The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary had its origins as a pioneer project by British English teachers in Japan. This portrait considers the Japan career of its first editor A.S. Hornby (1898-1978) and his significant contribution to language learning.

Basil Hall Chamberlain (1850-1935) was a writer and prominent Japanologist, inspiring a generation of influential students. In this chapter, his life and career are assessed.  

Officers from all three services have done stints in post-war Japan as advisers during the Occupation years. Their tasks were to observe the demilitarization of Japan and then to develop contacts with the Self-Defense Forces, and more recently to promote defence sales from British manufacturers. Here a number of previous service attachés recount their experience in Japan. 

This chapter details Arthur Waley's (1899-1966) career as one of the great translators of Japanese literary works and as an inspiration to generations of Japan scholars. 

This essay talks about five British participants of The Japan Exchange Teaching (JET) Programme. The JET Programme participants are involved in language guidance (rather than simply teaching) and are also involved in overall cultural communication. In the appendix of the chapter, the focus is on British English Teachers in Japan before the JET Programme was established in 1987. 

This portrait provides a detailed account of the establishment and modus operandi of the Japan Consular Service (1859-1941) from the opening of Japan to the end of the Second World War.

This portrait provides a detailed account of the establishment and modus operandi of the Japan Consular Service (1859-1941) from the opening of Japan to the end of the Second World War.

Prominent representatives of the British Council in Japan reflect on their experiences, which included writing books on Japanese food, entertaining visiting politicians and celebreties, organising festivals and promoting education and culture. Particular attention is given to difficulties encountered with the English language teaching system.

This essay provides an overview of the missionary efforts of British Christians in the Meiji period, as well as the challenges and nature of the 'mission field' itself.

Captain Francis Brinkley provides the subject of this essay, in particular his journalism and scholarship regarding Japan over his forty year career in the country.

Captain Oswald Tuck RN played a very significant role in the teaching of Japanese to those involved in the Japanese Section of Bletchley Park during the Second World War. This essay charts his naval and teaching career, especially at the Bedford Japanese School.

Carmen Blacker (1924-2009) became one of Britain's most original and perceptive scholars of Japan, and this account charts the development of her love for the country and the impact this had upon her choice and pursuit of a career in academia.

Charles Dunn (1915-1995) was one of the scholars responsible for the expansion of Japanese studies after the Second World War. This essay details his career as a scholar and dealings with the Japanese language.

This essay details the contribution of Frank Daniels (1900-83) towards teaching Japanese during the Second World War, and also his role in establishing a major centre for Japanese Studies at SOAS.

Eddie Ripley gives an account of his efforts to study Japanese and of his early experiences as a vice-consul in Yokohama in the late 1950s and '60s.

Edward Vivian Getby's (1892-1955) was one of the central figures in the establishment of the field of English as a foreign language. This essay details the influence of Japan on his career, and looks at his contributions in relation to those of A.S. Hornby, with whom he worked on the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

The subject of this portrait is the remarkable life and career of Eric Bertrand Ceadel (1921-79), founding father of Japanese studies at Cambridge University.

Detailing Sir Ernest Satow's (1843-1929) diplomatic and scholarly career, including his time as head of the British Mission in Japan.

This essay provides a re-assessment of 'forgotten figure' Frederick Victor Dickins' (1838-1915) career in Japan as a scholar, lawyer and contributor to Japanese Studies.

A writer, journalist and businessman, Fukuzawa Yukichi (1835-1901) made a significant contribution to Meiji Japan, and a personal fortune in the process.

Geoffrey Bownas was the first British scholar to study in Kyoto after the war, arriving there in 1952. Here he describes his experience, particularly with regard to the movement towards senzogaeri - 'returning home to the values of our ancestors'.

The subject of this portait is Harlod E. Palmer (1877-1949), 'Linguistic Advisor' to the Ministry of Education in Japan, and his outstanding contribution to teaching English as a foreign language as well as the establishment of the Institute for Research in English Teaching.

Grammarist Ichikawa Sanki (1886-1970) made a significant contribution to the development of English philology in Japan. This essay examines the interaction between Britain and Sanki throughout his scholarly career.

Inagaki Manjirō combined the desire to embrace Western ideas and Japan's imperial ambitions during the Meiji era. This essay details his life and diplomatic career, providing an overall analysis of both.

J. E. Hoare's Introduction to Part IV: Scholar Diplomats and Consuls. 

Itō Hirobumi (1841-1909) was Japan's first cabinet prime minister, and this essay asseses the influence of his time as a student in Britain on his career in Imperial Japan.

This portrait discusses James Summers' (1828-91) contributions to the teaching of English Literature in Japan, along with a discussion of his work in relation to the Taisei Shimbun - one of the first Japanese language newspapers published outside of Japan.

Even though John Batchelor (1855-1945) was not an expert in linguistics, ethnology or folklore, his contributions to the understanding of the Ainu people is nonetheless significant. This essay details his missionary career and a life devoted to the Ainu people.

Dubbed a 'master of the various problems of our Far Eastern Ally', John Harrington Gubbins (1852-1929) enjoyed a remarkable and significant diplomatic career in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Detailing John Harrington Gubbins's (1852-1929) long relationship with Japan, beginning as a student interpretor with the Far East Consular Service through to dealings with the British Legation in Japan. 

Novelist John Haylock first went to Japan in 1956 and again several times later, and recalls his experience.

Ken Gardner was a Japanese language student during the war and returned to SOAS afterwards, becoming assistant librarian responsible for Japanese books. He then worked as Keeper of Oriental Printed Books and Manuscripts at the British Museum, and visited Japan in 1967.

Kenneth Gardner (1924-95) held senior posts in the British Museum and British Library, and was instrumental in these posts in promoting Japanese culture and Anglo-Japanese relations. This essay charts his career and significance within his field and beyond, including his war service as part of Translators V.

Dorothy Britton was born in Japan before the war and returned there during the Occupation. This chapter gives an account of her life as a bridge between Japanese and English cultures.

Alan Pinnell's diplomatic career in Japan spanned some twenty years, from the late 1960s to the late '80s. Here he picks out some of the most memorable moments from his time in Japan, starting with his time as a language student and culminating with the visit of the Prince and Princess of Wales in 1986, via his time in the commercial department.

The death of Everard Calthrop (1876-1915) on the Western Front on 19 December 1915 cut short a career which had already done much to increase mutual awareness between the British and Japanese armies since 1902. This essay charts the human impact of the First World War on Anglo-Japanese reltions.

This portrait details the life and career of scholar Louis Allen (1922-91), especially his wartime service and postwar reconciliation efforts.

This chapter details Malcolm Kennedy's (1895-1935) time in Japan as an army officer sent to study Japanese while attached to a Japanese army unit, his subsequent work at Shell Oil, and his stance as an apologist in the build up to the Second World War.

Merrick Baker-Bates was first a diplomatic service language student in Japan before becoming Commercial Counsellor. Having transferred to commerce for four years he subsequently returned to the diplomatic service as Consul General in LA. Here he describes his various lives in Japan, with particular reference to his time as a language student, the shift in emphasis in the 1960s to promoting British exports, and to his time as General Manager of Cornes and Company.

This essay considers the remarkable scholarly career of the brilliant but eccentric polymath Minakata Kumagusu (1867-1941), an expert in natural history, folklore and classicism, as well as an assessment of the significance of his time in London to his work.

This essay seeks to explore how Natsume Sōseki's (1867-1916) time in London influenced his literary works and world view, particularly with regard to the pre-Raphaelite movement.

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

In this chapter Peter Kornicki describes how he became the first non-Japanese since the end of the war to be given a professorial position at a Japanese national university.

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.

The pre-war Japan Consular Service sent selected new entrants each year to study Japanese, creating a corps of Japanese-speaking consuls. The Foreign Office realised that Japanese-speaking officers would be needed after the war in the embassy, and in consular posts in Japan, and so revived the practice in 1951. In this chapter Dick Ellingworth and Brian Hitch describe the system.

These accounts from four returning teachers from the Japan Exchange Teaching (JET) programme give an insight both into life in modern Japan for young people and into the Japanese education system.

The poet Robert Nichols (1893-1944) provides an example of extreme culture shock suffered by a British visitor to Japan, and this portrait charts his poetic career and interactions with Japan as a foreign teacher at Tokyo University.

Roger Buckley reflects on the difficulties of being a teacher in Japan both at a language school and a university.

Saitō Takeshi (1887-1982) contributed significantly to the development of English Studies in Japan, as well as inspiring the field of 'British [Cultural] Studies', and this portrait outlines his impact on academia in Japan.

Sir Edwin Arnold's (1832-1904) time in Japan can be described as nothing less than a love-affair. This portrait considers the impact of Japan upon his writing and poetic career, as well as the impact Arnold had on the understanding of Japan in Britain as he sought to promote and explain Japanese culture.

This article details Sir Ernest Mason Satow's (1843-1929) further pursuits in Japan between 1873 to 1884. 

Businessman Sir Peter Parker (1924-2002) made an outstanding contribution to Anglo-Japanese relations in the final decades of the twentieth century. This essay offers an account and analysis of his career and impact in relation to Japan.

Vere Redman (1901-1975) worked, throughout his career as a journalist, press attaché, and in the British Ministry of Information, to contribute to understanding between British and Japanese. This essay recounts his journalistic efforts as they relate to Anglo-Japanese relations.

Sue Hudson went to Japan before the JET scheme was set up to work in a school in Shizuoka. Here she recounts her experience as a young Western woman in rural Japan.

This portrait considers Takaki Kanehiro's (1849-1920) career, character and contributions as Surgeon General to the Japanese Imperial Navy. Of particular note is his education in, and subsequent dealings with, Britain throughout his life.

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.

This portrait considers the contribution of Japanese translators of Shakespeare (Fukuda Tsuneari, Odajima Yushi and Anzai Tetsuo) to its appreciation in Japan, and to Shakespearian scholarship in Japan and beyond.

This chapter assesses the life of William George Aston (1841-1911), a diplomat and prominent scholar of Japan. Though Aston remains somewhat of a shadowy figure due to the lack of knowledge of his private life, this appraisal details how his scholarly works in the fields of linguistics and religion have stood the test of time.

This profile details William George Aston's (1841-1911) career in the consular service and his scholarly achievments as a writer of Japanese language learning books. 

William Beasley (1919-2006) was a pioneer in introducing Japanese history into British academic circles as a teacher, researcher and author. This essay recounts his career in academia.

Yanada Senji (1906-1972) played a key role in the wartime training of translators and interrogators at SOAS. This portait details his academic career and the deep personal struggles associated with providing key assistance to the war effort against his homeland.