Bridge on the River Kwai.

Cosmopolitan novelist and writer Frank Tuohy (1925-99) lived in several different countries, but it was in Japan that he spent the longest time. This essay offers an account of his life there, as well as his own reflections on Japan and the impact the country had on his fiction.

This potrait of poet and playwrite James Cousins (1873-1956) considers his little known, but nonetheless well-documented, visit to Japan.

Kawakita Nagamasa (1903-1981) and his wife Kawakita Kashiko (1908-1993) drove Anglo-Japanese cinematic exchange in the mid to late 20th century, ensuring that high-quality British and Japanese films found new audiences.

This portrait provides an insight into the role of writer, director and impressario Kazuo Kikuta (1908-1973) in the Japanese commercial theatre industry, to which he introduced numerous West End and Broadway shows.

Along with Murakami Haruki, Ninagawa Yukio (1935) is perhaps the most famous of Japanese cultural figures in Britain. This portrait examines Ninagawa's international career as a director and in particular his staging of Shakespeare.

This portrait details the scholarly career of P.G. O'Neill (1924-2012), his study of the Japanese language, Japanese festivals and Nō theatre.

Among the outstanding students of Japanese during the war, Ronald Doore was so succesful that he was asked to stay on at SOAS as an additional teacher. He had to wait five years after the war for his first trip to Japan, and here he gives his account of Japan in the penultimate year of the Occupation.

Sakura Jōji (1858-1939) studied physics and chemistry at University College London, and became one of Japan's leading scientists. He also pioneered the study in English of Nō drama.

Sessue Hayakawa (1886-1973) was the first Japanese native to meet with considerable success in the American and European film industries.

Following a period of study in Britain and Germany, Shimamura Hōgetsu (1871-1918) pioneered the introduction of Western drama and theatre (shingeki) to Japan. This essay details his srtuggles and successes.

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.

In his brief life and literary career Kōri Torahiko (1890-1924) had many dealings with Britain and its literary scene. This portrait charts his interactions as a Japanese writer with the culture of Britain and its literature.