The first chapter looks at the Phaeton incident of October 1808, where a military ship – HMS Phaeton came to Japan and stayed in port temporarily, and its overt impact, despite no violence occurring, which lead to a more xenophobic Nagasaki and greater tension with Britain.

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 portrait details the sailing and surveying exports of Captain William Broughton in the Pacific and North East Asia.

A chronological overview of Anglo-Japanese Relations between 1858-1990. 

Chapter 63 concentrates on The Royal Academy of Arts and Japan, covering 140 years of activities. Highly relevant events are analysed here. More specifically, among others, The Great Japan Exhibition of 1981-1982 and an exhibition of the most distinguished Japanese woodblock designer, Hokusai. 

Thomas, Sir Stamford, Raffles (1781-1826) and Dr. Donald Ainslie were looking at trade opportunities in Japan. The text studies their two voyages to Japan and how both were not much of a success.